Utility Magazine May 2015

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TFROM THE EDITOR

he Federal Government’s Energy White Paper has been released, providing clarity on the government’s focus for the industry in the years to come. It has mostly been good news for utilities in the electricity and gas space, with the privatisation of electricity assets and the introduction of cost-reflective tariffs, two major reforms that have been welcomed by the industry.

The concept of domestic gas reservation was also shut down, much to the relief of many operating in this market - most of whom have long maintained that the fundamentals of free markets should be the guiding principles to solve our domestic gas supply issues, as opposed to market intervention.

It’s an exciting time for anybody working in the energy industry, and the dynamics of the market change from week to week. Soon we’ll be able to provide all consumers with detailed energy usage information, drilling down to the costs associated with various household appliances at specific times. Consumers will be able to use this information to better manage costs, and utilities will be able to use this information to incentivise customers to manage demand in the network.

At the same time, solar storage technologies are being embraced for the benefits they will be able to offer in managing demand, as loads on our network are immense.

The evolution of the energy industry has provided us with somewhat of a ‘theme’ for this issue of Utility. Two of the global technology buzzwords of recent times, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology are presenting exciting opportunities to utilities. In this issue we look at how utilities can benefit from M2M and IoT technologies - and consider the consequences for those who don’t innovate quickly enough.

We also look at recent innovations in recycled water and its uses; the evolution of mapping and GIS technology within utilities; and advances in CCTV for the condition assessment of underground assets.

Further upstream, the exploration and production of oil and gas in Australia continues to evolve, with the sector increasingly investigating unconventional sources of oil and gas for domestic and export markets. To represent this burgeoning industry, we’ve launched a new publication, Unconventional Oil & Gas. Monkey Media will be launching this new magazine, and showcasing this edition of Utility, at the APPEA conference in Melbourne from May 17-20. If you’re at the show, make sure to pop past Booth 336 to catch up with the Monkey Media team. If you can’t make it, you can check it out at www.unconventionaloilandgas.com.au.

Chris Bland Publisher and Editor

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David Leitch spends his days analysing trends in utility markets, and forecasting the impacts of new technologies on the sector. Here, he shares his thoughts on how the energy sector will respond to the challenges new technologies, such as solar and storage, present those who manage networks and distribution.

A WORD FROM THE ENA

JOHN BRADLEY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER – ENERGY NETWORKS ASSOCIATION

Utility professionals know how hard it can be to capture the public imagination when it comes to infrastructure regulation, planning and asset management.

As American comedian John Oliver, the host of Last Week Tonight, said recently: “The problem is when our infrastructure is not being destroyed by robots and/or saved by Bruce Willis, we tend to find it a bit boring.” Oliver bemoaned America’s lack of interest in an infrastructure maintenance backlog, wondering if it was because “no one has made a blockbuster movie about the importance of routine maintenance and repair”. His own movie trailer, complete with A-list actors, is worth googling, if only for the tagline, “Infrastructure: if anything exciting happens, we’ve done it wrong”.

There is a lot at stake. Australia’s utility industry provides essential public infrastructure that is the backbone of economic development, social cohesion and community services. Our electricity and downstream gas sectors contribute $24 billion to Australia’s GDP each year, enabled by almost one million kilometres of electricity network and 80,000km of gas pipelines.

Internationally, the Australian institutional and regulatory framework for energy has been well regarded, benefiting from transparent and independent institutions; evidence-based economic regulation without political influence; and a separate rule-making authority in the form of the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC). With some interruptions, Australia has maintained reasonably bipartisan support for competitive markets, prudent deregulation, and private capital investment which relies on investment certainty and low levels of sovereign risk. It must also rank as one of the most constantly reviewed regimes in the world. A strength of the regime is that it has clear procedures for evaluating policy and regulatory changes by the AEMC and the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council. At times though, the succession of

overlapping reviews has resembled Trotsky’s dream of ‘permanent revolution’ – particularly in an industry which has five-year regulatory cycles and 50-year asset lives.

Australia has seen 17 major regulatory reviews in the energy network sector since 2010, including not only fundamental changes to electricity rules and guidelines by the responsible agencies but two Senate Committee inquiries, a Productivity Commission review and independent panels on key elements of regulation.

The incredible disruption in energy supply chains caused by technology, energy use and new markets will require policy and regulatory reforms that harness, and stimulate innovation. These trends are not only disrupting the business model of energy networks and other service providers – they are challenging policy and rule-making institutions like the AEMC and the COAG itself, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) and Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

Energy market governance will soon come under the spotlight in the longplanned review for energy ministers chaired by Dr Michael Vertigan AC, Euan Morton and Professor George Yarrow. It’s an important opportunity to ensure Australia’s energy institutions are fit for the disruptive challenges to come. These institutions will be influential in removing barriers to innovation in both new markets and in regulated services. They will also determine if Australia maintains investor confidence essential in an industry that remains capital intensive under all future scenarios.

Consumers have a direct interest in maintaining a stable investment environment for network infrastructure simply because it means a lower bill. Ongoing network infrastructure investment remains fundamental even in the most decentralised energy futures assessed by the CSIRO and others. A recent University of Sydney study by Khalilpour and Vassallo has again confirmed that widespread disconnection is not realistic in the

future, even with falling technology costs, because of the value the grid provides to customers with distributed energy resources.

In this dynamic environment, a first priority for the Governance Review will be to preserve, in the AEMC, the capacity to provide a clear, coherent vision for energy reform, which is reflected with sufficient clarity in a rules framework supporting investment. In turn, AER and AEMO should be positioned to perform their distinct, complementary roles in applying the rules and implementing reform, rather than being expected to confront fundamental market design or competition policy issues in a reactive manner, responding to market trends.

