Utility Magazine February 2017

BETTER DATA? IS BIGGER DATA

MAPPING TO MINIMISE RISK LOCATION LOCATION

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DISTRIBUTED ENERGY

SYDNEY WATER’S ASSET SPLASH

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welcome FROM THE EDITOR

It’s well known that utilities now have access to more data than ever before but what’s not talked about enough are the serious security risks having this data creates. Utilities are among the most targeted businesses by cyber criminals so it’s essential for companies to know where their weaknesses are and have measures in place to keep their data safe.

To help utilities stay on top of this issue, we’ve created the one-day event, Secure Utilities, to be held on 23 March 2017 in Melbourne. Secure Utilities brings together a team of cyber security experts, professors and consultants to explain practical steps that utilities can take to minimise data security risks. There will even be a reformed hacker in attendance to outline key threats to your systems.

While things like SCADA, the Internet of Things and advanced meters create some risks, a key message that I took away from Australian Utility Week in late 2016 was that they are also an essential part of the Australian utility digital transformation.

Speakers at Utility Week talked about needing to keep up with these digital disruptions to ensure utilities aren’t left behind, especially since the jobs that will be vital to the industry in 10-20 years may not even exist yet.

Another key theme of the conference was embracing innovation in retail models, because just as Uber disrupted the transport industry, there’s nothing stopping outside companies from significantly changing the utility retail model. Utilities need leaders who will continue to push for digital advancement to ensure the sector keeps growing.

There was a lot to reflect on in 2016, but like the industry, Utility is coming into 2017 with a fresh perspective. We’re excited to share new ideas

A WORD FROM THE ENA

In the late 1880s, the fathers of the modern electricity system were embroiled in what is now known as the “War of the Currents” – between the alternating current (AC) favoured by Tesla and Edison’s direct current (DC) technology.

Edison publicly campaigned against alternating current, claiming it was dangerous and could kill people. Tesla responded dramatically by subjecting himself to electrical shock in an effort to demonstrate alternating currents safety.

Alternating current ultimately won the war based on the economics of transmitting electrons. George Westinghouse won the bid to electrify the 1893 Chicago World Fair with alternating current, beating General Electric’s use of direct current. Within three years, Buffalo was lit up by an alternating current electricity supply from Niagara Falls power station.

Over a century later, DC systems are on the rise in a distributed grid of solar, storage and solid state technologies. Debate rages once again over the future of an electricity system, echoing themes of price, reliability, safety, and disruptions to existing business models and incumbents.

Fed by conflict-loving media, our electricity future is usually reduced to a zero-sum choice where Australians are asked to decide if they will sacrifice affordable energy for clean energy, or renewables for reliability.

South Australia’s system black event in September prompted a long overdue focus on the importance of security to homes, businesses and industry. However, when current affairs panels on TV begin chatting about synchronous generation and inertia, it suggests a system in a public crisis. For Simpson’s fans: I’m sorry Homer, that is not the “good siren”.

The year ended with politicians returning to the trenches on carbon policy debate, to the despair of many who had hoped a truce might be reached in order to deliver a stable and more enduring policy environment.

For these reasons, the landmark report released by Energy Networks Australia and CSIRO suggests this position between the hammer and anvil is unnecessary. The right balance can be found if we act now.

It confirms the Paris COP 21 aspiration of a zero net emissions electricity sector is possible by 2050 – without compromising security or affordability.

Based on two-years work and extensive consultation the Electricity Network Transformation Roadmap assesses the complex changes facing Australia’s electricity system and identifies clear steps to transform our electricity system over the next decade.

The roadmap sets out measures that could see 10 million participants using the grid as a platform for energy exchange, customers saving over $414 per year on average and total savings of $101 billion in system expenditure.

Importantly it demonstrates that the grid can be more secure and resilient, with high growth in large-scale renewables and twothirds of small customers taking up solar and storage by 2050.

The enthusiasm with which Australian households have

taken up residential solar means that by 2050 power will be in the hands of millions of electricity customers who will own distributed resources like solar, storage, home energy management systems and electric vehicles, which they can use to sell grid support services worth $2.5 billion per year.

All customers benefit if traditional network investments can be avoided where it costs less to ‘orchestrate’ distributed resources in ‘the right place at the right time’. If the grid is able to buy firm support services from customers with onsite resources, it could avoid $16 billion in network expenditure by 2050, reducing network costs to average residential customers by 30 per cent compared to today.

The roadmap provides a lot of food for thought in the 2017 Climate Policy Review recently announced by the Commonwealth Government.

Firstly, the most important design feature needed in our carbon policy is stability. Without a carbon policy mechanism that can endure the election cycle, we are consigning customers to higher prices and more unreliable supply during the transition.

A critical finding of the Key Concepts Report is that smart carbon policy can enable the electricity sector, Australia’s major source of emissions, to outperform current targets and do it more affordably than current policy measures.

CSIRO analysis finds that on the way to a zero net emissions future, Australia’s electricity sector could exceed its share of current national carbon abatement targets, delivering 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

While the pathway to a zero net emissions future presents significant challenges, these are manageable if governments, industry and customer advocates work together in a national approach. The roadmap found a technology neutral approach, like an emission intensity scheme for the generation sector, should be developed by 2020.

The roadmap also highlights the key role of transmission networks maintaining system stability in a low carbon future, with high penetrations of variable renewables. Roadmap analysis confirms the critical role of thermal plants in balancing variable renewable energy output during the transition but this would need to be replaced over time by low emission solutions like battery storage, pumped hydro, gas-fired generation with carbon capture and storage or power to gas hydrogen technology.

There is an opportunity here to reclaim our national competitive advantage in electricity by transforming the energy system. The full value of millions of customer-owned distributed energy resources can only be realised in a connected future that enables multi-directional exchanges of energy, information and value.

Australian energy customers do not have to sacrifice security of supply or affordability to achieve a low emissions future, if action is taken now.

There is no certainly no need for the 21st century equivalent of the Currents War.

The Roadmap Key Concepts Report has been released for external consultation. Feedback has been sought by February 16 and the program will be finalised in March 2017.

ACCC TAKES LEGAL ACTION OVER “FLUSHABLE” WIPES

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking several companies to court for allegedly making false and misleading claims that their wet wipes were “flushable”. The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Kimberly-Clark Australia and separately against Pental.

The ACCC alleges that, by labelling these products as “flushable”, consumers were led to believe that the products had similar characteristics to toilet paper, would break up or disintegrate in a timeframe and manner similar to toilet paper, and were suitable to be flushed down the toilet, when this was not the case.

ACCC Chairman, Rod Sims, said, “The ACCC alleges that the impression given by the representations which Kimberly-Clark and Pental each made about these products was that they were suitable to be flushed down household toilets in Australia, when this was not the case.

“These products did not, for example, disintegrate like toilet

paper when flushed. Australian water authorities face significant problems when non-suitable products are flushed down the toilet as they contribute to blockages in household and municipal sewerage systems.”

In both proceedings, the ACCC is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties, injunctions, corrective notices, compliance program orders and costs.

Queensland Urban Utilities has welcomed the decision of the ACCC to take court action, citing it as a positive step towards solving a big problem for sewer pipes as they can cause blockages to the network and household pipes, leaving homeowners with expensive plumbing bills.

Queensland Urban Utilities spokesperson, Michelle Cull, said, “Wet wipes, including those labelled ‘flushable’, don’t disintegrate quickly like toilet paper and can lead to costly blockages in our network.

“We spend around $1.5 million every year clearing blockages from our sewers. We also remove around 20

million wet wipes from our sewage treatment plants annually, which laid end-to-end would stretch from Brisbane to Bali.

“Labelling can be confusing for shoppers, so we welcome the ACCC’s decision and will be following the matter with interest.”

Senior Media Advisor at Sydney Water, Peter Hadfield, said Sydney Water supported the milestone announcement by the ACCC to take court action on flushable wipes.

“Sydney Water has been a leader on this issue for the past 18 months through our ‘keep wipes out of the pipes’ education program and we have strongly advocated that only the three Ps should be flushed down the toilet – Pee, Poo and (toilet) Paper,” Mr Hadfield said.

Adam Lovell, Executive Director, Water Services Association of Australia, said “The Water Services Association of Australia and its members from Australia and New Zealand have been joined by over 300 water utilities and partner organisations around the globe in a joint international statement raising awareness of the issues associated with products labelled “flushable”.

“The international statement also outlines that only the 3 Ps (Poo, Pee and (toilet) Paper) should be flushed.

“It also calls for clearer labelling and covers the key requirements for any future standard for ‘flushable’ products,” Mr Lovell said.

Mr Hadfield said, “We thank Utility magazine for their support to get the ‘keep wipes out of the pipes’ message out to your readers and we thank our customers who have actively supported the program.

“We will keenly observe the outcome of the ACCC’s announcement.”

AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST WATER INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

The Federal Government is investing $440 million in key water infrastructure projects across Australia – the most significant investment in water infrastructure in the country’s history.

The funding was announced along with the release of the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund (NWIDF) guidelines which has made almost $60 million available to accelerate the planning work needed to get major projects started.

The additional investment allows capital works to get priority projects built as quickly as possible to ensure Australia’s agricultural sector and regional economies are well-placed to capitalise on the opportunities of a transitioning and diversifying economy.

So far, the Australian Government has made in-principle commitments to

five priority projects, pending formal project proposals and co-funding commitments from the states.

These include:

• Rookwood Weir in Queensland

• Dungowan Dam in New South Wales

• Macalister Irrigation District in Victoria

• South-West Loddon Pipeline in Victoria

• McLaren Vale water storages project in South Australia

• The Rookwood Weir project alone is expected to double agricultural production in the region — unlocking an additional $1 billion in production value.

In addition to the NWIDF, the government will deliver a new $2 billion National Water Infrastructure Loan Facility to get more projects started by

providing concessional loans to states and territories.

The funding is a historic investment in Australian water with the $500 million NWIDF in addition to the $2 billion Water Infrastructure Loans Facility being a $2.5 billion windfall to drive growth into regional economies and communities.

The NWIDF will provide $440 million to state and territory governments to build new water infrastructure such as dams, pipelines, managed aquifer recharge projects, water treatment, capture and reuse schemes.

Projects will be considered for funding on a case-by-case basis and will be assessed by an independent panel of experts for their economic viability, and ability to provide secure and affordable water to underpin the growth of regional economies and communities.

PARTIAL SALE OF WESTERN POWER

The Western Australian Government has announced it will sell 51 per cent of Western Power, with the proceeds to go towards state infrastructure.

Western Australian Treasurer and Minister for Energy, Mike Nahan, said 51 per cent would be sold through public float but the government would remain the largest shareholder.

“Under the 51 per cent public float proposal, the state government will remain the largest shareholder (at 49 per cent), with indicative targets of 30 per cent of shares being sold to Australian superannuation funds and 20 per cent to mum and dad retail investors, including Western Power employees,” Dr Nahan said.

“This model will address any national security concerns about foreign ownership. Western Power will not be foreign owned or controlled.”

It’s estimated the partial sale of Western Power will generate $11 billion, with $8 billion to be used to repay the utility’s debt with State Treasury, helping

to reduce state debt.

With the remaining $3 billion, the Next Generation account will be created, which will fund investment in state infrastructure for future generations.

Western Australian Premier, Colin Barnett, said $1 billion would be allocated to school and TAFE facilities, $1 billion to public transport infrastructure and roads, and around $150 million would be allocated to improving the reliability of electricity supplies in country areas.

“The part sale of Western Power will provide the funds needed to expand the state’s capital works program to fix local schools, build new transport links, and stimulate the state’s economy,” Mr Barnett said.

“These projects will create thousands of jobs – for builders, tradies, construction workers, engineers, technology providers, and their support staff – in communities throughout Western Australia.”

Western Australian Nationals Leader, Brendon Grylls, said funds from the Next Generation Account would be used to

improve electricity reliability at the edge of the grid in country areas.

“For West Australians living at the end of long feeder lines, this additional investment in edge-of-grid electricity solutions, including microgrids, will make a huge difference in their lives, while also ensuring we remain at the forefront of technological advances,” Mr Grylls said.

Dr Nahan said there would be no increase in the cost of electricity for Western Australian consumers or any reduction in the safety and reliability of the electricity network as a result of the proposed public float of Western Power.

“It will be business as usual for workers at Western Power as strict employee protections will be outlined as part of the float process.

“Western Power is a regulated monopoly, which means a number of independent regulators will continue to oversee the various parts of the business, including safety, reliability, prices and performance, regardless of who owns Western Power. This will not change.”

FIRST GRID-SCALE TESLA POWERPACK UNVEILED

Last October Vector unveiled the first grid-scale Tesla Powerpack storage system to be integrated into a public electricity network in the Asia Pacific region.

The system has been installed the renovated Glen Innes substation in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Tesla Powerpack has a storage capacity of 1MW/2.3MWh – the equivalent to powering 450 average homes for 2.3 hours – and allows Vector to continue to provide a secure, reliable power supply and defer a conventional upgrade to the substation.

This move represents a radical transformation in how Vector manages its electricity network and responds to the need for innovative infrastructure development to support growing communities.

Vector’s Chief Executive, Simon Mackenzie, said the Tesla Powerpack battery storage system could help to reduce peak demand and extend the life of the substation, deferring capital expenditure and providing supplementary power to the Glen Innes area – all without compromising reliability.

It also introduces an agility and flexibility into how Vector manages and invests in its network.

“By gauging trends such as household energy consumption, the effect of infill housing and the uptake of new energy systems, we can target growth areas and defer or avoid the significant investment required in a new substation,” Mr Mackenzie said.

“And when connection or consumption growth requires a conventional network upgrade, we can mobilise the batteries to other parts of the network where power demand is rising.

“This is transforming the way the energy sector is managed and will have a powerful influence on consumer behaviour.”

Mr Mackenzie said new technologies such as Tesla Powerpack allowed Vector to better manage the risks associated with the NZ$2 billion that needed to be invested in its Auckland networks over the next 10 years.

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IN A DATA-DRIVEN WORLD, YOU CAN’T GO IN BLIND

In an increasingly informationdriven world, those of us who keep up to date with developments in our industry have a significant competitive advantage. This is especially true in fast-changing environments, where an array of different factors can affect business.

To this end, a quality, specialist information source, such as The Water Report, can be an indispensable tool.

Those working within the water industry must be experts in their fields. This requires not only extensive knowledge of your own specific role or product, but you also need to keep abreast of what’s going on in the industry as a whole. This is true regardless of your role in an organisation – keeping your finger on the pulse of industry news and trends can be vital for developing your business or career, identifying new opportunities, staying relevant, and gaining an advantage over your competitors.

Just some of the key benefits of keeping up to date with your industry include:

• A competitive edge in career or business development

• Early identification of key industry trends, challenges, potential gaps in the market and associated opportunities

• Enabling a bigger picture view for better long-term planning

• Enhanced ability to gauge your own performance and that of your competitors

• Opportunities for enhancing and protecting your reputation as a thought-leader and source of industry knowledge

On the other hand, failing to stay on top of changes within the industry can result in:

• Missing out on opportunities for growth

• Falling behind the competition by not anticipating industry trends

• Inability to prepare for future challenges

• Becoming irrelevant

• Losing momentum in advancing your business or career

• Becoming too narrowly focused and not taking into account the bigger picture outside your own company, role or speciality

• Failure to rapidly adapt to changes within the industry

However, the sheer amount of information available to us is immense and growing daily, meaning that it is not possible

or practical for most industry professionals to trawl through masses of mostly irrelevant news and other material – not to mention promotional content masquerading as news – to find everything pertinent. Your information gathering must be smart and focused.

In this environment, having someone else sort through this information for you, determine the most relevant and important material, and collate data from an array of different sources to form useful insights, can be indispensable.

Our specialist Utility magazine policy journalists and editors extract the vital information from lengthy reports and policy documents, collate relevant material from an array of sources,

MAJOR AUSTRALIAN SPATIAL INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS MERGE

The Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) and the Geospatial Information Technology Association Australia and New Zealand (GITA ANZ) have merged, creating an expanded organisation for the spatial industry.

The new association will continue to deliver services to members as the leading association representing the collective spatial ‘industries’ and the ‘users’ of geospatial technology, particularly those involved in the infrastructure life cycle.

The merger of SIBA and GITA re-enforces the representation of members in advocacy across all three tiers of government. The merger facilitates the ability to more effectively leverage scale and to drive growth and innovation for this dynamic and critical cornerstone of Australia and New Zealand’s knowledge economies.

GITA President, Wanda Skerrett (Open Spatial) and Past President Antoine Burdett (AECOM) will be appointed to the board of the merged organisation.

SIBA Chairman, Alistair Byrom, said, “SIBA’s merger with GITA is a strong and determined response to the growth and consolidation of the spatial industry and draws together two

organisations committed to a shared passion and vision for the spatial sector.

“This merger will enable our larger association to provide a more consistent message and consolidate our combined efforts for greater impact. The merger will help increase awareness in the wider community of our members’ products and services and facilitate further growth opportunities.”

GITA President Wanda Skerrett said, “With the merging of SIBA and GITA, we’ve set out to achieve a unified industry voice through an association for all. Geospatial technology plays a critical role in all fundamental services supporting our community’s way of life, as increasingly more companies embrace location information as a strategic focus of their business.

“This merger aligns the aims and visions of each ‘premerger’ association whilst enabling the enhanced, broader delivery of services such as member updates in areas such as spatial tools and technologies, industry collaboration and change, user and vendor networking and insight into common challenges.”

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Advanced meters providing

MORE CONTROL OF

Horizon Power’s rollout of more than 47,000 advanced meters in Western Australia will provide enough data to help reduce network costs and improve billing, as well as provide a platform to incorporate renewables into microgrids and potentially allow customers to trade energy.

Completed in October 2016, Horizon’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project won the Best Value AMI award at the Australian Utility Week conference in Sydney. The industry’s recognition of this project highlights its innovative approach to new metering infrastructure and the potential benefits these meters can have across regional and remote Western Australia.

“We can now provide our customers with the latest in metering technology to improve their billing experience and reduce our operating costs and thereby cut our subsidy from government,” said Horizon Power Managing Director, Frank Tudor.

“The meters provide a myriad of potential opportunities and an exciting platform from which we can achieve our vision of a microgrid future with much higher levels of renewable energy incorporated than currently exists.”

The State Government provided Horizon Power with $34 million for the project, which saw the new advanced meters installed over 2.3 million square kilometres. The meters can collect readings at 15 minute intervals, as well as information on alerts and alarms such as tamper alerts or a meter that’s running at high voltage.

These frequent readings mean customers can receive more accurate billing instead of estimates, electricity can be reconnected or disconnected more quickly if there is a change of address, and faults are able to be identified faster because Horizon can see if the problem is on the customer's side or in the network.

The advanced metering project has also saved more than $7 million a year in business costs due to the new meters no longer needing to be physically read as well as the automation of other processes, including reconnection and disconnection.

ELECTRICITY DATA

INCORPORATING RENEWABLES INTO MICROGRIDS

Geoff White, Manager Customer Services at Horizon Power, said the metering project also had the potential to impact the wider network and the way renewables were used.

“It provides the platform to incorporate greater use of renewable energy onto our microgrids, which currently have hosting capacity targets due to the small size of most of the systems and their inability to accept unlimited amounts of exported renewable energy,” Mr White said.

“The AMI infrastructure will allow Horizon Power to manage additional renewable energy exported to the system. We hope to be able to announce increased renewable capacity within six months.

“With the detailed information gathered from meters we also expect to be able to better manage renewables (particularly solar PV) so that we can increase the penetration of renewables without reducing increasing the risk of outages.”

ASSESSING PEAK AND OFF-PEAK USAGE

The data collected by the advanced meters is also expected to be used to create more tailored energy efficiency advice, by identifying usage patterns and peaks, helping the design of price models and minimising the risk of outages.

While the government determines pricing policy for the state, Horizon has launched a research pilot where 500 participants in Port Hedland use a new pricing app with the results used to develop a new way of charging for electricity with on-peak and off-peak pricing.

“The major cost of providing electricity is in the cost of generating power, particularly the last five per cent of power or the peak. The information the meters collect will allow Horizon Power to understand how and when electricity is used and will enable us to design customer solutions (different price models e.g. the Port Hedland trial, based on rewards for reducing peak energy usage) and less expensive electrical networks,” Mr White said.

“We also expect we can delay or avoid spending millions of dollars on new generation to meet peaks as power consumption in a town increases. This

AMI data enables us to understand for example the load on our electrical network and better manage this to avoid outages.

“It also will help us to reduce our spending on transformers as we will know exactly the load on these pieces of expensive equipment because they are now individually metered and the information is send back to Horizon Power on 15 minute intervals.”

FUTURE ENERGY TRADING

Horizon Power is currently investigating how the advanced metering infrastructure project can also provide a platform for its customers to sell energy to each other. The meters give customers more control over their electricity than ever before, with data helping them reduce electricity costs by using less power during peak times.