Of course, if energy policy makers are scrambling to rethink policy and regulatory frameworks in the face of disruption, then they are certainly not alone. The Harper Review of Competition Policy released in March highlights that new services like Uber are not only disrupting the traditional taxi service but challenge conventions on what consumer protections are sought, or needed, by informed, consenting customers.

The ENA supports a consistent, principles-based approach to regulation of new business models, which avoids creating unnecessary barriers to entry and ensures a level playing field for providers of equivalent services. Consumer protection frameworks will require review to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose in the face of new sales models for solar, storage or other services. Not only do such services change the physical and financial features of a customer’s energy supply, the extent of choice itself may permit a re-evaluation of the need for consumer protection for consenting customers.

See our website www.ena.asn.au for recent submissions on The Regulation of New Products and Services and the publication, Evolving a Future Ready Regulatory Framework.

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THE CHANGING FACE OF UTILITY OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

As the energy industry continues to undergo major changes, the ENA is bringing together key stakeholders to discuss how we can best manage and adapt to the changes that are currently sweeping through the industry.

Globally, energy businesses are responding to the disruptive potential of a range of converging forces and energy networks, from electricity to gas, are evolving to meet significant shifts in regulation, technology and consumer expectation.

While operating in a dynamic new environment of prosumers and distributed energy resources, home automation, energy efficiency, falling demand, and increased consumer engagement on price and technology, the centralised energy grid remains responsible for delivering safe, reliable and affordable energy.

At the same time natural gas networks face a number of challenges, from uncertain wholesale gas markets, changing industrial demand profiles and increasingly intense competition in appliance markets. Against these challenges, the abundance of gas in Australia creates opportunities to develop alternative transport fuel options, support low emission power generation and provide choice in cooling, space and water heating and cooking appliances to residences and businesses.

ENA’s 2015 Seminar Series will explore key issues for the energy supply sector, from the transformation of the energy system, the position of gas as a fuel of choice, regulation in a dynamic environment and the management of the assets that underpin the safe and reliable delivery of energy to over 13 million customers.

The first event of the ENA’s 2015 Seminar Series, Energy Transformed: Pathways and Connections will feature keynote speeches from John Pierce, Chair of the AEMC and Brattle Group’s, Dr Toby Brown.

Mr Pierce will address the seminar on the benefits to consumers of the transformation of the energy system drawing on AEMC’s significant policy reform agenda since the delivery of the Power of Choice Review in November 2012.

With strong national momentum on the need for network tariff reform Dr Brown will provide an international perspective on the innovation underway in network tariff design that is fundamental to the transformation of the electricity grid, where prices could fully reflect a two-way exchange of value and services between network service providers and customers.

In June, Gas 2015: Customers, Choices and Challenges will bring together stakeholders representing consumers, appliance manufacturers, major gas users and gas networks to discuss the role of Australian gas distribution networks in securing Australia’s energy future. It will feature discussions on supply, competition and community interest and the future of gas network regulation in new energy markets.

These seminars will give you the opportunity join Australia’s leading energy businesses that are facilitating the transformation of the nation’s energy system for consumers and to share innovations and expertise from the businesses serving the industry.

The seminar will also provide unique insights into the changing face of utility ownership in Australia and how network utilities are responding to energy market transformation with a panel of CEOs including Vince Graham (Networks NSW), Merryn York (Powerlink QLD), Tim Rourke (CitiPower and Powercor) and Frank Tudor (Horizon Power). It will include leading industry experts to discuss the shifts in international business models for utilities as the sector deploys new technology and services, as well as the new markets and opportunities which will be enabled by integrated distributed energy resources and demand management services.

Energy Transformed: Pathways and Connections will be held at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney on Thursday 7 May 2015.

Gas 2015: Customers, Choices and Challenges will be held at the Hotel Windsor in Melbourne on Friday 12 June 2015.

For more details about the ENA 2015 Seminar Series, including program details and registration go to www.ena.asn.au/events.

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INDUSTRY RESPONDS TO ENERGY WHITE PAPER

The Australian Government has released its Energy White Paper, detailing its approach to energy policy framework, which has been met by a largely positive response from energy industry groups.

The Energy White Paper outlines three main outcomes it seeks to achieve:

• Increasing competition between generators and retailers

• Increasing energy productivity and efficiency

• Increasing infrastructure investment for the energy sector, including for global export projects.

Some of the initiatives that the Government will undertake in order to achieve these aims include encouraging the privatisation of state and territory electricity assets; and introducing costreflective electricity tariffs, under which consumers are increasingly charged according to what it actually costs to

Asupply energy at the time it is used.

A national energy productivity improvement target will also be determined as part of the development of a National Energy Productivity Plan. The White Paper outlines a potential national target of up to 40 per cent improvement by 2030.

And the government will commission an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry will look at the effectiveness of competition in the gas market, in response to ongoing concerns about market transparency.

The White Paper also shoots down the concept of domestic gas reservation policies, stating “The Australian Government does not support reserving gas for domestic use. Reservation would result in less profitable production, attracting less investment, thereby reducing supply and raising costs.

Current gas exploration moratoriums in New South Wales and Victoria were also

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addressed, with the White Paper noting that in the current market “unnecessary state regulatory barriers are limiting much-needed new gas supply”.

The White Paper has been largely welcomed by energy industry groups, including the Energy Networks Association (ENA), the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), the Australian Pipeline and Gas Association (APGA) and the Energy Retailers Association of Australia (ERAA).

ENA CEO John Bradley said the White Paper provides a sensible policy framework to enable consumers to take control of their energy use with new information, fairer pricing and emerging technologies.