“Horizon Power has a world-class natural endowment of 40 remote microgrids – isolated power systems

which are the enabling platforms that underpin this revolution in energy access.

“One day, potentially, customers will be able to sell excess energy from rooftop PV to a neighbour via the energy-trading mechanism,” Mr White said.

MANAGING THE INCREASE AND SAFETY OF AMI DATA

With the data now available from the meters, one of the challenges facing Horizon Power is being able to maximise its value by working out what data is required for what purpose. To do this, Horizon is partnering with tertiary institutions to assist in the development of analytic tools, as well as investing in database and storage technologies to support the projected increases in data volumes. There will also be regular assessments relating to the privacy of the data to ensure it’s kept safe.

“We recognise the value and opportunities created by data and are investigating cloud platforms that will allow for rapid scaling up of compute resources and environments to prove a particular use without affecting operational activities,” Mr White said.

“The privacy of customer and metering data is of course paramount. We have not only a moral but also a legislated requirement to ensure the privacy of customer data, which of course includes metering data at a customer’s premise.

“To this end, Horizon Power regularly assesses the risk profile of data privacy both from a process and technology perspective and continue to place a high value on maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all the data we collect.

“All Horizon Power data is stored securely, and processes are continually assessed for potential risks, and where appropriate, additional security controls are put in place to mitigate these risks.”

CONTINUAL USE OF BIG DATA

Horizon Power is now the only vertically integrated utility in Australia that has advanced meters across its entire network area. Mr White said the utility was also keeping an eye on current trends in cloud storage and cognitive technologies to support the AIM project and its data use in the future.

“We recognise that there are significant changes occurring within the energy utility industry and that AMI, big data and cognitive technology solutions are at the forefront of this. We have not yet determined which vendor solutions are the best fit, but we are exploring various technology offerings,” Mr White said.

Australia’s most comprehensive ENERGY DATA SYSTEM

To help the energy sector plan for future infrastructure and policy needs, the CSIRO is bringing together Australia’s energy use data onto one publicly available online platform – the Energy Use Data Model (EUDM).

Knowing how Australians use energy can help the sector create networks, products, technologies and policies to meet the future needs of consumers. CSIRO’s new Energy Use Data Model system aims to be a one-stop-shop for this energy use data and help researchers and policymakers better understand the contemporary Australian energy user.

Adam Berry, CSIRO Grids and Energy

Efficiency Systems Research Group Leader, said the EUDM will provide new and improved datasets to what is currently available, including data held by networks.

“By bringing together consumer characteristics and consumption, and then enhancing the data through innovative research, utilities will have access to brand new outputs that could unlock the connection between

customer type and network need,” Dr Berry said.

“This will give us insight into the drivers of peak energy consumption, potential impacts of new energy pricing proposals and – with longitudinal data – the basis for deep forecasting about what our energy system of the future needs to deliver.”

FILLING THE GAPS IN ENERGY DATA

The CSIRO is working to collect existing data from across the sector, including datasets that have never been publically released, and combine this with new large-scale surveys and an ongoing research program.

The data itself will include energy consumption, household demographics, building characteristics, technology uptake, market data, appliance usage and environmental data, for residential and commercial customers. A robust process for managing energy data ethics and privacy is in place, built by CSIRO data experts.

Dr Berry said despite the ever increasing amount of data available, there are still some gaps in the energy industry.

“Little data is available that links finegrained energy use with critical energy consumer characteristics. Without such data, it is difficult to design systems or policy that will deliver value for consumers.

“For example, if there is little information on how low income

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earners in apartment buildings use energy on a daily basis then delivering energy products or services that are tailored for those consumers becomes very hard,” Dr Berry said.

As Australia continues to embrace an open approach to data, other platforms like EUDM have been emerging, but Dr Berry said none have had a sole focus on energy use before.

“The AREMI platform, developed by Data61, provides a fantastic illustration of what can be done to make data both more accessible and more usable. It brings critical renewable energy datasets together into a compelling visualisation platform.

“But EUDM is differentiated as it has an exclusive focus on energy use data, and will therefore include specialised data curations and tailored search features that are built for researchers operating in that space.

“We are also working with researchers, data holders, policy makers, consultants, network businesses, regulators and peak bodies from across the Australian energy sector.”

The EUDM project includes an external panel of stakeholders that review its key activities, including the Department of Environment and

Energy, the Australian Energy Market Operator, the Clean Energy Regulator, Energy Networks Australia and Energy Consumers Australia.

MAKING DATA MEANINGFUL

The Energy Use Data Model itself is an online platform that is designed to make data easily accessible and presented in a way that offers insight into the critical issues facing the energy sector.

“The EUDM will bring together complex energy data and research from across the energy sector and make it freely available to researchers across the globe.

“It will not only identify the need for new products and services to add value to the energy landscape but it will also provide insight into how energy efficiency influences how we use energy, how electricity pricing changes our behaviour, and the way renewable energy is shaping our nation’s energy system.

“By sharing this information through a single platform, we will help to ensure that evidence-based policy, sector forecasts and business analyses are all built on a strong foundation,” Dr Berry said.

While assessing Australia’s energy consumption is not a new concept, the dramatic changes in the sector over the last few years have made it more important to have data available that provides guidance to the industry.

“The energy landscape is changing rapidly due to the uptake of solar PV and the increasing interest in other distributed energy solutions, such as home energy storage. The Australian energy system is evolving from a uni-directional radial supply to a bi-directional system where the consumer is now an active participant in and provider to the system as a whole,” Dr Berry said.

“The continuing rollout of network metering, consumer smart meters and the emergence of IoT and smart appliances means that there is an ever-growing wealth of data that will help us build impactful solutions for energy customers.

“But, this inevitably requires dedicated data science capabilities to make the most of these opportunities, by increasing data access through EUDM and by deploying science techniques that ensures the data delivers value back to utilities and researchers.”

IMPLEMENTING BIG DATA DAY TO DAY

USING SCADA-BASED TECHNOLOGY AT SA WATER’S MIDDLE RIVER WATER TREATMENT PLANT.

Utilities around Australia are embracing the benefits of big data, but how are they actually implementing it in day-to-day operations?

SA Water’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Bev McQuade explains how South Australia’s water utility is using data to improve operations, and discusses the challenges that come with managing large quantities of data and remaining cyber-safe.

ata from SA Water’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system largely underpins the operation and control of infrastructure used to deliver water and wastewater services to our customers.

It serves as one of our key examples of leveraging data to improve operations and customer service at SA Water. This group of assets and processes gives us the ability to remotely control and monitor the performance of our water and wastewater asset network, and ensure we are providing services to our customers as intended.

From information acquired through systems like SCADA, we can also undertake predictive analysis, based on historical data. This is enabled through the use of sophisticated analytical tools. Some of these tools have machine-learning features that enable them to continuously refine their inbuilt predictive models over time, based on new information, giving way to ever-improving quality outcomes.

The use of such tools in the management of our electricity use is another example of how we use data for improving operational outcomes and benefiting the business. Through the modelling of real-time and historical market data, we are able to more accurately forecast spot wholesale prices for electricity and schedule the operation of our high-electricityuse infrastructure, such as pumps, to optimise our electricity costs.

SA Water’s Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) integrates data from disparate sources from across the organisation and provides a broader view and context, particularly when used in combination with visual tools like digital dashboards. This manner of presenting information across many operational areas of our business enables us to undertake more informed decision making, both operationally and strategically, resulting in better outcomes for customers.

For example, we’ve found the benefits to include:

• Improved data and information from the EDW to support effective asset maintenance and planning and minimise service interruptions

• SA Water’s Digital Program is core to delivering a great customer experience, with customer data and information being a critical component

• Operations Control Centre decision support tools assists planners and operators efficiently and effectively operate the water and wastewater network and ensure a reliable cost optimised, drinking water supply and provision of wastewater services to customers respectively

Our Operations Control Centre also uses a range of data sets and analytics tools to create demand forecasts for water consumption across our network. We have the ability to create and analyse different demand scenarios, which enables us to optimise the way the water network functions to ensure the most efficient service for our customers. The use of these tools has resulted in both cost savings and much greater insight into the effective running of our water network.

Another data analysis initiative that has provided significant savings to our operating costs has been establishing the internal capability to monitor and forecast the spot wholesale price of electricity, and optimise the operation of our highelectricity-use assets.

LEVERAGING DATA OPPORTUNITIES

The key challenge around big data is around how we, as an organisation, best leverage it to drive business and customer value after it’s collected from sensors, meters, and other data sources.

One major way to address this challenge and to optimise our return on investment in big data is to maximise accessibility to the data and its usability once acquired. We do this through our investment in the EDW which integrates previously disparate datasets and presents it through our Business Intelligence platform. As part of this strategy, we will need to continue to develop the skills and ability of our staff to use and analyse data using various tools as they are increasingly rolled out across the organisation.

Another challenge we, and many other organisations, face, is data quality. We continue to work to develop strategies and standards as positive steps towards improving the quality of our data. This is evident in improved work practices across the organisation and better asset and maintenance planning.

MANAGING DATA OVERLOAD

We have implemented measures to ensure the data we collect has a defined business need, to avoid collecting and maintaining data that isn’t required. This includes gathering business requirements and rationale up front whenever there is a data request. While this curbs the rate of increase in data volumes, an overall increase is unavoidable given the nature of some of the data we collect (e.g. time series data).

We have made significant investments in the EDW over the past four years as part of the solution to cope with increasing data volumes, and we are continually looking into future technologies and cloud-based solutions, to help us manage the storage and analysis of high velocity data. Adoption of any approach to increase data sources will be subject to business need and ultimately, what it means in terms of benefits to our customers.

KEEPING DATA SAFE FROM CYBER THIEVES

We, like any other organisation, understand we can’t protect ourselves from all cyber threats – we are focused on building resilience and shared threat intelligence to identify attacks and minimise impacts.

An important component of managing cyber security risks is our focus on detection capabilities and ensuring a defined, rapid response. We also have a strong collaboration with state and federal security specialists with our network being a part of the South Australian Government network called StateNet.

We also receive support from CERT Australia and the Cyber Security Operations Centre, and have partnered with leading managed cyber security providers to help us with 24/7 security coverage, and shared threat intelligence.

The security and privacy of the data we collect and use is of paramount importance for SA Water, which is why we have an annual information security program focused

specifically on continually improving our information security capabilities.

However, it is also important as part of our broader community responsibility, we share and provide access to data that is relevant to our customers, the community and other government agencies.

We want to be able to balance the need to provide information in our role as an essential service provider and government agency with the necessity to protect the security and privacy of our data.

Cyber security risks should be treated equally to other business risks – it is important to maintain clear linkage between cyber risks and consequential business impacts.

Organisations must also focus on training their workforce to recognise security threats, to define robust business processes and policies and leverage technology innovation to implement effective methods to monitor and prevent data leaving the business.

COLLABORATION UNLOCKING POTENTIAL

Big data is a really exciting area and one which is constantly evolving. The key challenge is in maintaining focus on delivering business value in any initiative. The potential value big data initiatives can add to business, particularly if implemented well, is immense but for this potential to be realised, there must be close collaboration between technology, data and business subject matter experts in achieving specific desired business outcomes.

That is where real business change and opportunity for value creation can happen. At SA Water, we have embarked on a ‘smart network’ capability. This will add further momentum towards big data implementation in SA Water. This solution will require collections of integrated, high volume, varied and velocity data from a large array of sensors and meters which is consolidation and analysed and findings are acted on in a timely manner. Phase 1 of this initiative is scheduled to be implemented in 2017.

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GOING BEYOND

Flying an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) beyond visual line of sight has long been a benchmark of sorts for operators around the world. Having the expertise, experience and approvals to be able to do so significantly expands the services an operator is able to offer to their clients.

Asset inspection industry leader Geomatic Technologies (GT) has been working towards Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operation of UAVs recently, and in late 2016, the company undertook its first BVLOS test flight.

Flying a UAV BVLOS is currently only permitted in Australia with special approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Approvals are granted on a case-by-case application and risk assessment. To date, only a handful of BVLOS flights have been undertaken in Australia, typically in remote areas away from people and infrastructure.

In the lead up to their inaugural test flight, GT worked closely and collaboratively with CASA to obtain the necessary permissions to undertake BVLOS flights over infrastructure easements in semi-urban areas.

With an approved window of flight time and the Delair-Tech DT-18 fixed wing aircraft, fitted with a RGB camera, as their craft, the dedicated UAV team conducted four successful flights, covering approximately 80km, capturing down-facing imagery.

• GT’s John Perkins, Chief UAV Controller said, “This is a milestone in our industry and we are extremely proud to be leaders in this emerging technology. Not only will our investment in BVLOS technology significantly expand our offerings in linear asset and easement inspections, it will also provide considerable operational savings and growth opportunities for our organisation.”

“This is the first step in developing a deeper understanding of exactly what is possible with this technology, and what configuration is required to perform different types of inspections,” said Mr Perkins.

The trials have taught GT valuable lessons about:

• Communication range and challenges

• Maximum bank angles and impact of lost imagery whilst banking

• Impact of wind and turbulence on imagery coverage

• Optimal flying height

• Speed and sustainability of the processed datasets for automated change detection and feature extraction

“These lessons will assist further trials that will utilise

THE LINE OF SIGHT

larger aircraft, carry payloads similar to our manned aircraft operations, and fit seamlessly into our established data processing, modelling and visualisation workflows,” said Gary Butcher, Innovation and Solutions Manager for GT.

The DT-18 aircraft used in GT’s trial was the first UAV system certified for BVLOS operations. The aircraft has good local support for training, servicing and maintenance; and it has a soon-to-be-released big brother (DT-26) which is capable of carrying an engineering grade LiDAR unit suitable for vegetation assessment and conductor modelling applications.

THE FUTURE

There is an international push to develop BVLOS applications, given the extensive opportunities and benefits this technology provides. There is a large investment in technology to enable the safe and efficient operation of UAVs whilst in parallel there is considerable work being done to define standards and regulations.

In the not too distant future UAVs will have collision avoidance sensors enabling them to detect other aircraft and take evasive action. There will be standardisation of communication protocols and transponder technology so aircraft will be aware of other airspace users, and where required air traffic control can monitor and direct air traffic.

This will make it easier and quicker to fly BVLOS operations, enabling us to safely and efficiently utilise BVLOS UAVs for a wide range of aerial services. Geomatic Technologies want to be leaders in this emerging technology providing opportunities for operational savings and growth.

“We believe this technology will significantly improve the efficiency of our existing aerial services. Over time, it will also enable us to undertake more frequent data capture to support automated change detection and analytics, along with the ability to rapidly deploy aerial sensors across hard to access areas in the event of an emergency,” added Mr Butcher.

GT will continue working with CASA to gain approvals to utilise BVLOS UAV operations in situations where there is a clear benefit in utilising this technology. This includes undertaking existing electricity network inspection services for AusNet Services, and offering a range of easement and linear infrastructure inspection services to utilities such as vegetation encroachment modelling and asset condition assessment.

One of the key strategic goals of the Geomatic Technologies UAV program is to develop the capability to fly camera and LiDAR equipped UAVs safely and autonomously over long distances. This will allow operations such as aerial easement assessments and vegetation mapping to be performed safely with significantly reduced costs, and will allow for rapid mobilisation of responsive operations for AusNet Services and external customers.

At present, whilst the technology is available to perform BVLOS UAV operations, the process of getting the required approvals from CASA is based on a detailed site specific risk assessment, which takes time and resources. Over the next few years, this will change and Geomatic Technologies wants to be a leader in this space, leveraging their core expertise in linear asset and easement inspections.

Flying a drone BVLOS is especially challenging as manned and unmanned aircraft need to learn to share the same airspace. The risk of a drone colliding with a manned aircraft resulting in a crash is the primary risk that needs to be mitigated.

Applications for BVLOS flights have to demonstrate how these risks are mitigated and involve a detailed assessment of the airspace, airspace users, the local environment, local weather conditions, the aircraft and communication/telemetry performance.

CUT RED TAPE New drone rules

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Civil Engineering Solutions

With over 30 years of consulting experience in the design and delivery of civil infrastructure, we offer high level expertise for land development & infrastructure projects including:

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New rules that cut the cost and red tape of operating very small commercial drones while protecting public safety took effect in 2016.

People and organisations wanting to fly commercial drones with a maximum take-off weight of less than two kilograms no longer need to apply for a certificate and licence from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

This means very small commercial drone operators can avoid the requirement to pay about $1400 in regulatory fees, as well as the need to develop manuals and other documentation.

Public safety is being protected by a requirement to follow strict operating conditions at all times.

There is also a requirement to complete an online notification process so CASA has the details of all undertwo-kilogram commercial drone operators.

Operators must acknowledge they know and will follow the strict operating conditions and will comply with the Civil Aviation Act and regulations. Penalties can be issued by CASA for breaches of the regulations.

The operating conditions for under-two-kilogram commercial drones include only flying during the day and in line of sight, no flying within 30 metres of people, no flying above 120m, no flying within 5.5km of a controlled airport and no flying over populous areas such as beaches, parks and sporting ovals.

Drones must not be flown in an area near emergency operations such as firefighting, accidents or search and rescue.

Anyone who wants to operate an under-two-kilogram commercial drone outside the standard operating conditions must apply to CASA for a remotely piloted aircraft operator’s certificate and a remote pilot licence.

The new rules also introduce a category for landholders which means drones up 25 kilograms can be operated without the need for CASA approvals.

This can be done as long as the drone is only operated on the landholder's or leaseholder’s own property and there is no remuneration. The notification requirement applies.

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CYBER SECURITY: ARE YOU PREPARED?

As the internet of things allows utilities to digitalise their networks, cyber criminals are increasingly looking to target the assets and data that relates to our critical infrastructure. In 2017, utilities need to ask the question: are we prepared for the wave of criminal activity surging towards the industry?

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Threat Report 2016 found that in the past financial year, the energy sector was the most targeted by cyber criminals – of 14,804 cyber security incidents, a massive 18 per cent were targeting the energy industry.

Of the 14,804 incidents, 418 involved systems of national interest and critical infrastructure.

These are sobering statistics, and ones the utility industry needs to pay serious attention to.

Experts agree that Australian networks – such as those of utilities – that hold large amounts of personally identifiable information will continue be targeted by cyber adversaries.

Cyber attacks that target utility equipment and systems can also cause long, expensive delays, due to high industry equipment customisation and longer-than-average lead times.

As utility infrastructure becomes increasingly interconnected and dependence on the grid rises, attacks on the sector could result in widespread damage to the Australian population.

According to the ACSC, when it comes to cyber security, “prevention is better than a cure”, and they recommend companies take appropriate preparation, including identifying, monitoring, maintaining critical systems and processes.

It’s also important that utilities have systems in place for swift response in the event of cyber attack, such a lists for emergency personnel or mechanisms to identify affected parts of the network.

The ACSC also recommends that utilities reflect on how much personal information they actually need to collect, the systems that are in place to protect it, with whom it is shared, and expectations on the staff who manage the information.

The threats that utilities will face when it comes to cyber crime are a frightening prospect - but they don’t have to be debilitating. There are many strategies, techniques and technologies that utilities can employ to protect their networks, and keep their customers and assets safe from hackers.

Secure Utilities, being held at the Rendezvous Hotel in Melbourne on March 23, will explore the threats utilities face when it comes to cybercrime - but most importantly, we’ll be providing you with the solutions that will help ensure your utility is protected from attack.

For more information, and to register to attend, head to www.utilityevents.com.au or contact organisers Monkey Media on 03 9988 4950.

SECURE UTILITIES: MANAGING DATA IN THE DIGITAL AGE

www.utilityevents.com.au

23 March 2017

Rendezvous Hotel, Melbourne

HOW UTILITIES CAN AVOID DIGITAL DISAPPOINTMENT

For years, ‘digital’ has been heralded as the disruptive solution that will allow organisations to drive growth and transform their operations, but the digitalisation of utility operations needs to be handled with care in order to avoid digital disappointment.

In the utilities marketplace, digital capabilities can be leveraged across the entire value chain – energy generation, transport, distribution and consumer demand. According to a recent report by Accenture, 80 per cent of utilities and energy providers plan to increase or maintain investments in digital capabilities to manage costs and enhance revenues. Most digital investment strategies also focus on engaging energy consumers who, on average, are 20 per cent more likely to buy additional related goods and services using a digital channel.

Digital adds value when enabling people and capabilities. For instance, while email may be the current default tool for collaborative communication, technological advancements in video, social media and the Industrial Internet of Things all represent new opportunities to enhance teamwork and partnerships. In addition, analytics capabilities in real-time processing, visualisation and alerting demonstrate the huge potential organisations have to respond to customer behaviour. Lastly, energy self-sufficiency, storage, distributed generation and microgrid usage are all set to grow in importance over the next few years, creating new areas of opportunity for energy providers. In light of this, the benefits of digital enablement have sparked great expectations, particularly amongst a new generation of customers entering the market – and as a result, a new benchmark has been set.

Millennials are set to become the largest energy consuming cohort by 2020 and more than any other generation, they expect strong digital experiences from their energy providers. According to Accenture’s recent New Energy Consumer survey, 75 per cent of Australian millennials are likely to consider switching to a different energy provider if their provider is not able to

provide a seamless digital experience. These expectations are particularly impactful in an environment where traditional business models are eroded by new threats.

Today, the energy market confronts ongoing challenges posed by falling energy prices, the reduction in demand, increased cost of customer service and an emergence of new energy technologies. These challenges all represent a catalyst for change.

Given the undeniable value organisations place on harnessing digital, the question remains; how can organisations prevent themselves from suffering 'digital disappointment'?

In order to optimise investment and deliver better digital solutions, energy providers must alter existing workflows and processes and overcome concerns about physical and cyber security. In order to minimise ‘digital disappointment’, organisations should consider the following:

1. Avoid the age old “build it and they will come” approach where technology is deployed without a strong emphasis on changes to underlying business practices and workplace capabilities. Network operators will struggle to maintain their relevance unless they adapt to new models and offer more than just basic infrastructure while quickly expanding their range of services. New market entrants that prioritise digital are constantly sprouting up in Australia to meet the needs of the digitally savvy citizens. For instance, Telstra is entering the energy market by leveraging its capabilities to provide users with a bundled value proposition.

2. Adopt a 360-degree holistic approach that is human-centered in advancing technological changes alongside culture, marketing, process change and governance structures. For today’s energy consumer, energy is no longer just

a commodity. It has become an expression of who they are and what they value. As consumer attitudes shift toward greater alignment with their personalities and values, leading energy providers can engage consumers looking for more than a core product. They can generate interest in broader lines, such as connected products and services.

3. Incentivise employees and consumers to achieve a positive attitude towards digital transformation as well as encourage innovation. The ability to understand changing customer needs and behaviours is, of course, vital. But the real deciding factor in the era of intelligence will be a company’s ability to evolve its corporate culture to not only take advantage of emerging technologies but also, critically, embrace the new business strategies that those technologies drive.

4. Enable short-cycle investments based on insights derived from a more robust and ongoing analytics capability. Establish a baseline of current performance levels to ensure benefits and capabilities can be calibrated.

5. Use digital capabilities to simplify the experience of customers, employees and shareholders alike. People are now continuously online, moving seamlessly among the web, phone and social media whilst messaging across multiple devices. Digital services should be designed so that regardless of the channel the consumer is using, the customer experience stays the same and is easy to complete. Ideally, the transition from channel to channel should also be as simple and seamless as possible. These steps work to meet growing customer expectations, ease the transition towards a new generation of capability and enable ongoing growth across the energy market.

Major investment in

NEW SYDNEY WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

Sydney Water is investing a record $2.2 billion over the 2016-2020 cycle to upgrade and expand its water and wastewater infrastructure.

Kevin Young, Managing Director at Sydney Water said “Sydney Water’s infrastructure projects provide the foundation and investment to allow for the growth of Sydney.

“We are helping to fulfil the dream for thousands of extra families to own a home in Sydney, one of the world’s most liveable cities.

“A key driver for the investment program is to deliver quality services to Sydney Water customers while reducing customer bills, which we have been able to deliver in real terms by around $100 a year.

“The next two years of the infrastructure program includes some significant growth projects to support expansion in the North West and South West growth areas of Sydney.”

THE PROJECTS

Lower South Creek in Sydney’s South West is a $300 million program that will provide new and upgraded wastewater infrastructure to support an additional half million people in Sydney’s West by 2040, providing significant improvements to the quality, capacity and reliability of the wastewater system in the area.

The Lower South Creek Treatment Program will be managed by the WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff and UGL Limited joint venture on behalf of Sydney Water.

The Lower South Creek project includes amplified wastewater treatment facilities at Riverstone Wastewater Treatment Plant and St Mary’s Water Recycling Plant, and a new 12km pipeline from St Marys to the Quakers Hill Water Recycling Plant, which will be completed by December 2018. A new biological nutrient removal plant at the Quakers Hill Water Recycling Plant will be completed in December 2019.

PLANNING FOR GROWTH

Sydney Water plans to invest around $800 million in catering for growth across greater Sydney, with most of that investment to take place in Sydney’s North West and South West. This includes not only investment in the network, but also upgrades to existing facilities such as wastewater treatment plants.

NORTH WESTERN SYDNEY

Sydney Water is planning for the next stages of growth in western precincts of the North West Priority Growth Area, including Marsden Park, Marsden Park Industrial, Marsden Park North and Schofields West. While this project is still in the

early stages of planning, this represents a long term investment of more than $130 million, and will provide water and wastewater services for around 20,000 new dwellings.

SOUTH WESTERN SYDNEY

In the South West at Oran Park, the construction of a $27 million wastewater pumping station and the installation of around eight kilometres of wastewater pipelines will allow for 7,000 new homes to be built in the area. This is in addition to the Sydney Water wastewater projects just completed in nearby Leppington and Austral, allowing a further 12,000 new dwellings in the area to be constructed. The project at Austral involved the construction of a new wastewater pumping station and 4.2km pipelines at a cost of $19 million. Two wastewater pumping stations and 12km of pipeline were built at Leppington at a cost of $45 million.

INVESTING IN THE EXISTING NETWORK

As well as delivering projects that will cater for growth, Sydney Water will invest in existing infrastructure to ensure the continued reliability of the water and wastewater system.

Major upgrades planned include:

• A $100 million program to upgrade the Northern Suburbs Ocean Outfall Sewer network, which collects about 25 per cent of the Sydney Basin’s wastewater and runs from Blacktown to North Head. The work will include de-silting and repairs to this critical pipeline between West Ryde and North Head.

• Upgrading the biosolids stream at North Head Wastewater Treatment Plant, increasing capacity to improve the quality of the biosolids, manage odour and ensure the plant can continue to meet growth in the catchment.

• Separating Sydney’s last remaining combined stormwater/wastewater system. The $45 million Woolloomooloo Separation Project aims to help reduce the number of wet weather wastewater overflows to Woolloomooloo Bay. The project will involve construction of 4.2km of new wastewater pipes, 650m of new stormwater pipes and the connection of 220 properties. Construction will start in 2017 and take approximately two years to finish.

Major investment in new Sydney Water infrastructure WATER

OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONTRACTORS AND SUPPLIERS

The program roll out over the next four years and will provide significant opportunities for contractors and suppliers in the wastewater and water sectors.

Mark Simister, Delivery Manager at Sydney Water, said “Sydney Water is driving better customer outcomes by working more collaboratively and innovatively with suppliers and contractors to reduce time and cost, while ensuring quality delivery.

“We have adopted a new approach to procure planning, design and specialist services – using the Delivery Partner model. We’re looking forward to partnering with the best of industry to deliver these important infrastructure projects to drive the growth of our city.

“Sydney Water is the first water utility in Australia to use this innovative delivery model to deliver best outcomes for customers and government.

“The Delivery Partner model is a highly collaborative performance-based approach, where the delivery partner takes accountability for the overall program outcomes and manages contractors, while Sydney Water remains principal for those contracts.

“Using the Delivery Partner model for a program of works, Sydney Water is able to realise cost efficiencies through packaging of works, improved supply chain integration and uniform procurement of materials and construction contracts.

“We can now cater for accelerated mobilisation, team integration and delivery implementation. We have also designed the model to be agile enough to take advantage of changing technical priorities and customer needs, along with cost and scheduling opportunities.

“The model will benefit our customers by providing better access to industry expertise, innovation and management resources, and the new approach allows us to better manage multiple concurrent projects for professional services, supply and construction.

“We conducted market sounding in August 2016 to ensure a fair and diligent process, which secures the best outcome for the projects and for our customers.”

Sydney is entering a period of rapid housing growth, and Kevin Young summed the situation up best when he said “Without the investment in infrastructure by Sydney Water, this growth is not possible”.

CITY TO LIFE Bringing New “Work”

Forget New York City – New Work City boasts the largest office building in Germany. The Squaire is where modern business meets luxury lifestyle in the midst of cutting edge architecture.

Opened in 2011, The Squaire is located directly on top of a train station that adjoins Frankfurt Airport. The building boasts a length that is twice the height of the Eiffel Tower and 145,000 square metres of total floor area. Known as a “groundscraper” due to its mediumrise design that spreads horizontally instead of vertically, it embodies the pursuit of architecture that communicates with citizens and the street.

Construction of The Squaire involved 20,000 tonnes of steel, 60,000 cubic metres of concrete, 7,000 doors, 2,000 glass panes and 97 lifts and escalators make up the impressive mega-structure. Two sophisticated systems that are integral to the smooth functioning of the property are the drinking water installation and heating systems – no small feat considering they’re situated at the heart of Germany’s largest air travel hub.

Such a large-scale project can be a challenge – however Viega, a world leader in press-fit technology, has extensive experience in providing tailored, effective solutions for international facilities such as The Squaire.

One of the main considerations for an establishment such as this is the fact that all systems need to cope with 24/7 demand 365 days a year, and be able to work alongside a number of other systems.

Viega’s Sanpress Inox stainless steel and Prestabo galvanised steel press-fit piping systems were utilised in the creation of heavy duty piping networks throughout the entire building – including offices, stores, restaurants, conference facilities, a childcare centre and even doctor’s offices.

Viega’s systems are able to not only meet these needs, but also go above and beyond to ensure the long term reliability and consistent quality of the building’s drinking water and heating operations.

Viega’s Smart Connect-Feature, a patented feature of Viega’s press-fit piping systems, enabled a safer and faster form of connection than welding. If a joint has not been pressed, the leak will show up instantly during testing, even with very low pressure, and it can be pressed without draining the line, eliminating possible issues in a later stage of construction.

This means the installation of extensive piping systems such as those inside The Squaire can be coordinated and completed with greater work safety, speed and reliability.

Uniting data to increase OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE

In 2004, Maroochy Shire Council on Australia’s Sunshine Coast was wrestling with the problem of how to smooth water and energy demands on two water treatment plants and maximise network asset utilisation.

The operators of the Landers Shute and Image Flat water treatment plants in the former Maroochy Shire believed that smoothed flow profiles were essential to improving the operability, efficiency and water quality of their respective plants.

Unitywater’s Engineering Operations Manager, Michael Doherty, was the Network Operations Manager at the time. As the technical lead of the project, he said the challenge was to remove the demand peaks from the water treatment plant supply and to achieve linear flow requirements across the 24-hour day, while maintaining water pressure standards of service and minimum storage levels throughout the reticulation system.

With two treatment plants, 22 reservoirs, four pump stations and 13 flow control valve sites of significant demand and supply, the challenge was beyond the ability of the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system’s automatic control, according to Mr Doherty. The team turned to AQUADVANCED Energy.

“SUEZ’s team started from scratch in solving the problem. They went through a three-month data gathering phase, developing schematics of the network and the network interactions. They engaged our operators and all staff involved in existing processes, including the SCADA staff, and a hydraulic model was developed,” Mr Doherty explained.

“Once they had all the data, they then optimised and implemented the AQUADVANCED Energy software. SUEZ had their Systems Engineer onsite for the first three months

following the go-live. We were very impressed with the ability of the team to get to know us and our business and to work with us as a single team to implement the solution.

“The results exceeded our expectations. Not only did AQUADVANCED Energy solve the problem of smoothing demand on the water treatment plants, but it also played a wider role in providing economical, reliable, proven distribution of water within Maroochy Shire. The installation was the first in Australia and we have given many demonstrations of its operation to interested visitors from other water utilities around the country,” Mr Doherty said.

PREDICTING DEMAND

The AQUADVANCED Energy solution schedules pump run and flow control valve set point predictions for the following 48 hours. This is achieved by using historic data, seasonal demands and current reservoir levels to calculate a predicted demand profile for each of the controlled reservoirs.

AQUADVANCED Energy displays the predicted demands over a 24-hour period with site and total predicted demand and actual volumes provided live on screen. A daily report is emailed to system operators and support personnel, for a summary of the system’s operation.

The system reads reservoir level and system flow rates from the SCADA outstations every 10 minutes and performs a “solution” calculation every 30 minutes, resulting in a control set point command being sent to each pump and control valve under AQUADVANCED Energy control. The

30-minute solutions fine tune the predicted values and quickly adapt to demand fluctuations for each site. This compensation takes into account events, such as a sudden rainstorm, where demand can quickly reduce by up to 30 per cent.

Using the predictive and modelling capabilities of AQUADVANCED Energy, maintenance throughout the network could now be scheduled intelligently. By being able to accurately predict demand, operators could use the system to schedule maintenance in such a way as to maintain pressure and later quality throughout the system. In day-to-day operations, AQUADVANCED Energy has reduced dependence on individual operators, often with differing ideas on how to manage the system for best efficiency.

AQUADVANCED Energy’s algorithmbased calculation of factors such as system pressures and pump curves not only reduces the demands on operators but also makes it much easier to train new operators and to ensure highly consistent and highly efficient operational decision making. Water quality has also improved with AQUADVANCED Energy taking into account water storage and water age by automatically turning over water in the reservoirs. Along with sophisticated operational optimisation comes real-time operational support from the SUEZ team. As part of an annual service agreement, SUEZ’s technical experts receive emailed status messages and can monitor the system in a remote connection, ensuring the system runs according to specification at all times.

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AQUADVANCED™ Energy offers a proven real-time optimization system for sustainable water distribution to ensure high quality water is delivered where it is needed.

SEVEN SOLUTIONS FOR A PERFECTLY SPACED PIPELINE

A perfectly spaced pipe is a critical element of a successful pipeline installation. Well-chosen spacers can save time, money and prolong the life of your pipeline. Below we outline seven factors to consider when choosing spacers for your next pipeline project.

Designed and developed by drilling professionals, kwikZIP spacers have been helping the pipeline industry centre or strategically place pipelines within a casing for a number of years.

Manufactured from high grade thermoplastics with a unique injection-moulded segment design, kwik-ZIP spacers are recommended by numerous regulatory agencies and international engineering consulting firms.

kwik-ZIP maintains a focus on price effectiveness, simplicity and rapid on-site assembly, to ensure that its systems deliver significant cost, time and operational advantages to end user customers.

Here’s seven reasons to try kwik-ZIP today.

1. ABRASION PROTECTION

Standard acetal POM is well known among engineering plastics as being one of the best performers when it comes to applications requiring excellent abrasion/wear resistance and a low coefficient of friction. Standard Acetal POM is better than materials such as nylon and HDPE in this regard.

kwik-Zip’s HDX spacer range is constructed with wear pads on the runners, made from an acetal polyoxymethylene (POM) material called Kepital TS-25H that has been specially modified to attain even better abrasion resistance and a lower coefficient of friction than standard and other specialty grades of acetal POM, especially under high load conditions.

2. REDUCED INSERTION FORCES

The material composition of kwik-ZIP spacers actually allows for greater run lengths and the use of lower insertion forces during installation.

The use of lower insertion forces in particular allows contractors to reduce the size of machine required to complete an installation, saving money, energy and physical space at the job site.

3. DAMAGE PREVENTION

As a pipeline is pushed through a casing pipe, there is potential for the pipeline being installed to be damaged in the process.

When a kwik-ZIP spacer is used, it creates a clearance of between 38 and 125mm between the pipeline and the casing

it is being installed into, protecting the pipe against any abrasion which may occur during installation, and over the lifetime of the pipeline.

4. ADJUSTABLE SIZE

Typically, spacers will be manufactured to fit a particular pipe diameter. This means that different sizes of spacers are required for different pipe diameters.

kwik-ZIP however manufactures adjustable spacers, meaning that the same spacers can be used for varying pipe diameters – adding an extra layer of flexibility. If you order too many spacers, they can just be used on your next job, and if your job requires a variety of annular clearances, the same kwik-ZIP spacers can be adjusted to meet the needs across a project.

5. SHORT LEAD TIMES

Many suppliers to the Australian market are providing a foreign product – which means longer lead times. When you choose Kwik-ZIP, you are choosing an Australian product, which can be shipped to your job site quickly and cost-efficiently, no matter how quickly you need them.

6. LOW CO-EFFICIENT OF FRICTION

The runners on kwik-ZIP spacers have a very low coefficient of friction, allowing for the quick and easy insertion of carrier pipe inside a casing.

7. UNDER PRESSURE

Using a unique 'load sharing runner' system, each kwikZIP spacer unit maximises its weight-bearing capacity by distributing the pipe load across multiple runners. This reduces point loading at any one location, boosting and optimising the overall support capacity of the spacer exponentially as pipe size increases.

The 'load sharing runner' system also delivers a suspension and dampening effect, resulting in a reduction in the transfer of potentially damaging vibration and movement from the outer casing to the carrier pipe. This may be beneficial in tectonically active regions or high traffic areas where ongoing external vibration affects the outer casing.

Sewer Level Monitoring: An End to End Telemetry Solution

A Product Partnership in Practice: Metasphere’s Point Colour RTUs, Pulsar’s dBi ultrasonic level sensor and Metasphere’s web based data visualisation and notification platform ‘Palette’.

Together they provide a proactive, cost-effective and near real time monitoring and data management solution for sewer level monitoring to alarm for uncontrolled discharge.

l A solution, for both low and high flow discharge scenarios, where the capacity of the network is compromised by blockages, leading to uncontrolled spillages and environmental health hazards. A situation that can put responsible utilities in breach of Key Performance Indicators with a resulting risk of financial penalties.

l A reduction in costs associated with sewer level monitoring: removing the need for mains power, street furniture and reducing installation, on-going operation and maintenance time spent.

l A reduction in health and safety risks for water utility staff by limiting on-site visits and the need to access confined spaces.

An end to end solution currently in use in NSW, QLD and VIC to help prevent blockages and uncontrolled overflows, raw sewerage from affecting communities and utilities from being fined.

To find out more contact email info@metasphere.net.au or call 1300 785 681

www.metasphere.net.au

ManagingDIVERSE NETWORKS

In today’s climate of water scarcity, the enhanced visibility of networks, along with improved data and water security, is somewhat of a holy grail for water utilities.

In its discussion paper Water Security for all Australians, the Australian Water Association (AWA) says Australia can’t afford to be complacent about water security in urban, regional, rural or remote communities. This is especially true since surface water from streams, rivers and reservoirs is a major source of urban drinking water in Australia. In some locations, such as Perth, there is a heavy reliance on groundwater, while sea water, via desalination, has also become an important new source in several cities.

These various sources all require collection, treatment and delivery to customers, and water utilities and other providers have a clear responsibility to deliver safe drinking water to customers. AWA says the four key areas that must be taken into account when determining water security are: safe and affordable drinking water, water to support industry and agriculture, water management to create liveable communities, and water to protect the environment.

Taking these into account, the management of a diverse and geographically spread water network is a large and complex task. Variables and interactions are everywhere; and the best management decisions can only be made where there is a high level of knowledge about the variables and circumstances that exist within the network.

Data about a network can be gathered in many ways, ranging from traditional manual sampling and laboratory analysis through to remote, real-time monitoring of single or multiple parameters. Because of increasing and competing demands being placed on utilities, there is a growing need for automated remote monitoring and reporting of a wide spectrum of data, in both real-time and near real-time.

Remote real-time water quality monitoring and reporting has typically been a lengthy, complex and costly undertaking.

However one company, Ayyeka Technologies, has re-thought the issues of remote monitoring and has developed an innovative new approach which simplifies the task of implementing remote monitoring for any measureable parameter.

The system, known as the Wavelet Kit, is comprised of field mounted hardware, cloud-based software and a user-friendly web-based user interface. It incorporates military-grade cyber security, and is easily integrated with existing SCADA systems. Alternatively, the Wavelet kit can bypass the Ayyeka Cloud server and send its data directly to a customer’s SCADA system. It is simple and affordable to buy, install and operate; making it both practical and economically feasible at any scale, from a single point to the largest network that may exist within the entire 'catchment to consumer' system.

The Wavelet kit is a plug-and-play solution that fills the gap between field measurements and having the data where you

want it, when you want it.

The Wavelet device is contained in an IP68-rated housing, and incorporates a military grade lithium-ion battery, which together with the use of low power components and user configurable communications intervals, enables the unit to run autonomously for long periods of time typically covering 3,500+ transmissions. The Wavelet can also accept external power from various sources including solar.

Data communication is via the cellular telephone network. Each Wavelet is delivered with a global SIM, which will automatically detect and connect to local networks. SIGFOX communication is now also available.

While the Wavelet can be integrated with almost any sensor that has a signal output, a further innovation is to offer a range of pre-integrated standard kits, which include sensors from some of the world’s leading suppliers, including APG, Schneider Electric, Hach, Ponsel, Veolia, SEBA, Xylem, Turner Designs and others.