“The Energy White Paper has rightly focused on the need to modernise Australia’s outdated electricity tariff structures, to reward customers who use off-peak energy and avoid unnecessary

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investments,” Mr Bradley said.

“We welcome the Government’s commitment for the COAG Energy Council to deliver a concrete implementation plan for electricity tariff reform by the end of this year.

He also said the ENA supports the focus in the Energy White Paper on ‘technology neutral’ policy settings, recognition of the need for investment certainty, and the avoidance of unnecessary Government intervention in energy markets which increases costs to consumers.

APPEA Acting Chief Executive Paul Fennelly welcomed the White Paper’s focus on establishing Australia’s energy industry as an attractive place for international investors.

“Policies that enhance Australia’s attractiveness as a place to do business and encourage industry to increase domestic gas supplies can deliver

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APPEA believes that the paper’s advocacy for establishing effective regulation that allows for the sensible, responsible and timely approval of resource projects is a step forward.

APGA Chief Executive Cheryl Cartwright noted that while the association is “enthusiastic” about the positive impact on the economy of increasing gas exports, it doesn’t want the local gas market to be overlooked as a result.

APGA also reacted positively to the White Paper’s recognition that a market-based response, rather than a gas reservation policy, is the best way to meet gas demand.

“If there’s a shortage in a market, or if the price is high, the market should respond; current higher prices and intensive demand should encourage an increase in supply, so we welcome a review of competition in the wholesale

ERAA General Manager Regulatory and Public Affairs Alex Fraser welcomed the White Paper’s proposal to streamline the energy market and to drive competition and innovation. “The ERAA supports changes outlined in the White Paper to promote competition and empower consumers. In particular, where this is supported by a reduction in regulatory barriers and the introduction of new technologies,” she said.

The main criticism of the White Paper has come from groups who note that the report offers little discussion on the role renewable and storage technologies can play in Australia’s future energy mix. Energy Supply Association of Australia Chief Executive Matthew Warren described the report as “incomplete until it directly considers and addresses climate change policy, along with its impact on the economy and the energy sector”.

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SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR NORTH EAST GAS INTERCONNECTOR

A shortlist of companies vying to construct the North East Gas Interconnector, which will connect the Northern Territory with the East Coast, has been announced. The Victorian Government is now confident that the project will go ahead.

A panel of experts has spent a month assessing the proposals and has nominated the following four companies to go through to the final stage of the process, which will close in September 2015 with a successful proponent being announced shortly thereafter.

The four shortlisted companies are:

• APA Group

• DDG Operations Pty Ltd (DUET)

• Merlin Energy Australia Pty Ltd

• SGSP (Australia) Assets Pty Ltd (Jemena).

NT Chief Minister Adam Giles said “The North East Gas Interconnector is a critical piece of economic development infrastructure and a priority major project for the Territory Government.”

It will link the NT to the East Coast via a route between either Alice Springs and Moomba or Tennant Creek and Mount Isa.

The quality of the submissions through the Government’s competitive process for the pipeline’s construction has been so high that the Territory Government now feels it is inevitable that this vital pipeline will be built.

It is estimated that the Territory has more than 200 trillion cubic feet of gas resources in six onshore basins – potentially enough gas to power Australia for more than 200 years and reserves almost 20 times the size of the Ichthys LNG Project. There is also more than 30 trillion cubic feet of gas offshore.

ELECTRICITY REFORM PROGRAM FOR WA

WA Energy Minister, Mike Nahan, has announced a State Government electricity reform program aimed at reducing the high cost of electricity within Western Australia.

Following an industry review, Dr Nahan said the Western Australian Government would begin taking the necessary steps to limit future electricity price increases and reduce the requirement for subsidy of the industry that is forecast to cost the State more than $500 million in 2014-15.

The ENA has welcomed the response with CEO John Bradley stating that customers will benefit from nationally consistent economic regulation of networks.

One of the main reforms will also be introducing choice of electricity retailers for household and small business customers.

“The benefits of competition

between energy retailers are already evident in gas services where Alinta and Kleenheat compete vigorously for household and small business customers with attractive price offers,” the Minister said. “Households and small businesses should have the same opportunity for choice and better prices in their purchase of electricity services. It is also expected that Synergy will be free to retail gas to small business and residential consumers once full retail contestability is introduced.”

The Government will also transfer regulation of the Western Power electricity network to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), which regulates electricity networks in all other Australian states and territories. This will provide the benchmarks and incentives for Western Power to meet national best practice standards in operations, efficiency and cost.

This transfer to the AER is a significant step toward the realisation of national reform agenda set over a decade ago.

“It will also increase the transparency of Western Power’s technical rules and rule change processes, and include Western Australia in the national discussion around how to respond to the opportunities and other impacts of technological change in the sector,” Dr Nahan said.

Reforms will also be developed to increase transparency and efficiency in WA’s wholesale electricity market. The Government will not split the Stateowned electricity business Synergy and Western Australia will not join the national electricity market.

“There are opportunities for large improvements in the performance of the Synergy business. This is our focus, rather than further structural changes to the State’s electricity corporations.”

ACTEW WATER TO REPLACE 18,000 WATER METERS

ACTEW Water is undertaking a major water meter replacement program across the ACT that will see more than 18,000 residential water meters replaced by the end of 2017.

The program will focus on replacing all 20mm water meters that are 18 years or older, as well as an upgrade to some service connections. It will also replace the existing isolation tap meter with a new, user-friendly ball valve at the meter.

The replacement program will ensure better accuracy from the older meter readings and will enable customers to isolate their own water supply, as well as monitor their usage with much more ease. The new meters will also improve future meter maintenance processes which are carried out by ACTEW Water.