Wavelets are already deployed in a rapidly growing number of locations throughout Israel and the United States. Monitoring applications include:

• Pressure in wastewater and water supply systems

• Water quality in drinking water distribution systems

• Water quality and level in remote aquifers

• Combined Sewer Overflow

• Wastewater discharge

• Oilfield wastewater quality

• Sea level and temperature

Optimos Solutions has recently introduced the Ayyeka Wavelet Kit into the Australian and New Zealand markets, and has found a high level of interest from utilities, manufacturers, water treatment system manufacturers and consultants. Early applications are in wastewater treatment plant performance monitoring, aquaculture water quality monitoring, drinking water distribution system water quality monitoring and recycled water reservoir level and water quality monitoring.

For more information about Optimos Solutions and the Ayyeka Wavelet Kit, visit www.optimos.com.au or email info@optimos.com.au.

innovative safety solutions.

Halliday Products has manufactured aluminium access covers since 1972. Our founding force was the desire to provide a cost-effective and more reliable product than a steel hatch, which was the industry standard at the time. Since then we have added a full line of allied and accessory aluminium and stainless steel products for the municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment industries.

Lifetime guarantee.

PIPE FLANGE SPECIFICATION, SIMPLIFIED

Bolted flange connections have been a mainstay of pipeline construction for decades and are frequently the first choice joint chosen by designers connecting pipes, valves and fittings manufactured from dissimilar materials.

In recent years, the increasing popularity of highpressure polyethylene pipe in sizes larger than DN900 has resulted in the up-scaling of the low-tech stub adaptor flanges that were originally conceived for nondemanding irrigation applications. Often the pipeline designer has no access to reliable engineering data, and so leaves the task of determining an appropriate torque to the installer, or more frequently, the supplier of flange components. It’s likely the supplier has no real understanding of the intended application, design pressure, bolt grade or gasket type intended.

Iplex Communication Manager Cindy Bray said “These realities, combined with contractors’ reliance on experience gained with metallic pipe flanges, may result in leaks during pressure testing. Attempts to stem the leakage through extra bolt tensioning may only worsen the situation, and ultimately, after several unsuccessful attempts, our sales engineers will receive a phone call claiming our flanges are faulty. If the designer had access to good information early in the process a lot of trouble could be avoided.”

Flanged PE pipe joints are an assembly consisting of components that are likely to have been manufactured by a variety of companies and from varying plastic and non-plastic materials. There is currently no Australian Standard for PE flanges, leaving manufacturers with no option other than to

develop their own product specifications or supply imported European components that are typically intended for use in 10 bar applications.

The assembled joint must be able to transfer long-term axial forces whilst maintaining essential gasket-sealing stress over the anticipated 50 to 100-year service life of the pipeline. However polyethylene’s viscoelasticity will inevitably result in creep of the flange faces, which reduces the gasket sealing stress developed during initial bolt tensioning.

In the case of stub adaptor flanges, there is an additional risk due to the relatively small contact surface area between the steel backing ring and the flange’s shoulder: that excessive bolt force will cause compressive yielding of the PE flange. This situation presents as an apparent loosening of bolts and commonly, leaks will develop.

Faced with these complexities, what is a PE pipeline designer to do?

“Iplex has been working on an on-line solution to enable designers and installers to access guidance on PE flanges, including their configuration, the gasket and bolt type, torque and a tensioning procedure,” said Ms Bray. “The tool has formed part of our PocketENGINEER™ suite and allows users to input actual system conditions and instantly access a flange tightening specification.”

PocketENGINEER™ was launched early in 2016 with three design tool applicable to plastics piping system and has now been expanded to include the Flange Bolt Torque Calculator. For more information visit: www.pocketengineer.com.au or call 1300 0 IPLEX (1300 0 47539).

PocketENGINEER™ was launched early in 2016 with three design tools applicable to plastics piping system and

Make the right choice, on time and on-site with the Iplex Pocket ENGINEER ™ ACCESS

With data compiled via internationally accepted standards and specifications, the Iplex PocketENGINEER™ offers portable convenience and the confidence to make the best and most optimal, pipeline choices. Conveniently access this free application via mobile or desktop web browser. Features include an intuitive Flexible Pipe Deflection Tool, a complete list of Chemical Resistance Pipe Data, the official PIPA Guidelines and new to PocketENGINEER™ the Flange Bolt Torque Calculator. Get the information you need, where you need it and free with the Iplex PocketENGINEER™

PROVIDING USERS GUIDANCE WITH A RANGE OF CONFIGURATIONS AND CONNECTIONS 1300

SMART CITY NETWORKS – HORSES FOR COURSES

Just like any purchasing decision in business or in life, when considering the digitalisation of your network, the first question you must always ask is: what do I actually need?

When considering modes of transport, you have a wide range of options which are quickly filtered when you analyse your requirements. If all you need is something to get you to the shops and back, a bicycle, scooter or small car may be enough. On the other hand, you’d probably choose a semi-trailer if you want to ship pallets of groceries interstate. It’s worth noting that there’s no one form of transport which satisfies all transport needs cost-effectively.

In the same way, choosing the most appropriate means of communication for your big data, smart city or internet of things (IoT) application requires careful assessment of the available technologies and their suitability for your particular application. Important aspects that need to be considered include network availability, endpoint availability and lifecycle cost and the cost of managing the data acquisition system overall. Of these, it is the endpoint that will most likely dominate the cost side of your big data project cost/ benefit analysis.

Despite the ever-reducing cost of electronics, for IoT endpoints that do not have a local power supply, batteries are the most expensive component. Their size and cost are dictated by such things as communicating range, datarate, frequency of reporting and whether or not two-way transmissions are needed.

If your application is to collect periodic pressure data from thousands of water pipes across your network, then you’ll need an endpoint that features medium-to-long range, one-way communication at low data rates on a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network like Taggle’s. On the other hand, if you want minute-by-minute control of a small number of

strategically located pressure reducing valves, then a more expensive 3G modem using a major carrier’s mobile network might be the best choice.

While there is a growing number of Low Power Wide Area networks in Australia, none of them will suit all of your needs. Like the transport analogy, you’ll need to consider your requirements, the options available and be open to the possibility that you may need to use a number of communications networks to cater for the different types of field devices in your network. Remember, the objective is to provide data for analysis and that the method of acquisition is just a means to that end.

Taggle Systems’ network, the most widely used LPWA network in Australia, uses a proprietary technology which is best suited to collecting small amounts of data from large numbers of field sensors distributed across wide areas. It’s currently used by more than 20 water utilities across the country to collect data from a range of sensors.

While we offer the most cost-effective wide area data acquisition service in the country, we recognise that our customers will want flexibility and choice for their smart city or IoT activities. So, where they see value in using LoRaWAN, NB-IoT or other IoT communications technologies for more demanding applications, we will make them available as part of our ongoing commitment to providing a long-term, low-cost managed data acquisition service.

By providing multiple communications technologies under the Taggle banner, we offer our customers a single point of engagement and a single data delivery platform to make it easier for them to manage their smart city or IoT projects.

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www.airliquide.com.au

Air Liquide assists private and public businesses, municipalities and water utility companies with a range of dedicated, industrial gas solutions for the treatment of water. Our expert teams will implement the most appropriate solutions on site for you to ensure optimal performance and adherence to the highest safety standards. Air Liquide’s experience means you can trust our highly reliable and cost effective gas technologies for the treatment and recycling of water in all industrial processes.

Flygt Concertor trial

A SUCCESS FOR SWEDISH MUNICIPALITY

Operators of a municipal wastewater pumping station in the rural town of Lomma on Sweden’s south-western coast agreed to install and trial a revolutionary new wastewater pumping system in an effort to solve clogging issues at the pump station.

As well as delivering clogfree pumping, Xylem’s Flygt Concertor, a state-of-the-art pumping system with integrated intelligence, significantly reduced energy consumption at the wastewater pumping station.

The operators were so impressed that they decided to purchase and permanently install the new system at the facility.

EFFICIENCY CHALLENGES

Lomma Municipality is located in the Skåne region of southern Sweden. It serves over 23,000 inhabitants in three main districts, including several villages and neighbouring communities. The municipality’s Civil Administration Unit is working intensively to expand and improve its services as its population has steadily grown over the last five years.

It is in this context that operators of the Borgeby Treatment Plant agreed to trial Concertor, Flygt’s new wastewater pumping system, in one of their pump stations. The main challenges were to improve plant efficiency and reduce instances of pump clogging, which typically required maintenance staff to intervene once a month.

DELIVERING CLOG-FREE PUMPING AND SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION

In June 2015, Flygt Concertor was installed at Flädie Lundavägen pumping station and the system’s performance was closely monitored over a period of six months. This showed that the newly installed system delivered a significant reduction in energy consumption. In addition to the energy savings, maintenance costs decreased by €1,300 annually.

Anders Sjöstrand, Manager at Borgeby Treatment Plant said, “Since installing Flygt Concertor we have seen a significant drop in our energy bill. Furthermore, maintenance call-outs have also been reduced to zero as the overall performance at the station has been greatly improved.

“We were so impressed with the system that we decided to replace our current system and install this new solution permanently at Flädie Lundavägen.”

Furthermore, the benefits of acquiring a system that is so flexible is that, in addition to the immediate positive impact of the trouble-free pumping and energy savings, operators can, for example, plan a significant

reduction in their pump stock, reducing the variety of pumps needed to cover all of their applications.

Lomma Municipality is aware of the inventory savings made possible with Flygt Concertor.

“By having Concertor with three outlet dimensions, we can drastically reduce our inventory as we won’t need so many varieties of pumps and impellers. We’re confident that this can deliver savings for us, and we are looking forward to seeing how it will work in the future,” concluded Sjöstrand.

One of Concertor’s unique features is its flexibility. Not only does this new system adjust pump performance based on actual flow requirements, making selection easier and guaranteeing optimal performance under variable flow, but it is also scalable, which means that it is possible for operators to add new functionality without losing their initial investment. This makes it suitable for challenges in many different sectors, being able to improve the efficiency of stations with different characteristics.

INTEGRATED NEW PUMPING SYSTEM WITH CONCERTOR™ INTELLIGENCE

WORLD’S FIRST WASTEWATER PUMPING SYSTEM WITH INTEGRATED INTELLIGENCE

This revolutionary system delivers optimal performance while reducing your total cost of ownership. It also offers unparalleled flexibility and simplicity on a whole new level. You might even say it thinks for itself. We invite you to enter a new era in wastewater pumping with Flygt Concertor.

See Flygt Concertor for yourself at the New South Wales Water Industry Operators Conference & Exhibition in Canberra, 29th & 30th March 2017.

One powerful solution. Unlimited possibilities.

You can now determine chemical oxygen demand (COD) quickly, cleanly and safely with the right measurement procedure – without any chemicals. The QuickCODlab ensures a high operational reliability and is easy to use. The measured values are output directly to a standard computer and can be quickly and easily processed. The COD measurement is available in just a few minutes!

IMPROVING WASTEWATER ANALYSIS AND TESTING

The parameter Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is of special importance in water analysis. In contrast to common cuvette tests, the COD can be measured in an environmentally-friendly way using high-temperature combustion technology.

COD is one of the most important sum parameters in water analysis as it provides a reference for organic loading in wastewater.

There are various methods currently available for laboratory use, such as dichromate reflux and cuvette digestion. However, the wet chemical potassium dichromate methods require the use of hazardous and dangerous chemicals that often become an OH&S concern, while cuvette tests may become costly for high-sample volumes due to nonautomated procedures.

LAR’s new QuickCODlab utilises the thermal oxidation method. A precision sample volume is injected directly into the reactor. Following injection, the sample is fully oxidized by the non-catalytic high-temperature combustion technology at 1,200°C

This method guarantees the complete oxidation of all organic substances. Compared to the cuvette test, no interferences with chlorides occur, which is preferable when rapid results are required.

TESTING IN ACTION

As one of the major issue to address in the AKIZ project, wastewater from industrial zone Tra Noc in Can Tho City, Vietnam, contained pollutants in dissolved, colloidal and particulate forms from seafood processing facilities in the area. This resulted in high amounts of nitrogen compounds and a varying composition of organic matter.

As part of this project, comparative measurements from wastewater were taken using both common cuvette tests and the new QuickCODlab.

The benefits of the new QuickCODlab were found to include:

• Fast analysis of oxygen demand in three minutes

• No chemicals required

• Practise-proven oxidation technique: high temperature combustion at 1,200°C

• Total oxygen demand (TOD) detection according to ASTM

WASTEWATER IN A FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROCESSING PLANT

When processing fruit and vegetable waste such as seeds and skin, as well as residues of processed products, food additives and salts are produced. Therefore, the composition of wastewater is very heterogeneous. Such samples have to

be pre-treated prior to measurement in order to ensure that particles within the sample are included.

Below are the results of the high temperature COD method comparable to the cuvette tests.

Deviation of the results demonstrate high level of oxidation at 1,200°C for samples with high amount of suspended matter, and shows that it detects the oxygen demand completely and reliably.

WASTEWATER IN A BEER BOTTLING FACILITY

Wastewater from brewing and bottling facilities can contain a myriad range of contaminants, including organics, sugars, paper fragments and high salt levels. QuickCODlab analyser can process alkaline wastewater with concentrations of up to 12g/L aluminium and 20g/L sodium hydroxide (used to remove bottle labels). The thermal oxidation technology, at 1200°C, allows the high salt concentrations to travel through reactor, discharging with the condensate.

The above table shows the LAR laboratory analyser detected the COD concentrations in line with common cuvette tests. After two years of implementation in the AKIZ Vietnam pilot facility for recovery of valuable materials by use of membrane filtration, QuickCODlab has proved it has many advantages in comparison to cuvette tests for a range of wastewater compositions.

Measurement results were available within two to four minutes based on the application and because the QuickCODlab analyser doesn’t require any chemicals, it prevented contamination of the environment, while being competitively cost-effective.

TAKING A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO MANAGING ASSETS

Melbourne Water is responsible for removing and treating most of Melbourne’s sewage. Modern and safe sewage treatment, while crucial to the health and amenity of a liveable city, is just one step in a process that begins in the pipes, sewers and drains built in the late 1800s, when Melbourne established its first integrated sewerage system.

Today, we manage a network of over 400km of sewers, nine pumping stations and two treatment plants. Each year this sewerage system removes and treats over 320,000 million litres of sewage – enough to fill 128,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

With a system of this scale delivering a critical service to an ever-expanding population, it’s crucial that we take a proactive approach to the maintenance and rehabilitation of our assets, to ensure we can continue to rely on them into the future and service to our customers is not compromised.

DEMAND FOR INNOVATION

A modern and efficient sewer system is something that most of us take for granted, but this wasn’t the case for the early settlers of this city. Right from the beginning our predecessors have had to innovate to meet huge growth in Melbourne’s population, and it’s a challenge we continue to face today.

We all know the tale of marvellous ‘Smellbourne’, the unfortunate nickname bestowed on our city by its detractors when, in the 1880s, Melbourne faced a huge public health problem, as waste from a city of approximately half a million was emptied into open drains.

This was the impetus for the sewerage system we have today, and many of the pipes, sewers and drains built when the first Melbourne homes were connected to the sewerage system in 1897 form part of our infrastructure base today.

As many of our sewer mains reach 100 or more years old, our approach to managing and rehabilitating Melbourne’s sewerage system has needed to become more and more proactive, as we find ourselves at a critical point for ensuring Melbourne continues to receive safe and reliable sewerage services.

OLD BECOMES NEW

The Carlton Main Sewer, for example, is a single brick sewer constructed back in 1900. The sewer

forms an important part of our network that services the areas of Carlton, Brunswick and Southern Coburg. Like much of this system, it was nearing the end of its operational life and needed to be upgraded.

Between October 2014 and October 2016 we upgraded this sewer using relining technology. We adopted a combination of cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) and the Expanda methodology. Expanda, which involves placing a machine inside the sewer that moves along and coats the inside with a PVC liner, was used for the circular sections of the sewer, and CIPP for the ovalshaped sections.

This method meant we could extend the life of this important asset by up to 50 years, whilst minimising impact on the community and environment. Using

Expanda meant there was no need to open up the ground. The majority of the works instead took place inside the existing sewer, with small sites set up around the existing manholes.

As part of this project we also constructed a new 510m sewer to take the stress off the Carlton Main Sewer during wet weather events and to cater for future population growth. This 1.2m diameter sewer was installed under Pigdon and Scotchmer Streets in Fitzroy North, and forms a key part of our proactive planning for projected growth and demand in this area.

OPERATING IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

In addition to planning for aging infrastructure, we also need to meet the challenges of rehabilitating essential

infrastructure in densely populated areas, and in areas that may be environmentally and culturally sensitive.

We adopt a variety of methods that help us carry out works in these locations with minimal disruption. In the last year we have managed ten major sewer rehabilitation projects within 10km of Melbourne’s CBD. These include completed projects in Carlton, Moonee Ponds and Essendon, with another three currently in construction and a further four in the design phase.

Another advantage of using innovative technology, such as the Expanda methodology adopted for the Carlton Main Sewer upgrade, is that it allows us to rehabilitate an asset while the sewer is still flowing, minimising impact to services.

The Merri Creek Main sewer rehabilitation project is another example where we have been able to combine traditional and modern techniques to minimise community impact. This project is currently in construction and involves relining sections of the sewer using a combination of CIPP and Expanda methodologies. Where the sewer cannot be relined, these sections will be decommissioned and approximately 700m of new sewer pipes constructed using open-cut trenching and horizontal directional drilling.

Early this year we will begin rehabilitating the Williamstown Main Sewer. This upgrade project is a great example of the need for us to trial and embrace new and innovative techniques to ensure we are getting not only the best service life from our

assets, but also minimising impact to the community.

Like many of our aging assets, recent inspections of the 100-year-old Williamstown Main Sewer revealed it is at the end of its operational life and needs to be upgraded. The sewer services over 7,600 properties in the suburbs of Williamstown, Newport and Spotswood and is a key part of Melbourne’s sewer network.

We will adopt sliplining technology –installing a new pipe inside the existing pipe – to rehabilitate this sewer to again extend the life of the sewer without having to dig it up.

This technology can also be used while there is a level of sewage flowing through the pipe. This will eliminate the need for bypass pumping, which has a significant noise and visual impact on the surrounding community, and sewerage services will also be kept operating during the works.

By using this method we will extend the life of the sewer by approximately 100 years and minimise the impact on surrounding residents and businesses during construction.

While Melbourne Water always aims to keep the customer at the centre of everything we do, our focus on proactive sewer management also holds an environmental imperative: if we can keep our assets in good working condition, we minimise the risk of sewage spills due to poor asset condition and thereby help protect the health and amenity of Melbourne’s waterways and bays.

Innovative, non-disruptive measures also mean that we can better protect

indigenous and cultural values while carrying out rehabilitation works. When we combine these with focused, carefully planned community and stakeholder engagement, our work in built up areas happens smoothly and with minimal disruption to customers.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

With Melbourne’s population expected to double in the next 15 years, demand for sewerage services will be at an all-time high.

We need to have confidence that our assets are performing as they should and will stand up to rapid population growth. That is why in addition to rehabilitation and upgrade projects we undertake a rigorous and proactive inspection program across our network.

Each year, we inspect over 60km of sewers and check on over 52km using closed circuit television. We also clean more than nine kilometres of sewers each year. This ensures we know the status of our assets and can put plans in place to upgrade them as necessary, well before this reaches a critical level or service is threatened.

At Melbourne Water we’re proud to provide sewerage services to the city that’s been dubbed ‘world’s most liveable’ time and again. As Melbourne continues to grow, we will need to continue to search for innovative ways to meet the needs of the community and protect environment and cultural values, while meeting our service obligations to our customers.

An instant, wireless view into any sewer,

stormwater pipeline

Pipeline assessment—it’s essential to prioritising CCTV and maintenance work, planning cleaning and rehab, and achieving compliance.

Using the patented new Quickview airHD you can look inside any pipe with:

No cables at all!

Detailed HD video

In-manhole centering Touchscreen control

Motorized tilt

INVERTED SIPHON SEWER MAIN SHOWCASES TRENCHLESS

Yarra Valley Water’s North Warrandyte Sewerage Project overcame the challenging installation of an inverted siphon sewer main under Melbourne’s Yarra River to connect up to 1,000 residents to the local sewerage network for the first time.

Yarra Valley Water is investing more than $300 million to bring sewerage services to 17,000 properties across its service area by 2030. The current $30 million portion of this project focuses on building the infrastructure needed so North Warrandyte residents can replace current septic tanks with connections to the sewerage network.

This portion of the project is split into five components: three reticulation pipeline packages, a pump station near Stony Creek, and the siphon sewer main that runs under the Yarra River.

The siphon installation involved two parallel crossings, one 200mm polyethylene pipe for dry weather flow and one 355mm pipe for wet weather flow. Both crossings were installed almost identically with the only difference being one was 500mm higher at the upstream and downstream inlet/outlets.

Yarra Valley Water Divisional Manager, Asset Creation, David Errey, said in order to minimise the impacts on the surrounding environment the majority of the construction work utilised directional drilling as it was one of the most environmentally sensitive construction methods available.

WORKING TOWARDS A SUCCESSFUL DELIVERY

Di Carlo Civil Constructions, Melbourne Pipelines and Ventia were each contracted to work on one of the three reticulation pipeline packages, with Melbourne Pipelines also awarded the contract for the siphon and pump station. AHD Trenchless was subcontracted to work on the

trenchless drilling for the challenging inverted siphon main installation.

Yarra Valley Water also worked closely with VicRoads and two local councils, Nillumbik Shire and Manningham City Council, to ensure the project was delivered with the least community impact.

The majority of the project was completed in 2015 while the pump station commissioning occurred in December 2016, following the installation of the siphon.

The sewage pumping station, located near the corner of ResearchWarrandyte Road and Professors Lane, can now service approximately 400 properties in North Warrandyte. Customers can either connect to the new sewerage system by gravity where the sewage flows downhill from the property, or by a pressure system where the property is lower than the sewer.

OVERCOMING SITE CHALLENGES WITH DIRECTIONAL DRILLING

Overall, the project presented several challenges. There were strict environmental requirements as part of the planning permits, narrow streets and alignments to work around, the area had high traffic flows on winding roads and ground conditions were hard and variable, making it difficult for drilling.

The siphon installation itself was challenging due to tight and limited access to the site. Due to the environmental sensitivity of the site, the work area was very constrained and excavated material had to be transported off site, and fill material had

to be brought in on completion of the manholes. There were two busy road intersections, which required extensive traffic management with limited working hours.

The inverted siphon sewer main was installed under the Yarra River, with the bridge above being the only access point into the area. It was essential that contractors didn’t take too long to complete works as any delays would heavily disrupt the local traffic.

Work on the siphon sewer main replacement involved excavating a deep shaft on the southern side of the Yarra River. Bores were drilled from the south side, with the pipe then pulled back through from the north to the south side of the river. The new siphons were then connected to the existing sewerage network on the south side.

Mr Errey said the key to the successful delivery of this portion of the project had been the strong relationship between contractors and stakeholders.

“The fact that there was a solid design, combined with experienced contractors, good management, and strong communication between multiple contractors, community stakeholders and customers helped make the project a success,” Mr Errey said.

Anthony Doherty from AHD Trenchless, who did the trenchless drilling, said the inverted siphon sewer main had been a major part of the project and one that came with a lot of responsibility.

“The entire project involved an investment of tens of millions of dollars with the siphon main linking it all together so everything had to be perfect,” Mr Doherty said.

“It was challenging because of the location, ground conditions and regulations but Yarra Valley Water were very happy with the final outcome.

“We do complex projects like this almost everyday so we know how to overcome specific challenges and were able to determine the best method for the job.”

Principal Contractor Melbourne Pipelines was also very happy with the project’s end result.

“The commissioning and testing was completed seamlessly and all stakeholders considered the project a success,” Melbourne Pipelines, Managing Director, Lee Sinclair, said.

BENEFITS OF TRENCHLESS TECHNOLOGIES

Yarra Valley Water said given the key constraints of the site, trenchless had been the best solution and provided significant benefits.

“The benefits of trenchless were predominantly related to the environment, but it also improved

safety, reduced the impact on the local community and required less traffic management,” Mr Errey said.

“Directional drilling also reduced the overall costs of the works, as well as the cost and amount of reinstatement works required. Using the right equipment, we also found it to be faster compared to open excavation.

“In the case of the siphon construction, the alternative would either be tunnelling under the river, or

pumping out sections of the Yarra and using open cut excavations. Both are very expensive with high impacts on the environment and community options and would have prevented the project from proceeding.”

The North Warrandyte Sewerage Project was completed in December 2016 allowing customers to begin connecting to the Yarra Valley Water network prior to Christmas.

GEOSPATIAL DATA Bringing together

A unique industry partnership has brought together a range of energy data together in the one tool – making it easier for utilities, governments and developers to plan their future renewable energy projects.

The Australian Renewable Energy Mapping Infrastructure (AREMI) project is a collaboration between the Clean Energy Council, National Information Communications Technology Research Centre of Excellence (NICTA) and Geoscience Australia.

The project provides open access to spatial data relevant for the development of renewable energy projects, and its ultimate aim is to make it easier for renewable energy projects to get off the ground in Australia.

The AREMI project came about in response to the fact that, while a large amount of mapping data and information relevant to the renewable energy industry is currently collected, it has traditionally been housed by different agencies and institutions. Without a central source for storing this information, it could be difficult for utilities and governments to find and compare all of the relevant information for project development.

Now, thanks to the AREMI project, data housed from multiple

organisations, including Geoscience Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, is able to be consolidated and housed together.

The resulting tool is a unique platform that provides free, open access to spatial data for the renewable energy industry, allowing users to share mapping data and information easily.

Geoscience Australia provides hosting for the platform, while the Clean Energy Council fulfils the role of industry liaison partner. The mapping platform was developed by CSIRO's Data61, and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) provided $2.1 million in funding towards the project.

AREMI is led by the NICTA Environment Business Team, developing leading edge predictive analytics and spatial visualisation tools for improved environmental resource management.

KEY BENEFITS

AREMI makes it easier for renewable energy projects to get off the ground in Australia. The tool

provides a “one stop shop” for all open geospatial data relevant to the energy sector from government, industry and research.

Energy project developers can freely access spatial information such as existing electricity infrastructure to assist with site identification. State and local governments can use the open data AREMI provides to assist with environmental and regulatory planning approvals, and tracking and promoting projects in their region. The AREMI platform enables financiers and investors to explore the potential success of proposed ventures, and AREMI also acts as a repository for ARENA-funded mapping projects, to enable their access in one consolidated location.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The AREMI platform looks like Google Earth, with layers of data and information that can be turned on and off. The open source, threedimensional mapping platform converts and visually displays information in a web browser without

the need for external software or plugins.

The AREMI project was developed using the Cesium platform developed by Data61 – an open source, internet browser based visualisation platform. It is possible for multiple data sets to be displayed and compared – for example, map tiles from Google, elevation data

from Geoscience Australia and solar resource data from the Bureau of Meteorology can all be compared at the same time.

For example, it can be used to compare mapping data: electricity, geothermal and land use data from Geoscience Australia; water and climate data from the Bureau of

Meteorology; solar data from other ARENA projects; and statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Users can overlay multiple data sets such as population, infrastructure, power utilities and protected habitats or even their own internal data services.

The map can also be set up to show data such as live NEM power generation. Users can click on each power station for detailed information on their energy production, and can also visually compare power stations that are running at a very high percentage of their maximum capacity versus those running at a very low percentage of their maximum capacity, for example, at any given time.

In addition, users can also overlay multiple sets of data such as population, infrastructure, power utilities and protected habitats, or even their own internal data services.

The mapping platform also:

• Enables users to store and access geospatial data and information from multiple sources

• Allows users to search and visualise multiple data layers in 3D, and to produce and export high resolution maps

• Provide enabling tools and information to boost development and deployment of renewable energy in Australia

WHERE TO NOW

AREMI is available at www. nationalmap.gov.au/renewables, and Geoscience Australia will host the tool until at least July 2019.

NICTA’s team of software engineers and user experience designers are requesting feedback on the tool - users can share live thoughts and feedback through the AREMI website.

UnderstandingUTILITY LOCATION IN CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS

Documenting and understanding and the location of utility infrastructure is of critical importance – particularly when it comes to managing these assets at the world’s busiest airport.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, has been the world’s busiest passenger airport for the past 15 years, with more than 2,700 flights coming and going and serving more than 250,000 passengers daily.

Preparing for future trends in transportation, the airport has recently added new facilities and boasts a complex consisting of seven concourses and five runways, with the longest at close to 12,000 feet (approximately 3,600m). The entire infrastructure encompasses more than 4,700 acres (1,900 hectares).

Air transport is constantly expanding, and budgets continue to tighten. New strategies call for more efficiency, and this in turn calls for faster, more streamlined work processes and tools. The best solution for substantially improving an airport’s efficiency is to properly manage and document the location and health of its infrastructure assets and utilities. Operation and maintenance costs of running an airport have major impacts on budget planning and help enable a positive revenue balance at the end of the year.

ATL has an enormous amount of complexities to manage, document and monitor; and managing these present

a significant challenge to accomplish effectively. Like other airports of similar size, ATL consists of many different utility systems such as stormwater, sewer, aviation fuel, electricity, fuel pits, fat, oil and grease separation systems and telecommunications. These in turn contain manholes, inlets and fuel hydrants. Any airfield pavement defects such as cracks, spalls or joint seal failures on runways and taxiways also need to be detected with repairs planned well in advance.

Each of these systems requires constant monitoring because of increasingly complex and demanding regulations. There are significant fines if proper compliance is not demonstrated. GIS tools help airport staff to visualise all these utility systems on a single map, and help complete operational tasks faster and more effectively. Asset management also documents the exact location of the airfield’s lights, signs and markings, and it is imperative that airport asset management knows exactly which light, sign or marking require service. Modern GIS systems enable easy identification and simplify maintenance in a timely and cost-effective manner.

A NEW MODE OF DATA COLLECTION

For the past seven years, ATL has

relied on survey-grade, GPS datacollection technology to collect utility, pavement and other critical infrastructure data with centimetre accuracy. This equipment, however, uses proprietary software, and it is difficult to manage collected data throughout airport operations, mainly because it didn’t work efficiently with CAD, GIS planning or the workflows used by the airport’s engineering and GIS staff. ATL had been looking for the right solution to map, collect and record their asset and utilities information in one centralised database and share this information between decision makers and field crews.

Three years ago, ATL made the decision to use Esri’s Collector for ArcGIS to collect and update data in the field using smartphones and tablets. Airside and Landside Operation teams, who worked in the office on pavement management, required a common software interface to communicate with field crews efficiently and Collector for ArcGIS provided the missing link. Collector for ArcGIS sets up the collection project, manages and edits the data all in real time, and exports it for use with other systems, such as CAD, with the ArcGIS Online environment.

Smartphones and tablets with Collector for ArcGIS installed were used by field crews and proved very

Utility Partner Solutions

popular. Crews easily understood how to use the already familiar smart device interface and within a short period of time, were quickly collecting, viewing and sharing data in real time across multiple platforms – online and offline. It was especially helpful for Airside and Landside Operation teams who could easily and simultaneously communicate with multiple field crews any edits made by each other.

Brian Haren, senior GIS program coordinator at Hartfield-Jackson, explains, “H-JAIA Landside and Airside Operations have a requirement to share information on airfield status and needed repairs in real time. In the past this meant identifying repair locations using imprecise methods such as verbal descriptions passed via email, text message or phone call. With Collector for ArcGIS, the crews can now share precise location, description and photo information in real time across the wide variety of platforms. This has resulted in more timely and efficient responses to critical airfield repair issues.”

A NEW GIS

When word spread of the recently released Leica Zeno 20 handheld GIS asset collector running on an Android operating system, the airport was immediately interested. This meant a

survey-grade asset collection device could now achieve centimetre accuracy data collection that the commercial grade smart devices previously used could not provide. Because it used an Android OS, the device could also run Esri’s Collector for ArcGIS.

After testing Esri’s Collector for ArcGIS on the Zeno 20 using an external lightweight GNSS antenna on a pole, the Leica Zeno 20 provided the centimetre accuracy required by airport and field crews. It also could map and record their data in one centralised databank and share this information in real time. The entire airport now worked with optimised workflows, with back office crews efficiently managing data and easily incorporating it into their GIS and CAD systems.

This combination of the Collector for ArcGIS app, Zeno 20 and ArcGIS Online Subscription has now been branded as the ZenoCollector. With the ZenoCollector, field crews can view collected asset data with highresolution background imagery on large displays. Key decisions can quickly be made in real time, based on the quality and accuracy of the data collected using ArcGIS Online, a cloud-based mapping platform. Project managers and other key personnel are also able to follow the progress of field data

collection activities from their desktops or mobile devices as they occur.

Using the ZenoCollector enables ATL’s field crews to accurately capture numerous assets efficiently and communicate in real time with all involved, documenting the health of this complex infrastructure with survey-grade accuracy. Over the course of time, decreased labour costs and proactive planning are possible, resulting in a vastly improved lifecycle of utilities and assets at the ATL.

“The Leica Zeno 20 running Collector for ArcGIS allows us to bring our high precision 2D data collection workflows completely into the ArcGIS environment. This means Esri’s ArcGIS Online becomes the hub around which all field data collection activities revolve, eliminating the need for separate thirdparty solutions and expensive desktop applications,” said Mr Haren.

“The ZenoCollector provides our Aviation GIS, Engineering and Facilities teams with an easy-to-use data collection experience that is consistent with our consumer-grade smartphone and tablet systems, yet provides the high accuracy and precision we demand for critical airport infrastructure location and identification.”

Maximising SOLAR PENETRATION

Increasing the number of solar installations in areas that have previously had their levels capped is a critical part of increasing the uptake of residential solar PV around the country. Recognising this, Dr Nick Engerer and his team from The Australian National University are working on an innovative new project that will help to maximise solar penetration levels in our cities, towns and suburbs.

There are over 1.5 million small-scale PV systems installed across Australia, with that number continuing to grow. In some areas, the local penetrations of solar are so high that PV installations have to be limited, so that distribution network service providers (DNSPs) can ensure the quality of supply to Australian Energy Regulator standards. This is due to issues such as voltage rising or dropping out of range due to mismatch between local load and supply, or even to flicker, which can occur during rapid changes in solar power output. In locations where DNSPs impose limitations on the amount of additional solar that can be installed, the local network has reached its 'maximum solar penetration level'.

One of the primary reasons for such limitations on solar penetration levels is the lack of visibility that DNSPs have on the amount of power that is being generated by rooftop PV systems. Small-scale solar PV systems are generally not actively monitored, and DNSPs presently have no way to incorporate small-scale solar power generation into their operational systems. Without such information, it is quite challenging to create the right solutions for accommodating more solar PV into parts of the distribution networks where maximum penetrations have been reached.

To confront these challenges, Dr Nick Engerer at the Australian National University has launched a three year

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Maximising solar penetration

research project to enable these maximum penetration levels to be lifted higher, with a mission of allowing more solar to be added to the Australian electricity grid. He is leading a team of researchers at ANU to deploy a tool he developed during his PhD called the Regional PV Simulation System (RPSS) to eight distribution networks across Australia. It’s all being made possible through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency project known as “Realtime operational PV simulations for distribution network service providers”.

The RPSS operates by using detailed information about the size and location of the solar PV systems installed in a given DNSP network, to build a virtual network model where PV generation is organised by distribution network asset. This allows PV power output to be simulated, and then grouped by distribution transformers, feeder lines and zone substations, thereby removing the uncertainty about solar PV behaviour in DNSP load curves. One of the primary goals for this project is to enable such simulations to be run in real time, with the information fed back to DNSP operations and planning efforts.

This real-time modelling capability will draw on data from innovative sources, such as real-time power output data from inverter companies SMA Australia and Fronius, who have tens of thousands of monitored PV systems in their Australian databases. It will also use data from the most advanced weather satellite in the world, Himawari 8. This geostationary satellite scans Australia at 1km resolution every ten minutes and will serve as the primary tool for forecasting solar PV power output into the near future (tens to hundreds of minutes ahead of time).

During 2016, Dr Engerer travelled around Australia to visit with the partnering DNSPs: ActewAGL, Essential Energy, Ergon Energy, Horizon Power, Power and Water and Western Power, TasNetworks, Endeavour Energy. Through conversations with these partners, the ANU has been able to formulate key project outcomes, which are driven by real industry needs, as well as address the challenges in providing RPSS based feedback to distribution network operations.

Dr Nick Engerer is an academic at the Australian National University who is passionate about directing research toward industry-relevant outcomes. Originally from the United States, he has a background in meteorology, including the study of severe weather and solar radiation, and has relocated to Australia permanently. Follow Nick at www.nickengerer.org or @nickengerer on Twitter.

It is through these ongoing relationships with the DNSP partners that the overall project goal will be realised: raising the maximum penetration levels of solar PV that are currently in place. Dr Engerer firmly believes that by providing real-time distributed solar intelligence to DNSPs, solar PV integration challenges will be able to be managed with solutions such as energy storage technologies and demand management.

Finally, it is important to acknowledge the key project supporters: industry partners Si Clean Energy and Solar Hub, who provided industry funding, as well as the $1 million of funding from ARENA. This project would not be possible without their contributions.

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ACCELERATING THE ROLLOUT OF UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR

The uptake of utility-scale solar in Australia is set to increase with ARENA funding 12 new solar plants and statistics revealing that solar farm set-up costs are decreasing.

In a push to reduce costs and triple Australia’s solar production, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is supporting the construction of 12 new solar plants in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.

The 12 plants are predicted to produce around $1 billion in commercial investment and could be built by the end of 2017. APA Group’s Emu Downs Solar Farm in Western Australia is already scheduled to begin construction by the end of 2016.

Six of the plants will be located in Queensland, five in New South Wales and one in Western Australia, and together they are expected to produce the equivalent of 150,000 homes annual energy use.

New utility-scale solar plants:

• Origin Energy’s Darling Downs Solar Farm in Dalby, Queensland

• Edify Energy with Solar Choice’s Whitsunday Solar Farm in Collinsville, Queensland

• Neoen Australia’s Parkes Solar Farm in Parkes, New South Wales

• Genex Power’s Kidston Solar Farm in Kidston, Queensland

• Manildra Solar Farm in Manildra, New South Wales

• RATCH Australia Corporation’s Collinsville Solar Power Station in Collinsville, Queensland

• Neoen Australia’s Griffith Solar Farm in Griffith, New South Wales

• Canadian Solar’s (Australia) Oakey Solar Farm in Oakey, Queensland

• Neoen Australia’s Dubbo Solar Farm in Dubbo, New South Wales

• APT Pipeline’s (APA Group) Emu Downs Solar Farm in Cervantes, Western Australia

• Goldwind Australia’s White Rock Solar Farm in Glen Innes, New South Wales

• Canadian Solar’s (Australia) Longreach Solar Farm in Longreach, Queensland

The 12 projects will involve the construction, installation and connection of the plants, and the deployment of 480MW of solar PV energy to state electricity grids, which will also

meet 10 per cent of the capacity required to meet Australia’s 2020 renewable energy target.

ARENA funding has been one of the driving forces reducing costs in the large-scale solar space and helping to speed up the feasibility of plants. Current outlooks of large-scale solar PV plants by Bloomberg New Energy Finance predict that between 2015 and 2020 around 40 per cent of new global energy capacity will be produced by these utility-scale solar plants.

CHEAPER TO BUILD = MORE SOLAR POTENTIAL

Data compiled from the Expressions of Interest (EoI) stage of ARENA’s funding round for large-scale solar projects found that capital costs for these type of projects have reduced significantly over the past two years.

This data was acquired from cost and generation data that was submitted in the funding round in relation to 75 large-scale solar projects, and suggests that cost reductions in the sector are both achievable and sustainable.

Jeff Lawson, National Construction Equipment Sales Manager at Vermeer, said these figures showed that there were ways to reduce set up costs for large-scale solar, and that actively employing these methods would help speed up the rollout of new solar plants around Australia.

“The energy market is in the middle of a major

transition and large solar plants like these 12 new ones will play a big part in the future energy mix,” Mr Lawson said.

“One way to ensure solar plants are more viable is to use equipment that can further drive down capital costs and help make construction more efficient.

“For example Vermeer’s PD10 pile driver has GPS guidance, auto-plumb and a laser-controlled post-depthcontrol feature so piles can be installed cheaper and more accurately.

“The use of this equipment builds strong foundations to lay panels on and reduces the risk of project delays or added installation costs.

“Set up costs are decreasing so if large-scale solar projects can continue to finds ways to construct solar plants efficiently there is potential for more solar energy to be produced around the country.”

Setting INDUSTRY STANDARDS

At the centre of these developments is Standards Australia, a non-governmental organisation whose expertise and main responsibility is the development and adoption of standards in Australia.

Standards play an important role in the utility sector, directly and indirectly, by providing specifications, procedures and guidelines to follow.

Standards Australia develops standards for the utility sector and other industries by forming technical committees, comprising relevant parties and stakeholders, and through the process of consensus agree on standards for Australia’s net benefit.

The organisation also facilitates Australia’s participation in international standards development such as the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and International Electrotechnology Commission (IEC).

Dr Bronwyn Evans, CEO at Standards Australia, said the aim of the organisation was to engage with the utility sector and develop standards where they were needed.