The replacement program will be staged one suburb at a time, with the older suburbs being targeted first –Kaleen being the first suburb listed on

the program. Field crews will spend a number of weeks working through each suburb.

An ACTEW Water Spokesperson said that the proactive replacement program is a way of ensuring that customer water usage is monitored accurately.

“Water meters wear with age and usage, just like any other mechanical device and in some suburbs across Canberra, some meters are well over 20 years old. We are keen to replace these meters for our customers to ensure their water usage is being monitored correctly, as well as making it easier for them to monitor their own usage and turn off their water supply much more easily if they need to do so,” she said.

Ms Drake also asked that customers assist ACTEW Water in the meter replacement by ensuring that their domestic water meter has a one metre clearance from any obstructions, to

allow ACTEW Water staff enough room to complete the replacement as quickly as possible.

“Once customers receive their initial letter in the mail notifying them that ACTEW Water will be attending their property soon, they should head out to their water meter to ensure that it is clear from any leaves or shrubs,” she said.

“This will allow us to complete the works much more efficiently,” she concluded.

If water meters are located underneath driveways or concrete footpaths, ACTEW Water has an obligation to restore customer’s land as soon as practicable to a similar condition before operations began.

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BOARDS OVERHAULED IN VIC WATER REVIEW

The boards of Victoria’s 19 water corporations will be overhauled as part of a review of the state’s water industry.

The Victorian State Government has announced that all 135 board positions will be spilled and go through an expression of interest process.

Sixty-five of the positions were already set to be reviewed in September, however others weren’t expected to change until 2017. All current board members have been encouraged to participate in the expressions of interest process.

The new boards are expected to be in place by October 2015.

Victorian Minister for Environment,

Climate Change and Water, Lisa Neville, has thanked the boards of each corporation for their contributions to date and said the review was intended to ensure the water corporations have the best people with the right skills to deal with the environmental and economic challenges of the future.

“Preserving the future of our water supplies requires a new vision and that calls for a fresh and balanced approach, starting at the top,” she said.

“Victoria needs diverse and highly skilled people to deal with the environmental and economic challenges of the future – climate change, rainfall variability and rapid population growth.”

The current Victorian Government, which came into power in December 2014, has already made a number of changes to water policy in the state, including:

• Abolishing the Office of Living Victoria and transitioning to a collaborative approach

• Requiring water authorities to ensure they face the challenges of climate change including rainfall patterns

• Considering all sources of water including the Wonthaggi desalination plant, which can provide 150 gigalitres of water

• Investigating the water needs and priorities of local communities.

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Kordia Solutions Australia has successfully achieved Federal Safety Commission (FSC) Accreditation, having met the requirements of the Australian Government Workplace Building and Construction WHS Accreditation Scheme.

The Scheme applies to contracts for building work valued at least $4 million and awarded under Australian Government funded projects that meet the following thresholds: For directly funded projects, the project has a value of at least $4 million; and for indirectly funded projects, the Australian Government contribution to the project value is at least $10 million or at least $6 million and represents at least 50 per cent of the total project value, with head contracts being $4 million or more.

“Congratulations on an excellent performance in achieving accreditation after just a single audit – very few companies have achieved that result,” said Federal Safety Commissioner, Alan Edwards.

Kordia now appears on the FSC Accreditation Register, which lists contractors who are currently accredited and therefore eligible to undertake building work that falls within the scope of the Scheme.

“This accreditation clearly demonstrates and provides a level of

confidence to our customers, suppliers, partners, staff and subcontractors that Kordia operates a very compliant and most effective Workplace Health and Safety Management System that can obviously pass even the most stringent of external assessments”, said Kordia Chief Executive Officer, Ken Benson.

The achievement of this accreditation now provides the business with both current and future opportunities to bid for and undertake Federal Government contracts.

Kordia is a company with scale in terms of resources, partnerships and infrastructure to design and deploy challenging, complicated and critical networks.

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the future of ASSET MANAGEMENT

Since its development began almost 30 years ago, SA Water has developed its geographic information system (GIS) into a robust network that is used for a wide variety of applications. Last year we spoke to the organisation about the development of their system; and recently, Senior Asset Information Analyst

John Bormann spoke to us about how SA Water staff interact with the GIS, and its important place in the future of utility asset management.

The GIS is integral to the functioning of SA Water, and is used in many different ways across the organisation. There are different levels of users, ranging from basic viewing and printing to complex spatial analysis and editing. Systems administration is another important function the GIS provides.

“I have been using SA Water’s GIS since 2002,” said Senior Information Analyst John Bormann. “I started in the GIS Management team within the Information Services department, undertaking systems administration work, supporting other users, and performing tasks and analysis too difficult for regular or light GIS users. The great thing about starting there

was I had a small amount of project support work, where I had problems of my own to work on, but supporting the rest of the corporation’s near-100 full desktop GIS users and 2,000 web based GIS users (both internal and external to the corporation) gave me exposure to a broad range of utility GIS related work.

“In 2009 I moved into the Asset Management team, which is the primary support area for corporate usage of the GIS. This means I still get to do an extremely broad spectrum of GIS work, but without the systems administration aspects.”

The GIS has a vast functionality, and can be used for many different applications. Mr Bormann has used the

GIS to assist SA Water staff on a wide range of projects, which include:

• Prioritising main replacement or rehabilitation and optimising shut-off blocks

• Preparing fire response plans in a state disaster

• Valuing the network for financial purposes

• Auditing SA Water’s customer database to find lost rates

• Analysing work order information to relocate depots and find unknown hotspots of high resource allocation

• Optimising sewer mains cleaning programs

• Determining areas of SA Water land with impassable gradients

for 4WD vehicles

• Managing pipeline CCTV

• Mapping out weed spraying

• Network preparation plans for the Adelaide Clipsal 500 event.

THE FUTURE OF ASSET MANAGEMENT?

The GIS is particularly essential when it comes to managing assets, as it allows data to be quickly accessed, edited, and analysed.

“I can barely fathom how we would operate in the long term without a GIS,” said Mr Bormann.

“At SA Water the GIS is the pipe asset register, so the system is used in conjunction with failure (works management) data within sophisticated

BENEFITS FLOW THROUGH TO CONTRACTORS

SA Water’s GIS is also utilised by external parties, who can access a condensed version of the web mapping environment.

“Our metropolitan alliance partner, Allwater, uses our GIS. The Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS), Country Fire Service (CFS), plumbers, surveyors, land agents and other interested parties have access to a reduced version of our web mapping environment,” said Mr Bormann.

“They receive a guide on how to use it and can contact our Customer Service Centre, which then relays the request to us, if someone needs assistance. We receive very few calls, as there are only a couple of hundred external users.”

Allowing these external parties access to the GIS enables them to access the relevant data without needing to contact SA Water.

“Benefits include a reduction in Dial Before You Dig requests and other infrastructure queries that may have come through our Customer Service Centre,” he said.

statistical models to develop failure curves on top of being used to fuel Key Performance Indicators to prioritise action on shut-off blocks for water mains.

“The GIS is also used to maintain the sewer mains cleaning program and score the performance of pipes to increase or reduce cleaning regimes. In SA Water’s Land Management area, mobile GIS is used to accurately map issues that contain vegetation, to pass on to contractors.”

According to Mr Bormann, the asset management team have seen a variety of benefits since they began using the GIS, most particularly the creation of a robust water mains replacement program, the ability to proactively manage the sewer mains cleaning program, and an automated valuation process.

CONTINUING TO EVOLVE

Though SA Water’s GIS is one of the most advanced and extensive in the Australian utility sector, new initiatives are constantly under consideration to further evolve its effectiveness and range of functionality.

“We have a project to implement a unified mobility solution, but the first version doesn’t include GIS. Future revisions will include a GIS component so workers don’t need to travel back to a depot to use the web mapping system to generate a shutdown, repair or recharge plan. This solution will also allow workers to accurately position the point of failure, improving the quality of analysis using this data (sewer mains cleaning program, water mains replacement/rehabilitation program).

“I would also like to see automated

lodgement of as-constructed plans into our GIS to speed up appearance of infrastructure on Dial Before You Dig requests and improve the quality of the data coming in to the system by increasing QA checks of data entering the system. A project to provide the functionality is already underway.

“Longer term, we would like to have survey accurate data and couple this with a mobility solution that includes an augmented reality component to ‘x-ray’ our subsurface infrastructure. Given our data’s placement relative to land parcel boundaries and capture methods dating back to 1986, there is little we can do in the short term to achieve this.”

SA Water also intends to develop the GIS to allow for live updates from the field.

“In the future we would like field operators to be able to change attributes like whether a valve is opened or closed or those that require a QA workflow to be triggered. It would also be useful to capture missing assets like fire plugs, isolating valves and maintenance holes, but with these additions going to a staging area, rather than performing the edit on the live production data.”

NOT JUST FOR THE EXPERTS

Despite its intimidating range of functionality, the GIS is very userfriendly. SA Water’s internet GIS is called the ‘AquaMap’, and users can access its data through the Geocortex Silverlight web viewer. ArcGIS Desktop is a more complicated software platform, used primarily by editors, asset managers, and other high-end users. Employees who need to use the GIS for more complex activities have access to a multitude of training and

SCREEN SHOT SHOWS HOTSPOTS FROM THE PAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS OF CHOKES AND OVERFLOWS IN THE SA WATER NETWORK, CAUSED SPECIFICALLY BY FAT BUILD-UP.

education options.

“Our web mapping system, Geocortex, which runs alongside ArcGIS for Server, is fairly simple and requires little to no training to use. Regular training sessions are held by Asset Management during the year if people want to attend.

“Use of ArcGIS Desktop is carried out by people already trained, or they attend an ESRI course, or they’re assisted through a self-learning phase conducted by Asset Management. The tools aren’t as complicated as they used to be, the real learning curve is understanding the data.”

PROACTIVE ASSET MANAGEMENT

Perhaps the most useful aspect of the GIS is its ability to allow asset managers like Mr Bormann to proactively assess and circumvent potential problems across SA Water’s vast network of assets. Particular procedures have been built into the system to ensure that assets are regularly and appropriately assessed.

“If a shut off block has three or more unplanned outages within a rolling 12 months, it triggers a KPI that elevates its assessment on SA Water’s mains replacement program. Sewer events similarly trigger entry to the CCTV program and/or cleaning program with varying levels of cleaning types and frequency.”

This proactive and responsive system

SA WATER’S SENIOR ASSET INFORMATION ANALYSTS, JOHN BORMANN AND DAVID PARSONS REVIEW GIS DATA.

helps asset managers in the forward planning of their asset requirements.

“In more purely proactive terms, SA Water maintains two complementary models for water mains replacement – NESSIE and PARMS. PARMS is a Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) initiative, carried out by the CSIRO and since maintained by WISER Analysis. These models, especially PARMS, take in GIS and failure data and help form the forecasting and replacement program.”

The continued success of the GIS is dependent on it being continuously updated to reflect changes in the system. Certain safeguards have been built into the system to ensure the integrity of the data it provides.

“Within the web mapping system there is a option to immediately notify the GIS edit team (within Asset Management) of a required correction, e.g. missing information, updated valve status. As for new infrastructure,

part of the asset handover process is received by the GIS edit team of as-constructed data. Without it, the contractor cannot receive final payment.”