“It’s our role to work with the sector and others to develop and adopt standards. However, at some point I think we will need to step beyond our operations and start a conversation with the sector about how we can work together to address the increasingly critical role of information, data and connectivity. The issue of infrastructure security also requires our joint attention.”

CHANGING STANDARDS

There are a number of important changes happening to standards across the board and a number of specific changes affecting the development of standards in the utility sector. Some

of the more prominent catalysts are government initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the speed of development in industries and technology, and the increasing prominence of data.

“These factors cannot be ignored, and the utility sector is at the forefront of these changes and the standards that will come with them,” Dr Evans said.

“The themes around Industry 4.0 – the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies – and smart infrastructure demand a lot of work in standards and we are working on this at an international level.”

A recent example of these shifts in standards is the publication of AS/NZS 4755.3.5, which defines the demand management and operating instructions for battery storage systems. This is

As the utility sector evolves, new standards are constantly being developed and revised to enhance economic efficiency and international competitiveness, while meeting the demands for a safe and sustainable environment.

of interest to the sector as energy providers and retailers have an interest in this technology to provide supplementary power during peak load events and ensuring the ongoing reliability of energy networks.

“AS 5488, Classification of Subsurface Utility Information, has also recently been revised. This standard is intended for use by utility owners, operators and locators, and provides a framework for the consistent classification of information concerning subsurface utilities,” Dr Evans said.

“The revision project will look at new and emerging engineering and construction technology, ensuring alignment with what is happening around the world.

“We are also working on a number of roadmaps in the energy sector that will guide our development work over the next few years, which the utility sector has contributed to.”

A STATE OF TRANSITION

Dr Evans said the utility sector was already able to see the new wave of digital disruption that would impact on it in the future.

“New digital technology will transform the way companies and agencies operate and how they engage with their customers.

“That is why the shift toward renewables and a focus change to energy security, storage systems, demand management, microgrids and a range of other technologies is of interest to us.

“The infrastructure that was installed in the last 50 years needs to cope with these changes, so it remains critical that the standards that support these technologies are in place.”

Dr Evans said an important part of this transition was developing standards that foster innovation by providing the building blocks for innovative technical advancement and technological breakthroughs.

DIGITAL’S IMPACT ON STANDARDS

Advances in technology has not only impacted the utility sector but has also impacted the development of standards.

Dr Evans said there had been a change in pace of developments across the world and as a result standards were moving fast and the challenge for contributors was to keep up.

“We have commenced a substantial investment in our digital transformation program this year. This was done after a comprehensive review of how digital transformation fits into our role in the economy today, and tomorrow.

“The world of tomorrow demands more than books. It’s a world where value adding to content will be the rule, not the exception. The focus is to ensure the good use of contributor time with maximum flexibility for whatever the future may look like.

“We are currently in the first phase of this transformation, establishing a central and searchable content repository, connecting content development to digital curation, and flexibility of outputs. This is only the beginning and if you look at where information is heading, it is an exciting time for standards developers globally.”

THE FUTURE OF STANDARDS

Despite the rapid changes that are occurring in the utility sector, with standards following suit, Dr Evans said the key elements would remain the same.

“Standards in the utility sector are mission critical – that will remain. How they are developed, managed, mapped and used is where the great changes will be and I think, in time, the way we look at standards as documents or sets of information will also change,” Dr Evans said.

“We value and appreciate the time given to us by our contributors and need to maximise their outcomes to make it simpler, faster and better to work with us to develop and use our standards.

“I think the other big change will be in how we develop standards. Governments, industries and supply chains need certainty but they also want agility. How this is implemented in practice will be a big one to watch.”

Can new technology make you A SMARTER LOCATOR?

A new range of high quality utility-locating equipment has hit the market, all offering impressive features which make locating easy. But does it make locating more accurate, or does it make the operator a better locator? You might be surprised by the answer.

New locators recently launched to the market include the new Rycom Pathfinder Professional, the RD 8100 and the UT9000/Utili-Guard.

Let’s start with the new functions. All these new units have new multifunction modes which give the operator little control over the instrument, such as automatic depth, automatic gain and cable directional indicators. How do these functions work? Most use a combination of antennas in the receiver which guide the operator to the location of the pipe. In most simple locates, they are just as accurate as the standard peak and null modes professionals would use. But if there is any change to the quality of the magnetic field – for example, it becomes distorted due to influences from other services – these modes can become far less accurate. For example, one locator forces you to rotate the receiver until an indicator lines up before it will give you depth. The antenna that uses this function is influenced by the same distortion that can affect the other antennas in your locator, so the operator thinks the service is going in a different direction, when it is actually field distortion creating the error. This is just one example of locators becoming more sophisticated, and trying to make a

locator’s job easier – but in fact creating a false sense of accuracy.

My next word of caution regards the use of combined peak and null modes. These modes normally give the operator more control with the machine, and in some cases, can give an operator with good experience a clear indication if there is field distortion without having to switch between the two standard modes.

The reality of this combined peak and null mode is that operators will often focus on the left right guidance arrows normally associated with this mode. The left and right guidance heavily uses the null or vertical antenna, which is susceptible to more field distortion than the peak antennas. In a lot of cases, the operator uses this mode thinking it is more accurate when again it can ultimately create the same issue as the other multi modes. If you’ve ever used these modes on a weak signal, you’ll know that they can flicker and change, resulting in false readings.

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE

Another good example of marketing hype is inbuilt GPS systems on locators. None of these systems are good enough to use for any kind of mapping due to them being sub 3m accuracy. To do any kind of mapping you need sub decimetre accuracy usually associated with a separate RTK based GPS system in a clear environment, even then the GPS unit needs to be in line with the blade of your receiver to get the accuracy required. The only function that current inbuilt GPS units should serve is the use of on-board logging, this allows you to track the general location of an operator and some systems even allow logging of data and functions of the machine.

So, what functions are worthwhile? It depends on what you regularly locate. If locating in congested areas I would suggest a unit which works well on low

frequencies and possibly some kind of target direction mode (although you need to use these on well-earthed low resistant services).

Another handy tool is receiver-totransmitter communication. This allows the user to select a frequency or up the power of the transmitter from the receiver. This is handy if you are a couple of hundred metres away from your transmitter and wish to do this. Having an accessory port also may come in handy and makes the unit more flexible.

Most suppliers do little training when selling a machine, and in a lot of cases the person selling the machine knows little about how it operates or does not want to spend the time with the operator. If purchasing sophisticated locator, there should be a minimum of at least four hours of training provided. As a trainer, I have seen many examples of operators who have been sold an expensive locator, only to be shown the basics of the machine and advised that these simplistic modes are all that is required to perform an accurate locate. This is far from the truth and this is where dangerous mistakes or incorrect markings occur.

My suggestion is when you trial these units, do it in a more difficult area so you see how the machine performs with these dirty signals. Don’t always believe the sales person trying to sell you the instrument, and ensure you have a good understanding of the technology before paying a fortune for a locator with lots of functions you may never need.

Remember to buy from a reputable company that specialises in this area, ensure you get adequate training after the purchase and be sure that the instrument can be serviced at an authorised service centre.

DELIVERING ELECTRICAL WORKS FOR THE TRANSPORT SECTOR

POWER

In January 2016, Zinfra was awarded a significant project by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) as part of TfNSW’s Power Supply Upgrade Program.

TfNSW is the lead agency of the NSW transport cluster, which includes Roads and Maritime Services, Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink and State Transit.

The Power Supply Upgrade Program involves construction of new electrical infrastructure and upgrades to substations, sectioning huts, overhead wiring and feeders across the Sydney Trains network - all required to meet expected power requirements of the future rail network.

Under the Power Supply Upgrade Program, Zinfra is delivering the design, construction and commissioning of a new substation at Gosford South and a sectioning hut at Wyoming. The 2 x 5MW rectifier 66kV substation will support the 1,500 volt traction power supply needed to run the new fleet on the Central Coast and Newcastle rail line.

The new substation at Gosford South and the Sectioning Hut at Wyoming will replace the existing Gosford substation. Zinfra General Manager, John Gardner, emphasised the significance of this project for Zinfra.

"This project is strategically important as it represents an important step in our strategy of entering new markets, in particular the rail sector, leveraging off our core utilities capability."

Zinfra's success in winning this work stemmed from an innovative approach to the tender, which included an internally generated engineering solution. This alternative approach provided TfNSW with cost savings, a reduced building footprint and improved operational capability and performance for the required electrical upgrades and assets.

This project at Gosford is by no means straightforward - the location, the site conditions, the surrounding environment, the local community, and proximity to the rail corridor and road infrastructure all mean the project has many challenges.

CHALLENGING CONDITIONS

The site of the new substation is challenging. The small site is sandwiched between the railway corridor with its live overhead power lines and trains, Fagans Bay, part of Brisbane Water National Park, and ecologically significant mangroves. The Brian McGowan Bridge flies over another side of the site, ferrying a constant stream of traffic on the Central Coast Highway.

The ground, which is located only metres from the water’s edge, is sandy and unstable. A careful process involving extensive testing and sampling was needed to determine a suitable depth for

the footings for the substation. Ultimately, forty piles drilled to a depth of up to eight metres were required.

The confined space means the demarcation and management of the respective parking, lay down area, construction zone and designated pedestrian walkways is critical for site safety.

Once construction of the substation building begins, the tight space will present new challenges when using cranes to lift and manoeuvre the precast concrete walls, GIS (gas insulated switchgear) and other high voltage electrical equipment into place.

IN-SERVICE RAILWAY LINES

Working alongside the active Central Coast and Newcastle rail line, with both up and down running mains and three active sidings, brings its own set of challenges. The construction team works with a wide exclusion zone alongside the rail corridor. When works are required within that exclusion zone, a whole new layer of safety controls and precautions come into play.

A large part of the project, to date, has involved an underline crossing (ULX), the installation of conduits under the railway lines and the adjacent sidings.

The works can only be conducted under stringent permit conditions when the high voltage power is turned off and only over weekends, known colloquially as ‘possession weekends’.

STAKEHOLDER COMPLEXITY

The possession weekends run from 4am on Saturday morning through to 10pm on Sunday night. Coordinating the works, resourcing and rolling shifts is a complex logistical exercise. Throughout the possession weekends, project update meetings are held every six hours to ensure works are tracking to plan and to adapt or change plans accordingly. Handover between shift supervisors must also be comprehensive.

The ULX possession weekend in June involved removing the rail lines and sleepers and installing concrete encased conduits to a depth of 3.2m. The rail assets then had to be reinstated and the earth compacted sufficiently to avoid the trains bouncing (known as ‘pumping’ in the industry) on that section of the track. Extensive, ongoing testing is required to monitor the integrity of the track after these works.

The installation of the conduits was also extremely challenging, “Under the sidings, the ground is peppered with services,” explained Zinfra Construction Manager, Michael Byrne, “We found communications, power, low voltage, water and signalling assets. It was extremely slow going and tough working at a depth of three metres. Not only were we working carefully underground, but we had to be careful of the 1500v DC overhead line, which had to be deenergised for the ULX work.

Two consecutive possession weekends were carried out during the final two weekends of October, when Zinfra carried out works to remove and replace power poles and extend an existing stanchion across the sidings.

The Gosford project has many stakeholders who need to be informed, consulted and coordinated. Zinfra’s Community and Stakeholder Relations Officer, Petra Campbell, has ensured residents and businesses in the local community who might be impacted by the works are kept informed with regular notifications delivered by mail and in person.

Ms Campbell’s Stakeholder Relations and Community Plan is so thorough it includes a local rough sleeper, whom she had approached personally, to ensure absolutely no one was omitted from the consultation process.

The nearby Central Coast Stadium, which has a capacity of 20,000 spectators, means heavy foot traffic past the site, particularly on weekends. Site security and public safety are paramount considerations for Zinfra when managing this community risk.

Other key stakeholders closely impacted by the upgrade works are the Central Coast Council, Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and Sydney Trains. The latter operate the power distribution network for the trains and are responsible for the issue of permits for possession weekends.

ENVIRONMENT

“TfNSW are very environmentally aware,” said Mr Byrne, “And Zinfra is very proud to be meeting TfNSW’s environmental target of 95% recycling of construction waste. All soil, concrete, timber, steel, plastics – everything on the site – has to be dealt with responsibly.

“After the removal of the old buildings and sheds on site, even the old rainwater tanks have been kept and will be put back into use at the end of the project.”

Potential “acid sulphate soils” required all excavated material to be

stockpiled, sampled, tested and treated as required prior to removal to neutralise environmentally harmful processes.

In addition, the small site is within metres of ecologically significant mangroves and waterways. Minimising ground disturbance, lack of pondage space and run-off are significant challenges for Zinfra to manage while delivering the project.

Care is taken to contain and cover stockpiles for sediment control, and numerous levels of gravel filter bags have been put in place between disturbed ground and stormwater drains to protect waterways from sediment and pollutants from the site.

AEO STATUS

This project for TfNSW was the catalyst for Zinfra to attain Authorised Engineering Organisation (AEO) status with the transport agency.

On 1 August 2016, Zinfra Group was officially awarded AEO status.

“We congratulate Zinfra Group for attaining AEO status and look forward to their contributions as a delivery partner for Transport for NSW,” said Jim Modrouvanos, Executive Director of the Asset Standards Authority, a part of TfNSW.

Having the assurance of being an AEO will enable Zinfra to produce and undertake engineering solutions for TfNSW with a significantly streamlined assurance process – saving time and resources to allow Zinfra to deliver more efficiently and autonomously.

The next piece of the project puzzle is the construction of the new substation building at Gosford, including installation of basement concrete slabs, ground floor columns and drainage works. Once built, the GIS and other electrical equipment will be craned into the building and a removable roof installed over the top.

Solutions for 66KV FLUID FILLED CABLE

In addition to CitiPower and Powercor Australia’s Metro and CBD Security of Supply Projects, the relocation of CitiPower assets around future development works are critical to ensure the ever-growing demand of Melbourne’s electrical network is satisfied.

The first of the relocation works was aimed at providing increased operational capacity to the high voltage fluid-filled cable circuits running between the Victoria Market (VM) and Waratah Place (WA) zone substations.

It has been deemed necessary as part of early development works that the relocation of sub transmission assets in the vicinity of the Franklin and Swanston Street junction would allow for increased operational capacity.

The project scope of works included the design, supply, delivery and installation for the relocation of three underground fluid-filled 66kV sub transmission circuits on Franklin Street.

In August 2016, the contract

to manage the ‘Franklin Street Relocation’ project was awarded to Daly’s Constructions (Australia) who successfully developed a ‘turnkey’ solution from survey and design, through to pre-commissioning of the circuits.

Daly’s contract included all aspects of the work required to provide:

• A detailed design report for the cable relocations, including the calculation of circuit ratings, hydraulic arrangements, sheath voltage limits and earthing requirements

• Detailed native soil and backfill thermal resistivity sampling and analysis

• Joint bay design including design

of a satisfactory system for mitigation of thermo-mechanical movement

• Detailed design for the installation of approximately 1000m of 66kV 3-core 300mm2 Cu conductor fluid filled cable

• The supply and delivery of all joints and accessories to connect the existing cable to the new relocated sections

• The supply and installation of oil tanks into VM ZSS via the roof hatch to support the hydraulic requirements of the circuits

• Detailed civil design ensuring constructability of the circuit relocations from Franklin and Stewart Street junction, around the north side of the Swanston Victoria Street block, to the Franklin Victoria Street junction

• All work required to obtain approvals from the City of

RELOCATION

Melbourne together with VicRoads, Yarra Trams and all other affected stakeholders

• All trenching, conduit installation, backfill and permanent reinstatement

• All HDD works required along the route

• The construction of two 66kV and two 22kV joint bays

• Installation of all power cables, joints and the termination of existing assets to be relocated

• Pre-commission testing

• Provision of operation and maintenance manuals

Throughout the construction phase of the project, there were significant tasks required to overcome challenges in order to maintain project continuity.

Generally, a project of this scale could take up to 18 months to complete. Given such a short period of time for the completion of works, Daly’s managed to confidently complete the works required by mid-December 2016, in less than six months – both on time and budget –while most importantly maintaining quality, environmental and health and safety standards.

Daly’s Constructions has been providing civil works, cable installation, cable jointing and terminating services

for over forty years, and has maintained a very strong relationship with CitiPower since its establishment in 1994, and prior to that with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

Daly’s Constructions have continually delivered successful projects for CitiPower, most recently for the Metro and CBD Security of Supply – Stage 1 and 2 projects – at a combined approximate value of $58 million. In parallel to the Franklin Street project, Daly’s have managed to complete the civil works associated with the Waratah Place (WP) Zone Substation redevelopment simultaneously.

Daly’s is a family-owned business that commenced in 1971 when Mr Gabe Daly established the company to install conduit and cables in new estates throughout the growing and expanding metropolitan Melbourne.

Today, Daly’s continue to provide civil works and cable installation for the continual expansion of Melbourne and greater Victoria in addition to the major works associated with securing the electrical supply requirements of Melbourne’s Central Business District.

“Daly’s Constructions won the very challenging Franklin Street tender by providing us with the confidence they could deliver the project during the tender process.

“Our trust in their professionalism has been reaffirmed by the delivery of our project on time and on cost and to our stringent standards.

“The project required new fluid-filled cables to be produced to join into the existing 66kV network, this was produced in the short time frame and shipped from its factory in South Korea to match the construction schedule.

“We would like to recognise Daly’s for delivering an excellent project outcome.”

THINK GLOBAL,ACT LOCAL

When it comes to sourcing electrical engineering products, it pays to work with a local supplier with global experience.

NHP was built on strong foundations by having an attitude and culture that says and shows we are in the customer's corner. When founder Nigel Hugh Peck first opened the doors to NHP in 1968 with a staff of just 17, he was determined to create a 100 per cent Australian-owned company focused on providing the best service and highest level of quality products. It was this vision that laid the foundations to help NHP become the leading provider of that it is today.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, GLOBAL EXPERIENCE

No matter how good a product may be, it is nothing without dedicated people to support that product. Our strength lies in providing choice to the customer – choice in product, choice in technology, choice in service and support, and ultimately, choice in people. The kind of choice that you only get from a local provider. Together with a global network of supply partners, NHP brings the world’s best products to your doorstep with over 50 locations across Australia and New Zealand.

24/7 CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND TRAINING

To support its range of quality products, NHP also offers a wide range of service and training options including technical support, field service and maintenance contracts, repair services and training. These services are delivered by both NHP qualified technicians and the expertise of our supply partners and can provide: remanufacturing and extended warranty; parts management agreements; online and phone support; instructor-led training and assessments; field service and assessments; drive start-up and network services; conversions, retrofits and upgrades; as well as conditionmonitoring audits and analysis.

CUSTOMISED VALUE ADD SOLUTIONS

NHP prides itself on being able to provide customers with tailored solutions that suit their individual needs. Whilst the company has significant stockholdings and expertise at our locations throughout Australia and New Zealand, the purpose of the National Manufacturing and Distribution

Centre, located in Melbourne’s industrial precinct of Laverton, is to develop these solutions through manufacturing, assembly, servicing and design and engineering.

This 12,000 square metre facility is supported by impressive inventorymanagement technologies and stateof-the-art warehousing, dispatching thousands of units each day for delivery throughout Australia and New Zealand. The advantage of having the one manufacturing and distribution facility in Laverton allows NHP to be more efficient in how they go about their work. This world-class facility, coupled with the fact that NHP’s 25 other branches are stocked with product, provides their customers with what they want, when they want it.

For more information on how NHP can help you with your next project, call 1300 NHP NHP.

act local

We have local knowledge and global experience

No matter how good a product may be, it is nothing without dedicated people to support that product – and at NHP, we have you covered.

Our strength lies in providing choice to the customer – be that choice in product, choice in technology, choice in service and support, ultimately choice in people. The kind of choice that you only get from a local provider.

Together with our global network of supply partners we bring the world’s best products to your doorstep with over 50 locations across Australia and New Zealand. For your next project, trust NHP – specialists in electrical and automation products, systems and solutions.

WOMEN IN UTILITIES

CAN YOU PROVIDE SOME BACKGROUND ON YOUR CAREER TO DATE?

I am a multi-degree qualified professional with 16 years’ experience in strategic and operational management, project and risk management, and governance and compliance. I also demonstrate people management, organisational culture and communications skills across a wide demographic and range of disciplines.

My career commenced in the military with experience in strategic level appointments in project, human resource, risk and emergency management. An executive management role for a large defence establishment required me to work closely with a broad range of industry stakeholders as well as local and federal agencies in the coordination of base operations for the Defence Department.

Prior to my departure from the Royal Australian Navy, I was a member of the Australian Defence Force Investigative Services. Drawing on this policing experience, I exercise extraordinary analytical and research skills with the ability to apply them to a disparate range of issues and organisations.