THE BENEFITS OF GIS FOR UTILITIES

Given its huge functionality, user-friendliness, and potential for further development, the GIS represents a powerful opportunity for the modern utility. For Mr Bormann, the biggest benefits are the ability to easily update plans and maps with new data and the ease of assessing and valuing underground assets.

“I don’t understand how a utility, at least, a large utility could operate today without a GIS. Without it, we’d still be

updating hard copy plans, we wouldn’t have as accurate a picture of asset performance and asset valuation would be far less accurate. Given that the vast majority of our assets are underground, I don’t see how we could survive without it in the long term. I think we could survive for a short time, based on operator knowledge and hard copy plans, but performance would be severely impacted.”

SURVEYING

AS EASY AS X,Y,Z

Stockton Drilling Services was recently called to the site of the New Royal Adelaide Hospital to help confirm the exact position, profile and orientation of a series of ducts installed as part of the project.

As part of the New Royal Adelaide Hospital (NRAH) construction, SA Power Networks (SAPN) needed to install a series of 160mm and 140mm link ducts between the new hospital and its Hindley and Whitmore substations.

South Australian Direction Boring (SADB) was then engaged to install the trefoil configurations by horizontal directional drilling in lengths of approximately 700m to 1,000m.

After the ducts were installed and the hauling bays established along West Terrace and North Terrace, it was found that the hauling tensions of the 67mm OD power cables were much higher that initially calculated.

Stockton Drilling Services was contacted to see if their gyro survey tool could be used to confirm the exact position, profile and orientation of the ducts between the hauling

bays. These exact measurements of bend radius could then be used to recalculate the hauling tensions required for the cable installation. Stockton mobilised within two days, and immediately commenced surveying the 13 sections.

Stockton used their DuctRunner gyro-surveying equipment, a patented gyroscope-based inertial measurement system designed for autonomous recording of positional data. The tools take an accurate X, Y, Z positional reading approximately every 10mm along the route. This data is then used to not only confirm the position, but also the grade and radius of the installed pipeline.

The survey data was made available to view on site immediately after completion of survey runs. X, Y, Z and bend radius plots of the survey line

STOCKTON

can be viewed on the site laptop and screen prints obtained. The complete survey files were then processed overnight and exported as CSV files containing X, Y, Z, bend radius, azimuth and pitch.

The 13 pipe sections were surveyed in just seven days. This new information then provided SADB with the knowledge required for them to undertake modifications of any tight or restrictive sections and for them to determine where additional lubrication points would be needed. This application of the gyro survey tooled ensured the successful installation of all the cables with the required timeframe.

DRILLING SERVICES MANAGING DIRECTOR CHARLES STOCKTON PUTS THEIR NEW GYRO SURVEY TOOL TO THE TEST.

DEVELOPING CONFIDENCE IN UNDERGROUND ASSET DATA

One of the biggest challenges facing utilities today is managing their buried assets, and understanding and updating the data available on these assets. We spoke to Charles Moscato, Yarra Valley Water’s Spatial Information Manager, about some of the inherent challenges that come with managing an enormous catalogue of buried assets, and some of the unique technologies he is utilising to help make the task easier.

Yarra Valley Water is Melbourne’s largest water and sanitation business, providing water supply and sewerage services to over 1.7 million people and over 50,000 businesses in the city’s northern and eastern suburbs.

According to Charles Moscato, Spatial Information Manager at Yarra Valley Water, one of the key challenges the utility – and indeed all utilities – face, is having confidence in the

asset data available to them. In many cases asset data can be decades old – meaning assets won’t always be located where a utility thinks they are.

To this end, Yarra Valley Water has recently been working with Augview, developers of an augmented reality software application, which allows users to see a 3D visual representation of buried assets, overlaid on top of a camera view of a particular location.

“Augview has been fantastic and it’s simple to use. By using a tablet or smartphone, we can point to a location and very quickly see what assets are underground.

“The real beauty of this system will be when we start to get other authorities providing their asset information – that’s when we’ll start to see the real benefits.

“Having the ability for operators to quickly use the product, to give them

confidence on whether or not there are assets within the area – whether they are ours, or whether they belong to another utility – would be a huge benefit to our crews,” he said.

“Not only that – if there are assets in a particular area, we can also see where they are, how deep they are, and how far each asset is away from other assets.

“With all that information available to us, we’ll actually be able to very quickly respond to incidents and over time, gain more confidence in our data.”

The benefits of the system extend beyond being able to visualise the existing assets in a particular area –the system can also be used to update existing asset data to make it more accurate if and when required.

“Where we don’t have the accuracy of our data, we’ll be able to actually go in and use this system to record where the location is not right, and feed that information back to be updated in the core GIS system,” said Mr Moscato.

COLLABORATION BETWEEN UTILITIES

Mr Moscato believes there are many benefits utilities can experience by teaming up and sharing their asset data.

“If we work together and put some tight measures around what is it that we’re actually doing with the data, and have some level of trust between the authorities, then it’s for the greater good of all utilities to have this information shared.

“If we can actually have the feedback mechanism by which utilities not only review the accuracy of their own asset data, but also that of all the other utilities in a given area – be it gas, electricity, water or telecommunications – how could that be anything but advantageous for all parties involved?

“As utilities provide one another their data, they’ll actually quickly start to see the extra benefit of having all utilities using the same sort of products – such as Augview – to feed

this information back,” he said.

“I think this is an excellent win/ win situation – we have the ability to be a role model for the industry, to showcase how good this technology can be.

“We could actually have a system in place to improve our data accuracy and improve the safety of our operators. What’s not to like about that?”