In 2010, I joined a consultancy as the leader of the risk services team. Working with and for clients in the government sector, mining and resources, oil and gas, public utilities, transport and civil construction has enabled me to further develop my skills in the commercial arena. I worked on sites in most Australian states and territories, and supported HSE, organisational culture and risk operations in the ASEAN arena.

In 2012, I was seconded to a mining company to investigate and report on a class 1 site fatal incident. The integrity and quality of the results I produced led to my contracted appointment as General Manager Corporate Services with the client company.

From 2013 to 2015, I was seconded on a permanent full-time basis to two major oil and gas clients where I assisted with the development of the corporate HSSE management system and implementation of behavioural based safety cultures.

I joined the Energy Skills Queensland team as the Chief Executive Officer in June 2015. In late 2015, I founded and

now Chair the not-for-profit organisation called Women in Power whose mission is to promote and improve the electrical and electrotechnology industry by the advancement of women within it.

In June 2016, I was awarded Chair of the Electrical Safety Education Committee for the Queensland Electrical Safety Office forming part of the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland.

Among my more unusual qualifications is the ability to drive an 8,500 tonne armed warship.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR CURRENT ROLE?

• The provision of industry intelligence, including workforce planning, research and analysis

• Sourcing funding to deliver skills development and employment programs

• Educational design and program development

• Facilitation of engagement activities such as industry leader and training groups

My role entails being ultimately responsible for all day-to-day management decisions and for implementing the company's long and short term plans. I am the direct liaison between the board and management of the company and communicate to the board on behalf of management. I also communicate on behalf of the company to members, employees, government authorities, other stakeholders and the public. In short, I meet the needs of employees, customers/clients, communities and industry, and the law. I am responsible for setting strategy and direction, modelling and setting the organisation’s culture, building and leading the senior executive team and allocating capital to the organisation’s priorities.

As CEO, I am accountable to the Board of Directors as well as my clients and industries which I represent as well as for the results of the organisation. I must ensure that the company maintains high standards of corporate citizenship and social responsibility wherever it does business and ensure that the company conducts its’ activities lawfully and ethically.

As the co-founder and Chair of Women in Power, my role is dedicated to developing and setting up the not-forprofit organisation and subsequently, to run meetings in a way that encourages

decisions. I allow fair and open discussion of matters and stick to the agenda, so that decisions can be made.

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT A RECENT PROJECT YOU’VE WORKED ON – WHAT ARE YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED ON THIS PROJECT SO FAR AND HOW HAVE YOU SUCCESSFULLY OVERCOME THESE?

The Electricity Network Transformation Roadmap (ENTR) is a project that will be delivered in December of this year by the peak national body representing electricity transmission and distribution businesses in Australia Energy Networks Association (ENA), in partnership with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.

As described in the ENA ENTR Overview document, the ENTR ‘is designed to identify the preferred transition which the electricity network industry must make in the next decade to be ready to support better customer outcomes under a diverse range of long-term energy scenarios.’

The team at Energy Skills Queensland and I were key stakeholders for consultation for the ENTR, providing industry intelligence and trends to shape and contribute to key elements of the work program. In particular, Energy Skills Queensland was sought to provide workforce planning and analysis for the workforce skills, training and professional development work package located within domain D (technological enablers) of the ENTR structure.

Energy Skills Queensland’s findings for the workforce skills, training and professional development work package are not able to be provided until the full ENTR report has been released in December. However, in line with the ENTR values, if implemented successfully, the pathways outlined in this component of the ENTR report will assist industry to produce a skilled and competent workforce for the future.

As an ENTR project stakeholder, I communicated to all concerned that I did not come from a technical background, nor did I hold a traderelated qualification. Even though I held a number of qualifications in other subject areas, the technical aspects, as well as the industry language and terminology, were areas that I had to

PENELOPE TWEMLOW,

get up to speed with very quickly in order to comprehend and join future discussions. I am thankful to the many people who have provided me their time to ‘upskill’ me along the way.

Working on this project with the Energy Skills Queensland team and the broader energy supply industry has opened my eyes as to how much there is to learn and understand about this ever-changing industry. It has also highlighted the need to stay up to date with new technology and to continue to recognise and appreciate the impacts of digital disruption on both the industry and community as a whole.

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START IN THE UTILITY SECTOR?

In a previous role, where I owned and managed my own corporate consultancy, I conducted numerous projects in the utility sector, providing services in business resilience, management consulting, people and culture and governance and compliance. It was during this role that I gained my thirst for knowledge to understand the utility sector further and to continue my work in this everchanging environment.

In mid-2015, I was fortunate to be provided the opportunity to head Energy Skills Queensland, providing much-needed industry skilling, workforce planning and development services to the energy, mining, gas and telecommunications sectors.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN THINGS YOU ENJOY ABOUT WORKING IN THE UTILITY SECTOR?

Working in the utility sector provides a number of benefits to individuals, but it is not for the faint-hearted. The utility sector is a fast-paced environment, with companies anticipating and responding to regulatory and technological changes.

The pace of change means that there are constantly new things to learn and, for a person who has a thirst for knowledge like me, this is great.

The utility sectors’ transitional environment provides opportunities for personnel to work on big infrastructure projects that can run for years or to be involved with short business improvement projects that may be turned around in a month. The sector also provides varied work environments, including offices, laboratories, and remote sites, so no day is ever the same.

The utility sector provides opportunities to meet and work with a diverse array of people.

Within the utility sector, you can expect to work closely with engineers from different disciplines, as well as subject matter experts from legal, property, finance, environment, communications and PR areas.

The most enjoyable feature of the utility sector for me is being at the forefront of technological, societal and commercial changes. Each and every day, I am learning a new and more efficient ways of doing things, thereby improving my personal and organisational productivity. It also means that the utility industry as a whole is making new discoveries that could change the landscape of the industry entirely.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES INVOLVED IN WORKING IN THE UTILITY SECTOR?

Key issues within the utility sector generally revolve around the 'energy trilemma' - the unenviable task of balancing security of supply and rising costs, while mitigating environmental impact. However, in the current climate, the utility sector must now ensure that energy is secure, sustainable and affordable, but in a constantly changing environment.

There is considerable disruption in the utility sector arising from a combination of policy, technological and customer change. Not only is this disruption creating a transformation in how we think about, produce and use electricity, it is also leading utility companies to rethink the future of their businesses.

The utility sector must strive to stay ahead of change or risk facing dire consequences. The utility sector takes advantage of market opportunities within the current energy system and business models but it must also make timely moves to transition to new business models required as energy transformation takes hold.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES FACING UTILITIES AT THE MOMENT? WHAT OPPORTUNITIES WILL

ARISE FROM THESE CHALLENGES?

Rapid transformation of a sector that has been stable for a long period of time will bring a range of challenges for the utilities sector. Changes, including

new technologies and services, tariff reform, legislation changes and demand side participation, to name just a few, create both opportunities and challenges for the utilities sector.

Changing business models to adapt to a distributed energy market will need to be a key focus for network operators in order to transform. This will require strong leadership to drive cultural shifts including embracing lifelong learning. One of the key challenges will be to address the workforce skilling requirements, which will require upskilling, cross-skilling and re-skilling of a large section of the existing workforce.

Digitalisation is perhaps the biggest driver of change and will require new business and worker capabilities to integrate new systems with existing technology and assets. The utilities sector will have access to amounts of data not previously available, and will need to be used to gain insights into core business operations and customer behaviour. This will require a workforce capable of leveraging this information as well as protecting it, as digitalisation of information also increases the risk of cyber attacks.

The utilities sector in Australia has the opportunity to lead the world in transformation of the entire electricity industry. This has environmental, societal and economic impacts, and all stakeholders have a responsibility to prioritise the transformation to ensure a sustainable future.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE MENTORS YOU’VE HAD THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER?

I see mentoring and networking as an essential leadership skill. In addition to managing and motivating people, it's also important that we can help others learn, grow and become more effective in their jobs.

Mentoring and networking is a critical component to success and an essential element to support career development

and progression. Mentoring and networking opportunities allow access to an experienced source of advice and guidance, provides support with problem solving and handling difficult situations and delivers a non-judgmental and safe place to voice challenges and frustrations. Most importantly, it offers access to resources and networks that would have otherwise been unknown to individuals.

Throughout my career, I have had a number of mentors, each of whom have assisted in making me the person I am today. During the Forces, I was provided career direction and assistance from a Naval Officer, Commander Larry Menon, and an Air Force Airmen, FSGT Sean O’Dowd. Each of these two men provided me strength and saw me through some difficult times as a Warfare Officer and Military Police Investigator.

From a personal perspective, I cannot underestimate what I have learnt from my family. My mother and father have never ceased to amaze me with their energy, dedication and time to myself and my brother and sisters. My twin sister and I have always been competitive, but she has made me competitive in the sense that I must strive for greatness; she has been my rock for my entire life and will continue to be my mentor for the remainder. My elder sister and elder brother have always been able to provide a homebase, grounding me and ensuring my dedication to my causes are for the right reasons.

Most recently, I have had the unwavering support of two mentors: Peter Price, who is the Chair of my board, who provides me generalist management guidance and CEO-specific assistance, and Mark McKenna, who provides me guidance on team management, safety and leadership. Without these two gentlemen, I do not believe that I would be as successful as I am today, nor would I be as sane!

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE WOMEN WHO’VE INSPIRED YOU BY THEIR WORK IN THE UTILITY SECTOR?

Three women in particular have inspired me during my time in the utility sector, namely Tammy Stanton, Brooke MacGregor and Trina Hockley. These three women, all Board members of Women in Power, are each

involved in the electrotechnology arena, providing me greater insight and depth into the sector and a greater base for decision making.

Tammy Stanton is an awardwinning, ambitious and tenacious professional who is the Treasurer of Master Electricians Australia as well as the Director of Platinum Electrical Contractors Morningside. With a demonstrated background in IT, Tammy also has her Certificate III in Telecommunications. Brooke MacGregor is an award-winning professional who is the Managing Director of Genergy, an organisation providing dependable and professional maintenance and repair solutions for generators. Brooke holds her electrical contractors license and has provided expertise and leadership in the sector for years. Trina Hockley is a successful director, executive and business owner. Trina owns and managing L&M Gold Star, an electrical appliance retailer, wholesaler and rental organisation and has held various director positions in the sector including Chair of the Electrogroup Apprenticeships and Training Board.

CAN YOU GIVE US SOME INSIGHT INTO YOUR EXPERIENCE WORKING IN SUCH MALE-DOMINATED SECTORS – HAVE THERE BEEN ANY PARTICULAR CHALLENGES THAT YOU HAVE HAD TO OVERCOME?

Being a woman in today’s competitive job market can be a challenge, particularly if your career is located in traditionally male-dominated fields. But there are certain things that have assisted me in minimising the challenges I have faced.

First and foremost, I found a mentor to guide my career. Many women have already navigated the typical maledominated field and have learnt what works and what doesn’t work. Rather than repeat their mistakes, I learnt from these successful women and was advised by them by following up with them regularly.

This is not to say that I didn’t learn from my male counterparts. I chose male role models in my industry and learnt from them. I understood their approach to work and learnt how they have achieved success so that I could progress and further my career.

Throughout my career, I have always tried to be confident and to be different. I try to have something that everyone else doesn’t have. I

never succumbed to ‘changing’ in order to conform. Instead, I made my mark being myself. Most importantly, whatever I did, I made sure that I was dedicated to the task. In every one of my roles, I have lived, eaten and breathed what I did. Knowledge is power, so I ensure that I continue to learn and prove myself as an unstoppable force.

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF CONTINUING

TO WORK IN THE UTILITY SECTOR?

I am driven to be the best at what I do. I will continue to work in sectors and organisations where I’ll have opportunities to develop my skills, take on interesting projects, and work with people I can really learn from. Some of the most innovative thinkers in the industry work at Energy Skills Queensland and partner organisations, and that’s a big reason why I would continue to work in the utility sector.

CAN YOU PROVIDE A BIT OF BACKGROUND ON YOUR LIFE OUTSIDE OF WORK – ANY HOBBIES OR INTERESTS YOU CARE TO MENTION? ANY ACTIVITIES

YOU ENJOY TO BALANCE THE DEMANDS OF A CHALLENGING PROFESSIONAL LIFE?

In my spare time, I enjoy anything that is outdoors. I compete in half marathons and hope to complete the New York marathon in the near future. I love working on my physical fitness as it is the one thing that helps me ‘switch off’.

I also love spending time with my family and friends, including the furry ones, and I enjoy travelling, dancing, singing and cooking, even though I am not good at many of them.

Due to my family history and life experiences, I am heavily invested in providing ambassadorial services, assistance and support to the following charitable and community-based organisations: domestic violence, mental health, returned servicemen and women, heart foundation, multiple sclerosis and the RSPCA.

Last but not least, I am dedicated to continuous improvement so I am looking to study neuro-linguistic programming so that I can understand how humans work better. I also hope to be awarded my Drone Operators Certificate in early 2017, thereby becoming one of a small group of females to hold qualification.

South East Queensland’s DAM UPGRADE BLITZ

Seqwater is setting an example for water utilities across Australia with its improvement program for South East Queensland dams. The upgrade program aims to increase storage capabilities, improve the ability to handle extreme water management challenges and ensure the dams comply with safety guidelines.

Many of Seqwater’s dams supplying drinking and irrigation water to South East Queensland were built in the 1960s and 1970s, with the oldest dam constructed in 1866. Seqwater is regulated and its dams aim to meet national guidelines as defined by the

Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD).

As with any infrastructure, structural deterioration can occur over time, which is why in 2012 and 2013 Seqwater commissioned independent assessments of its 26 regulated dams to determine if they are adhering to

the guidelines and if any maintenance works were required. The assessments also considered how the infrastructure could be improved to handle predicted population growth and future weather events.

From this comprehensive information, Seqwater has created

DAMS

the Dam Improvement Program and is rolling out upgrades to its South East Queensland dams.

WHAT HAS BEEN UPGRADED?

There has been significant advances in dam design, assessment methodologies, extreme rainfall estimates and flood modelling in Australia, all which have been used in the implementation of these upgrades.

Seqwater Asset Portfolio Development and Delivery General Manager, Daniel Spiller, said all 26 of Seqwater’s dams that had been issued with safety conditions by the Queensland Dam Safety Regulator under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2010 were included in the Dam Improvement Program.

GEOTECHNICAL

“We have a rolling assessment, monitoring, review and maintenance program to meet safety guidelines, and improve our water storage capabilities. The Dam Improvement Program involves upgrading dams identified as a priority and reducing the water levels of some dams until such time as improvements can be made safely,” Mr Spiller said.

While improvements to each dam differs depending on the individual

assessments, overall the upgrades may involve increasing spillway capacity, installing sand filter zones to safely manage seepage through the dam embankment, installing post-tensioned anchors to provide greater sliding resistance or raising the height of a dam wall.

Mr Spiller said Seqwater had implemented a range of actions in response to the assessments.

“To date, we have lowered the

drinking water storage levels of eight dams – Bill Gunn Dam near Laidley, Cooloolabin Dam on the Sunshine Coast, Leslie Harrison Dam at Capalaba, Sideling Creek Dam (Lake Kurwongbah), North Pine Dams at Petrie, Nindooinbah Dam in the Scenic Rim, and the Wivenhoe and Somerset dams in the Somerset Region.

“In 2014, we also completed the Stage 1 upgrade of Maroon Dam, which included extending the existing grout curtain and pressure relief wells on the abutments to limit seepage and ground pressures during flood events and extending the existing weighting berm,” Mr Spiller said.

Works began in late 2016 to modify the embankment and spillways, and install new filter drains at Wappa Dam, as well as the commencement of a minor upgrade to Somerset Dam involving the construction of a parapet or wave wall on the dam’s breezeway to increase its flood mitigation capacity.

Upgrades to Ewen Maddock Stage 2, Lake Macdonald Dam, Sideling Creek Dam, Somerset Dam and Leslie Harrison Dam are also predicted to take place over the next five years.

DAM MAINTENANCE NATION-WIDE

While Seqwater’s upgrade program is confined to its South East Queensland dams, Mr Spiller said the knowledge learnt through the assessments and monitoring of these dams could be applied on a national level.

“South East Queensland is one of Australia’s fastest growing regions and the demand for water is increasing. It is Seqwater’s intention to share our learnings and collaborate with other water industry professionals and organisations to offer new insights into sustainable water management.”

Mr Spiller said water utilities around Australia should also take note of advances in hydraulic modelling and data collection that was used to evaluate downstream areas because these helped provide accurate data on the water flows over the floodplain in Seqwater’s assessments.

“In South East Queensland, we live in a climate of extremes – from times

South East Queensland’s dam upgrade blitz

of drought to floods – and we need to be ready to adjust our water use and management when conditions change.

“We have undertaken extensive hydrological modelling to allow the dams to be assessed for rare to extreme floods and this work has been used in the Queensland Government Wivenhoe and Somerset dams optimisation study.”

Mr Spiller said other cutting edge ground investigation techniques had also been used to gather data on the

foundations and material within dam embankments, information which would be of use to the wider industry. This has included the use of acoustic televiewer instruments in bore holes, cone penetrometer testing and seismic refraction surveys.

“Research, collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the water industry is essential to understanding and solving the water challenges of today and tomorrow,” Mr Spiller said.

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EMBEDDED OP Taking advantage of

The Australian property market is changing. More people are embracing high and medium-density living, with many developments incorporating a mix of residential, retail and commercial tenants. In the Housing Industry Association’s Forecast November 2016, around 420,000 multi-units will be commenced by the year 2020.

PORTUNITIES

Andrew Perry, EnergyAustralia Executive – NextGen, said the company entered the embedded networks industry in June last year to meet the growth and change in the Australian property landscape.

“One of the key drivers behind establishing an embedded networks business is the demand in high and medium-density urban living. Living preferences are changing and will

continue to evolve, and so creating an embedded networks business made sense to us,” said Mr Perry.

An embedded network is a private utility network within multi-tenanted premises. Rather than each tenant signing up to an energy retailer and negotiating the best price, the embedded network can purchase electricity for the precinct at wholesale rates and on-sell to tenants. The tenants benefit from energy services

such as electricity, bulk hot water and air-conditioning, delivered at competitive rates.

“With this service in place it now makes sense for multi-tenanted precincts of all types to derive value.”

EXPERTISE IN DELIVERING AN END-TO-END SERVICE

The Embedded Networks Company offers an end-to-end service to commercial and residential

developments. This model is ideal for developers seeking a stable, longterm relationship with a dedicated embedded networks provider.

Mr Perry said having the embedded networks service meant there was one provider to work with developers through the entire process.

“There’s enormous value in the continuity of service and reassurance provided as we support developers through each step – from feasibility, build and occupancy phases for suitable development projects,” Mr Perry said.

For small multi-site projects where an embedded network is not feasible, EnergyAustralia can provide alternative multi-site energy solutions that still deliver benefits to developers and tenants.

SHARING THE BENEFITS OF AN EMBEDDED NETWORK

According to Mr Perry, an embedded network must offer value to all parties: the developers, owners corporation and the tenants.

“An embedded network’s benefits are ample and shared. For developers it improves the marketability of their building and streamlines the delivery process during the build phases. Owners corporations benefit from a new income stream that can be used to reduce body corporate fees and common area expenses at no cost to tenants,” Mr Perry said.

Once a tenant moves into a precinct partnered with the Embedded Networks Company, they are set up to manage their account digitally.

EnergyAustralia has invested heavily to develop an online platform so that tenants enjoy a seamless customer experience from the moment they move in. They are provided online account management, receive monthly eBills, all complemented by local dedicated customer service.

THE FOREFRONT OF INNOVATIVE ENERGY SOLUTIONS

Since launching the Embedded Networks Company there’s been considerable interest in emerging technologies and energy efficient solutions outside of providing electricity, which was the business’s initial offering.

“Being involved in the feasibility assessment and initial planning stage we’re finding more developers want their project to be clean and smart. Installing solar photovoltaic panels on the roof is becoming the norm. It could be an inner city apartment complex, shopping centre or even a retirement

village in the suburbs,” Mr Perry said.

“As energy solutions and technologies continue to evolve, developments will combine local solar generation with storage; apartment garages will be fitted out with electric vehicle charging stations.”

Having an embedded network with smart metering also contributes towards attaining a higher Green Star energy rating that can be used in promotion of its sustainability standing, which is being expected of more and more businesses. This additionally helps them become more marketable for leasing arrangements.

“We’re exploring methods to deliver more economical energy network solutions for both developers and tenants,” Mr Perry said.

“With these evolutions in how and where we choose to live our lives, what’s certain is that more people will continue to desire greater control over their energy use and this will be enabled through smarter technology. These capabilities in energy empowerment are realistic and they’re just around the corner.”

As one of Australia’s top energy retailers, EnergyAustralia brings to the embedded network market experience in managing 2.6 million customer accounts and expertise in energy efficient products and award winning customer service. The Embedded Networks Company stems from EnergyAustralia’s NextGen business that’s delivering products based on energy efficiency and providing customers greater control.

METERING ACCURACY CLASS ‘S’:

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE

Electricity energy metering accuracy is an important step in ensuring the integrity of a billing system. Anomalies in measurements can, over a period of time, cost hundreds or thousands of dollars in errors. The accuracy of an energy meter is dependent on multiple factors, such as the load of the network (full load conditions will be more accurate than partial load), as well as the power factor of the system, accuracy of the energy meter, and other factors.

ACCURACY

The accuracy depends on the design and build quality of the meter’s input channels. A higher quality measuring meter will provide better accuracy, but will increase the price of the product.

The following are some major parameters impacting the accuracy measurement of an energy meter:

• Fluctuation of the reading value, represented as a percentage from the actual value (reading)

• A fixed error (noises) normally represented as a percentage from full scale (FS) as its constant value

• For power and energy measurements, the phase shift between the voltage and the current also impacts the accuracy, since the power equals voltage multiplied by current multiplied by the cosine of the phase angle

• The phase angle accuracy is represented as degrees in current transformers, creating additional errors to energy/power meters.

ACCURACY METERING STANDARDS

Since accuracy depends on the load of the system, IEC/AS has developed different standards to define accuracy under different load conditions, known as ‘Accuracy Class’.

IEC/AS Standard 62053-11 covers Accuracy Classes 0.5, 1.0 and 2 for electromechanical meters for active energy (watt hours), which means the

accuracy as a percentage from the reading based on full load conditions and unity power factor. However, the accuracy deteriorates under lower load conditions, with power factor less than unity, along with the presence of harmonics.

IEC/AS Standard 62053-21 covers Accuracy Classes 1.0 and 2 for static/ electronic meters for active energy (watt hours), which means the accuracy as a percentage from the reading based on full load conditions and unity power factor. However, the accuracy deteriorates under lower load conditions, with power factor less than unity along with the presence of harmonics.

IEC/AS Standard 62053-22 covers higher Accuracy Classes of 0.2S and 0.5S for static/electronic meters for active energy (watt hours), providing a higher ‘Accuracy Standard’ under full load conditions and unity power factor. In addition to better accuracy readings at much lower load currents, power factor conditions less than unity along with the presence of harmonics.

SYSTEM ACCURACY VERSUS METER ACCURACY

The accuracy of any energy measurement system is the summary of its components, for example energy meter plus current transformer (CT) –with the exception being when a direct connected meter is utilised.

IEC/AS Standard 60044-1 defines the Accuracy Classes for CTs. Subject to the loading of the CT, accuracy variances will occur from the quoted accuracy class, such as errors due to phase errors based on specified load impedance. Current transformers’ accuracy is defined as per IEC 60044-1, Classes 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 and 3.

In addition, Accuracy Class 0.2S and 0.5S standards for CTs apply for higher performance accuracy. The class designation is the measure of the CT’s accuracy. The ratio (primary to secondary current) error of a Class 1 CT is one per cent at rated current; the ratio error of a Class 0.5 CT is 0.5 per cent at rated current.

Installing an energy meter with Accuracy Class 0.5S as a minimum requirement can assist in ensuring the energy monitoring application has a high degree of accuracy when taking into account the accuracy performance of the CTs involved.

For more information visit www.satec-global.com.au or phone 02 4774 2959.

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Unparalleled Accuracy - Class 0.5S - Better than a traditional Class 1 meter

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Integrated architecture for residential, commercial and industrial tariffs

Value added support providing market growth with customer satisfaction

WHY UTILITIES SHOULD INVEST IN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY

As we transition to a carbonconstrained economy, distributed energy resources (DERs) offer an exciting pathway for helping to achieve this at scale.

Behind-the-Meter or customersited DERs expand the supply of green electricity being used in the overall energy system and advance overall sustainability for Australians as a whole, while opening new opportunities for energy retailers to address carbon reduction and offer practical solutions, which are affordable and scalable for all consumers.

DERs also give consumers greater control of their energy consumption and new choices for how they manage their energy use.

The world is changing rapidly.

While the traditional grid system has functioned well, delivering proven reliability and allowing participants to share the cost and economies of scale, low or no carbon is our future

While distributed generation could be seen as a threat to utilities and their energy business models, it is actually unlocking a new area of growth and providing benefits for the grid, the consumer and the environment.

and it’s a key driver of industry, pushing new technologies and moving at scale with renewables.

We’re collectively trying to find and offer affordable, low carbon solutions. The cost of distributed energy resources is dropping, making them affordable and increasingly accessible for all.

This has a dual benefit – helping society as a whole solve for carbon, while providing affordable energy for everyone in our community across all socio-economic ranges.

Different DER technologies provide different uses and solutions. Residential rooftop solar, for example, provides localised generation and lowers the consumer’s bill. It also adds green electrons into the grid, which help us all solve for carbon.

Then if you add in storage

technologies with a digital meter and digital inverter and integrate them with energy management software, you can have a local asset that when connected to the network and aggregated together with other such DER systems becomes a practical tool to help solve regional energy constraints.

Essentially this is what a virtual power plant or VPP is all about, solving for multiple benefits: consumer, energy system and climate.

As a whole, DERs have multiple bottom line benefits and benefactors – the energy wholesaler, the network, the grid system, society, and customers. For consumers these new technologies enable them to participate and engage with their home and its essential energy in new ways and make decisions that best meet their individual household needs.

As a first step for example, just adding a digital meter can help people manage their bill to their budget through new data enabled customer service tools like AGL’s mobile app.

AGL’s focus is our customers and being a personalised retailer for them so alignment of our business with what's important to our customers is paramount. This is why we believe DERs are an essential part of energy’s new retail paradigm.

DERs give individual customers more control, more choice and more options which align with their own choices, priorities and ideologies. It also gives our customers their own financial planning around energy and design of an energy system that best meets their individual needs.

Some have large families and they’ll have different requirements to a smaller family. Some businesses have a requirement for high voltage supply because they’re running shop equipment.

When a consumer has a solar and battery system on premise it allows them to better plan energy usage so

they can avoid highest congestion prices and therefore save money. We call it time-of-use tariffs for peak periods; put simply, it is congestion pricing.

It’s just like rush hour traffic – you can visualise electrons as cars on the road and so align pricing with traffic. In dense urban places there’s lots of demand for the same roads at the same time. Uber for example is using congestion pricing in rush hour. Distributed energy resources can enable the consumer to monitor and control their energy consumption in peak and non-peak periods, and therefore manage their costs.

Distributed generation can help shave the spikes in load demand during peak usage times such as high temperature days. This can avoid hefty investments in new substations or transmission lines by the networks. This is one of the multiple value pools our South Australian Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program is aiming to demonstrate.

For trial participants, they want to have not only backup power for their own household, individually they

also think it's really cool to help the environment, to be able to participate in the reliability and the stability of the grid and earn value for that.

Our aim is to help demonstrate that value. What that does for AGL is it unlocks growth in the area of ancillary services to the grid, it gives us a new type of commercial customer, the network itself.

We’re working in partnership with the network as well as the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and they are good partners. This is exciting as I think it’s a potential model for Australia going forward.

As a major energy retailer, we see where new technologies are going and opening up new areas of value with customers. That's an exciting place for AGL. As global energy analysts such as the likes of Gartner, Bloomberg and McKinsey have shown, the energy value chain is moving closer to the customer. We see our role as a personalised retailer – that's our focus and rightful place to be.

DON’T EXPOSE YOURSELF TO VOLATILE PRICES

The removal of approximately 750MW of baseload generation capacity in South Australia (and soon the removal of 1,800MW in Victoria) significantly reduces the options for companies to obtain alternate sources of electricity supply across southern states. This reduction in base load is compounded by higher demand expected in the summer months. As a result, companies on pool price pass-through retail contracts or with direct wholesale market exposure face the real risk of high electricity costs from sudden increases in National Electricity Market (NEM) prices.

The price of wholesale electricity can vary from -$1,000 to $14,000 per megawatt hour (MWh), and over a year, the average price has been approximately $50 MWh in SA. On a pool price pass-through contract, if the wholesale price peaked at $14,000/ MWh, costs could escalate rapidly. For example, a 1MW load sustained for ten hours would cost $140,000. A 50MW load sustained for two hours would

Summer is a challenging time of year for any industrial electricity user with a contract that exposes them to peak demand events across the grid. But a new solution allows users to access the best rates the market has to offer – while still protecting against the surge pricing that can, in the worst of cases, put a business under. Visit

cost the company up to $1,400,000.

Using their expertise in the supply of backup and emergency generation from around the globe, Aggreko offers a diesel generator solution to provide an alternative power source to mitigate the effects of spikes in the spot price.

With a large range of generators at their disposal, Aggreko can supply loads of between 15kW to 250MW.

The configuration of the generators is engineered to supply up to a maximum of 90 per cent of the load, with the remaining 10 per cent supplied by the grid. Keeping 10 per cent of supply from the grid ensures that the grid’s power quality is maintained at the customer’s site. Continuity of supply is guaranteed through seamless transition between supply from the grid and supply from the generators.

Aggreko engineers work in conjunction with the customer to examine the economic viability of a hybrid Aggreko/grid supply versus a total grid supply solution. Factors such as peak demand, average demand, customer’s anticipated average cost

of electricity, changes to internal customer network and the cost of generators are taken into account. By modelling the cost/benefit analysis of various scenarios, a solution tailored to the customer’s needs is provided. The final solution will determine the wholesale price (known as the trigger price) at which generators are stopped and started to give the optimum cost saving to the customer. All monitoring and controls are automated and executed remotely including setting of the trigger price.

Aggreko offers a lease arrangement which is offered under a commercial rental arrangement with considerable cost benefits. With the rental agreement the customer does not have to buy and maintain the unit and has the option of returning it when it is no longer needed. Aggreko delivers, installs, starts/stops and proactively maintains the unit for the customer, with costs associated with routine maintenance included in the rental fee.

Reliable level measurement in water treatment facilities, pump stations and rain overflow basins. Open channel flow measurement and water level monitoring.

VEGAPULS WL S 61

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BRINGING GAS TO NEW COMMUNITIES

Winchelsea in southern Victoria has connected to the state’s main gas supply, following the commissioning of AusNet Services’ new underground gas network.

In 2011, the Victorian Government initiated a program to support the reticulation of natural gas into qualifying country towns. Applications from regional Victoria were sought and a number of towns identified to receive a funding contribution towards the cost of building the gas network. Winchelsea was one of those towns receiving funding from the program, which is now known as the Regional Gas Infrastructure Program.

In late 2012, AusNet Services were notified of their success in bidding to reticulate natural gas into a number of country towns. In 2013 a tender was undertaken and contracts were issued for the construction of a City Gate (ie. a pressure reduction station, marking the interconnection point between the gas transmission network and the gas distribution network), and installation of the necessary pipework around Winchelsea.

Construction to connect Winchelsea to natural gas began in 2014, with Comdain Civil Constructions contracted to build the City Gate and Draper’s Civil Contractors contracted to installed the gas network.

Winchelsea is located approximately halfway between Geelong and Colac, with the closest part of AusNet Services’ distribution network at Grovedale 26km away or nearly 35km from Colac.

Winchelsea is not connected to other parts of AusNet Services’ gas distribution network. However it is relatively close (approximately 3km) to APA’s gas transmission pipeline, which runs from the south west Victorian gas fields to Melbourne. AusNet Services connected to this transmission pipeline as part of this project.

CLEAR BENEFITS

The main benefits to extending gas networks into more country towns are for the residents. As future natural gas customers, they enjoy:

• Convenience – no more fire wood or LP bottles to fill and store

• Alternative energy source allowing choice

• Cheaper than electricity and LP Gas

• Clean and reliable energy

• Improved value of their homes

The availability of natural gas can also have a marked positive impact on the local economy over time. Natural gas is a potentially significant benefit for new businesses considering establishing themselves in these locations; and for existing businesses, the flexibility and improved economics of natural gas can enable new possibilities.

With commissioning now complete, AusNet Services’ Manager Gas Networks, Elias Raffoul, said residents

wishing to connect to the natural gas network should act now to be early recipients of natural gas.

“We estimate that more than 600 Winchelsea residents and businesses now have access to natural gas. By connecting, they can enjoy the benefits of natural gas for cooking, heating and hot water systems, replacing the need to use bottled gas, electricity, and firewood,” Mr Raffoul said.

WHERE TO NOW?

In the last five years, AusNet Services has extended the natural gas network in western Victoria to more than 92,000 homes and businesses, and is expecting to invest more than $500 million in the gas network over the next five years.

AusNet Services is now finalising extensions of the gas network in the Victorian towns of Avoca and Bannockburn. It is anticipated that consumers in both of these towns will be able to access natural gas in the first half of 2017.

While there are currently no plans to extend the gas network to further regional towns, AusNet Services said it was always willing to speak with shire councils about options to install gas, as often a large company wishing to set up business regional could be the catalyst to get things moving – especially if a financial contribution was required.

Strategically, AusNet Services is keen to grow its gas network, and augmentation through country towns fits in well to enable this goal. However the main driver of augmentation is through the construction of new estates –the utility enjoys a high uptake rate by people building new homes in these estates.

“We thank the state government for helping bring natural gas to Winchelsea through the Energy for the Regions and the Regional Gas Infrastructure programs and we look forward to connecting more Victorians to natural gas,” Mr Raffoul said.

ABOUT US

Edge Underground is a precision microtunnelling contractor that operates in Australia and the USA. With a focus on innovative technology and expertise, Edge Underground designs and enhances the performance of trenchless equipment.

What does the future hold for our GAS MARKETS?

The uncertainty over the future of the oil price is creating an increasingly complex environment for all three of Queensland’s liquefied natural gas plants and the entire East Coast gas market.

Last November, Santos confirmed they are not running their $US18.5 billion GLNG venture at full production. If prices remain low, Origin Energy’s Australia Pacific LNG venture and Shell’s Queensland Curtis venture may take the same path, given high operational costs, according to recent reports.

With the east coast domestic market closely linked, the demand/supply dynamics in Queensland which make up most of East Coast demand have far reaching implications, and understanding them is critical for all stakeholders.

With Australia’s gas markets on the east, north and west coasts undergoing unprecedented change, Australian gas leaders, industry officials, regulators and major industry stakeholders will gather in Sydney from 13-16 March to discuss the impacts of 2016’s volatile gas market and the future of the domestic gas industry at the 5th annual Australian Domestic Gas Outlook conference.

Key speakers for the Australian Domestic Gas Outlook conference include:

• The Hon. Matthew Canavan, Federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia

• Rod Sims, Chair, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

• John Pierce, Chair, Australian Energy Market Commission

• Martin Ferguson, Group Head of Natural Resources, Seven Group Holdings and Chairman, APPEA Advisory Board

• Ian Macfarlane, Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Resources Council

• Page Maxson, Chief Executive Officer, Australia Pacific LNG

• Kylie Hargreaves, Deputy Secretary, NSW Department of Industry

• Richard Cottee, Managing Director, Central Petroleum

• Tony Frencham, Regional President, Dow Chemical Company

• Tony Mahar, Chief Executive Officer, National Farmers’ Federation

• Paul Adams, Managing Director, Jemena

• Matthew Kay, Chief Executive Officer, Beach Energy

• Ian Davies, Managing Director, Senex Energy

• David Maxwell, Chief Executive Officer, Cooper Energy

• Mike Lawson, Deputy Secretary, Department of Industry

Join us at our 2017 NSW Water

Industry Operations

Conference & Exhibition Exhibition Park in Canberra 29 & 30 March 2017

Promoting best practice in water management by building the knowledge, skills and networks of industry operators. WIOA annual conferences provide a medium for individuals involved in water operations to:

• Listen to the experience of others through the latest “operational” technical and research based information through platform and poster presentations.

• View and discuss the latest advances in technical equipment, products and services with suppliers and trade consultants.

• Update their knowledge and skills through interaction with fellow water industry employees.

The utility industry is regularly required to call on an enormous and varied range of specialists; from mapping, to drilling, to wastewater treatment, to asset management, to pipe relining, to pipeline integrity, to land access, to risk management, and the list goes on. To make the process a little easier, Utility is bringing together experts from various fields to answer your questions.

To assist with project planning, what geotechnical information should be obtained when designing a complex HDD?

The importance of defining the crossing geology should never be underestimated. This will allow for the downhole tooling, drilling fluids and schedule to be accurately developed and costed. I would suggest that initially a site visit and geological review would be undertaken to provide a geological overview of the area, which should then be used to determine the site specific investigations. The objective of the site investigation for a trenchless crossing is to obtain sufficient reliable information to permit the safe and economic design of installation and permanent works. The investigation should be designed to verify and expand upon any information previously collected.

Site investigations for all drills should include site inspection/surface investigation, topographic survey, identification of existing services and a geotechnical assessment. Where the client prepares the investigations, the HDD contractor should assess the completeness of the information provided and ensure it provides sufficient information for planning and execution of the bore. Where further information is required, the HDD contractor should provide a proposal to the client outlining the objectives, requirements, and budget costs for any additional works required.

When planning the geotechnical investigations scope the engineer should consider some basic guidelines:

• The level of geotechnical investigation required is a function of the length of the bore and the anticipated complexity of subsurface conditions. While typical spacing is at least every 150–250m along the bore alignment, a minimum of two geotechnical boreholes is required for each bore where the bore length is greater than 300m.

• Boreholes should be located to track stratigraphy and to detect the geological sequence, structure, and areas of significant change. When results indicate other anomalies or highly varying strata, then additional boreholes may be required.

• The boreholes should penetrate through an elevation at least 3-5m below the depth of the proposed bore profile to provide information for HDD design modifications and pilot hole deviations.

• Boreholes should be offset perpendicularly from the HDD centreline where practical by 10m.

• Investigations should describe the soils and rocks encountered and recover samples for laboratory testing. Where soils are encountered, in-situ standard penetrometer testing (SPT) sampling should be undertaken at selected depth intervals within the borehole.

• Where frac-out modelling is required, the geotechnical parameters required for undertaking the modelling (e.g. unit weight, shear strength, friction angle, cohesion and Youngs Modulus) should be determined during the geotechnical investigation.

• The likelihood of soil/groundwater contamination should be determined prior to undertaking any investigations. If contamination is suspected (i.e. near electrical transformers, fuel storage, petrol stations, industrial land), samples should be tested for

likely contaminants in accordance with the relevant guidelines for contaminated sites.

• Boreholes should be backfilled to minimise the possibility of drilling fluid migration along the borehole during subsequent HDD operations. The upper 1.5m of land-based boreholes should be backfilled with the surrounding soil. Below 1.5m, a backfill mixture containing cement grout and a bentonite product to promote expansion is recommended. Cuttings from the drilling operation may be incorporated into the backfill mixture if considered beneficial.

• A geotechnical report addressing the sampling program, laboratory analysis (including strength testing and particle size distribution), interpretation of geotechnical

engineering properties, bore logs and a profile of the subsurface conditions shall be produced. Reduced levels of borehole data shall be included on the HDD profile drawings.

Probably 90 per cent of the work is happening below ground, so thorough and well thought out site specific investigations are the most basic and essential requirement for planning any trenchless construction project. All formations can be drilled reliably if the soil conditions have been properly defined and considered during the design phase.

ABOUT CHARLES STOCKTON

UK-born Charles Stockton has been a part of the HDD sector in Australasia since 2003. He is the Managing Director of Stockton Drilling Services, a leading engineering consultancy specialising in HDD and other trenchless pipeline installation methods.

For more information please visit www.stocktondrillingservices.com or contact Charles on 0400 623441

charles@stocktondrillingservices.com to discuss your next trenchless project.

MAY 2017

SECURE UTILITIES: MANAGING DATA IN THE DIGITAL AGE 17thRegistrationEarlybirdEnds February2017

www.utilityevents.com.au

It’s well-known that utilities now have access to more data than ever before, but what’s not talked about enough are the serious security risks having this data creates. Utilities are among the most targeted businesses by cyber criminals, so it’s essential for companies to know where their weaknesses are and have measures in place to keep their data safe.

At Secure Utilities, we'll be helping utility employees better understand the risks they're facing, and we'll teach you how to safeguard against future threats from cyber criminals.

Our speaker line up includes: 23 March 2017, Rendezvous Hotel, Melbourne

The leader of PwC’s Australian Energy, Utilities and Mining practice, Mark has almost 30 years’ experience in utilities, with a special interest in helping utilities maintain the security of their operations.

Utility CIO panel

Professor Chris Leckie

A Professor in the Department of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne, Chris will focus on what utilities can do to protect themselves against cyber attacks.

External experts

An expert in computer forensics and a white hat hacker, Simon will draw on his 25 years of experience to teach utilities how to protect against their biggest weakness: their own staff.

Multidisciplinary approach