UNDERSTANDING DATA ACCURACY

Another challenge for utility asset

managers, according to Mr Moscato, is the fact that many utilities today are using asset data that was captured in the 1980s or earlier – when data capture methods were not as advanced as they are today.

He believes there needs to be a greater understanding of when various asset data sets where captured, so that utilities and asset owners can have a realistic expectation of just how accurate that data can be.

“If we had the ability to put some measures in place to quantify how accurate our data is, we’ll actually

start to build some metadata underneath our data. For example, in areas where data has been captured from the 1990s onwards, we know we’ve got very accurate data that’s been captured by digital means and provided in a CAD format. We know we have a higher level of accuracy for that data.

“For any data captured prior to that, it needs to be understood that there are restrictions with the way that data was captured and hence the accuracy

ABOUT AUGVIEW

against it.”

Mr Moscato believes that with a product like Augview, which can incorporate GPS coordinates into existing asset data, major improvements in asset data can be made.

SEEING THE BENEFITS

Mr Moscato said he’s excited by the improvements products like Augview are able to offer when it comes to managing vast networks of

underground assets.

“I’ve seen firsthand how effective a product such as Augview can be out in the field, whether being used to actually capture asset data, or to visualise the assets that are underground in any particular area.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Augview and other utilities to improve the quality of asset data available - which then helps us to best manage our networks and provide the best service to our customers.”

Augview is both a mobile GIS, allowing users to view and edit their asset data from the field; and an augmented reality application, which allows users to visualise underground objects as 3D assets in a life environment they wouldn’t ordinarily see.

Augview software, used on a smartphone or tablet, connects directly to one or more GIS web servers over a secure internet connection. Geographic asset data is then requested from the web server and displayed either as a map, text or as a 3D visualisation. Asset information can then be edited directly by the user in the field and the data on the server is updated immediately and without any additional administrative overhead.

With a modern user interface, Augview has been designed using familiar layouts and concepts that allow staff to leverage their existing knowledge of everyday smartphone and tablet applications. Augview provides all the power of a mobile GIS, in a way that a non-GIS user can understand and work with effectively.

Tunnelcorp provides trenchless services to the infrastructure, pipeline and mining sectors throughout Australia.

•Laser guided microtunnelling

•Laser guided pipe jacking

•Box culvert jacking

·for pedestrian/cycleways and ·for road and rail underpasses

•Auger boring

•Shaft sinking

•Tunnel support canopies

•6,000 tonne jacking system

THE MICROTUNNELLING

Edge Underground has always been an innovator in the field of microtunnelling, and two recently completed projects highlight the fact that Edge is a company that’s always willing to push the boundaries of what trenchless technologies can achieve.

UNDER THE BEATEN TRACK

Working with Gippsland Water on its $13million Warragul sewer upgrade, Edge Underground completed the delicate process of burrowing more than 100 metres underneath Princes Way and a railway line to make way for a new wastewater pipeline in Drouin, Victoria.

The 4km sewer line will allow residential and industrial properties near Burke and Howitt Streets to finally be connected to the sewerage system, rather than relying on septic tanks.

The new sewerage system will also cater to expected future growth in the Warragul region.

The job involved almost 1,500m of microtunnelling, ranging from 324GRP to 711GRP.

“The ground conditions and this risk of failure led to Gippsland Water and their consultant, GHD, to specify for slurry and displacement microtunnelling,” said Edge Underground Founder and Managing Director Stuart Harrison.

“We discussed the capabilities of the Vermeer AXIS vacuum microtunnel method, and Gippsland Water and GHD liked what they heard. It was the ability of the system in a wide range of conditions, ranging from clays with a range of gravel and cobbles to wet running sands, that really impressed our partners.”

Many challenges had to be overcome in order to deliver a tight tolerance in vastly changing ground conditions. The use of a 350mm pilot shot as a form of geotechnical sample proved to be a significant factor in delivering a successful project without requiring any additional shafts. The lines ranged from 40-150m in length.

The works, which followed more than two years of planning and design in consultation with V/Line and VicTrack, were successfully completed by Edge Underground over two nights without any impact to train services.

The benefits that Gippsland Water and the local community have seen thanks to the innovative use of microtunnelling cannot be overstated.

“We have now successfully completed two of the three critical sections of this final phase of the $13million Warragul central trunk sewer replacement project,” said Paul Clark, General Manager of Customer Service and Communications at Gippsland Water.

“This investment allows for future development of the Warragul township along with fast-growing areas to the west and south of Warragul,” Mr Clark continued.

“Previously unsewered properties close to the Warragul CBD will also be serviced,” he added.

“We’re delighted to be close to finishing this major project for the Baw Baw and Warragul community. It will allow for future growth and prosperity in the region as well as provide a more reliable and efficient sewerage solution for our local customers,” concluded Mr Clark.

The new sewer main also has the capacity for emergency storage within the pipeline system which means Gippsland Water is able to decommission two existing pump stations currently located on the western edge of Warragul.

Howitt Street is the next major set of works to be conducted as part of the project, with the entire 4km stretch of new underground sewer main on track for completion in June 2015.

TRENCHLESS WINS OUT

In recent years, Townsville City Council has also been working with Edge Underground and the Vermeer AXIS vacuum microtunnelling system. The system has been used on a number of projects, including the recent Corbett Street Trunk Sewer Extension project.

The project involved the supply and construction of approximately 450m of 300mm gravity sewer, from the existing 300mm sewer on the southern side of Ingham Road through to the existing 300mm sewer on the southern side of Woolcock Street.

The project involved microtunnelling under Woolcock Street and the North Coast Railway Line, which was completed by Edge Underground using the Vermeer AXIS system.

Mr Harrison said that the results achieved by the innovative system have impressed the council, and inspired them to utilise microtunnelling as an installation method more than ever before.

“So popular has the system been that as a result, projects which previously would have been completed by traditional open cut installation methods are now being mictrotunnelled by choice,” he said.

“It’s exciting to see that councils and utilities are starting to really appreciate and enjoy the social, environmental and economical benefits microtunnelling can offer.”

Projects that Edge Underground has completed for the council involve pipes ranging in diameter from 150-600mm, and ground conditions have ranged from sand, sandy silty clays and rock. All of the projects that Edge has undertaken have been completed within tolerance, on time and on budget.

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.

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TUNNELLING THROUGH INSTALLATION CHALLENGES

Two of Melbourne’s major metropolitan water utilities have recently used microtunnelling to install new sewers, experiencing the benefits this no-dig technology can offer.

Both Yarra Valley Water and South East Water called upon the team at Pezzimenti Trenchless for major new sewer installations.

Yarra Valley Water called the crew out to Glenroy in Melbourne’s north for assistance on the Glenroy Branch Sewer. This new sewer was designed to relieve the existing Glenroy sewer network.

MFJ Constructions was the lead contractor for the project, and Pezzimenti was engaged to install 950m of 427mm Hobas GRP jacking pipe by microtunnelling.

When the Pezzimenti crew arrived on site, they found that ground conditions consisted of basalt, sandstone and clays. It was a heavily trafficked residential area, with two schools along the path of the

sewer line to be installed. The sewer was to be installed at depths between 6-9m.

The microtunnelling installation was completed without incident in December 2014, with client and contractor both happy with the works completed by the Pezzimenti Trenchless crew.

South East Water also recently engaged the services of the Pezzimenti team, in their case during the installation of the Ryan Road Branch Sewer in Pakenham, located 56km south-east of the Melbourne CBD.

Azzona Drainage and Smec Urban were the lead contractors for this project, a new branch sewer to cater for future residential growth in the area.

The scope of the microtunnelling works was for the installation of 1,100m of 450 and 500mm Flowtite GRP Jacking pipe,

and 160m of 700mm RC Jacking Pipe by microtunnelling.

The sewer was to be installed at depths between 6-10m in ground conditions which consisted of clay and wet sandy clays.

A unique aspect of this particular project was that 50 per cent of the works were completed through the Pakenham Golf course, all of which was done without interrupting play during the course of the installation. The Pezzimenti team finished their involvement on site in January 2015, with client and contractor pleased with the results.

As trenchless technologies such as microtunnelling become more commonplace on the job site, utilities are well placed to take advantage of the unique benefits these technologies offer.

MANAGING CSG WATER: EXTRACTING BENEFITS FROM BY-PRODUCTS

The challenge of managing the water that is a by-product of the coal seam gas production process has been a major consideration for all of the major CSGLNG projects currently underway in Queensland. Together with SunWater, the QCLNG project has developed a unique solution which allows produced water to be put to use in the community.

In February, SunWater commissioned the Woleebee Creek to Glebe Weir Pipeline, which will transport up to 36,500 megalitres of treated coal seam gas water per year from the QCLNG project for beneficial use by industrial and agricultural industries.

Construction of the pipeline was completed in 2014, with the pipeline and pump station commissioned in late 2014. Final interface commissioning was carried out in early 2015 with QGC’s infrastructure and water treatment plant.

Operation of the pipeline and the first supply of treated water commenced in February 2015. This water was pumped to Glebe Weir, boosting overall water supply to the Dawson Valley Water Supply Scheme (WSS).

SunWater Industrial Pipelines

General Manager Tim Donaghy said the milestone was great news for local customers, and indeed for the coal seam gas industry.

“This marks the beginning of beneficial use by irrigation and

industrial customers from both the pipeline and the Dawson River,” Mr Donaghy said. “Water is extracted as part of the coal seam gas production process. It is treated to a high standard at QGC’s Woleebee Creek Water Treatment Plant using ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, and is monitored by both QGC and SunWater to ensure it meets strict compliance requirements before it is released.

“The beneficial use of the treated water has been approved by the Department of Environment, and is reflected in the revised Fitzroy Basin Resource Operations Plan.

“The treated water, which is included as part of the scheme supply and announced allocations for the Upper Dawson sub-scheme, will be extracted by customers through their existing pumps and infrastructure, and measured through existing flow meters.”

BUILDING THE PIPELINE

The Woleebee Creek to Glebe Weir Pipeline is located approximately halfway between the Queensland

towns of Theodore and Miles. The town of Wandoan, on the Leichhardt Highway was used as a central location during the construction of the pipeline.

Features of the pipeline system include:

• 150m of 1,400mm diameter mild steel cement lined (MSCL) suction main, connecting to QGC’s storage and outlet

• The Woleebee Creek pump station adjacent to QGC’s storage

• Approximately 120km of buried MSCL pipeline ranging in diameter from 914mm to 1,067mm (typically using rubber ring spigot and socket jointing system)

• A 5ML balancing storage located partway along the pipeline

• Associated pipeline infrastructure, and pipeline outlet structure for discharge to Cockatoo Creek

• 900m of 804mm diameter pipe connecting to the discharge structure.

Other major control structures and features along the pipeline include

standpipes, surge tanks, air valves, scour valves, isolating valves, control valves, flowmeters, and customer offtakes.

The pump station houses five main pumps, though will typically operate in a three duty and two standby pump configuration.

The pump station will pump up to a maximum of 113ML per day, with the pipeline discharging up to a maximum of 100ML per day to Glebe Weir (both are approval limits, and noting customers may take supply from the pipeline before the remaining volume is discharged).

The pipeline operates as a pumped pressure pipeline up to the balancing storage, and then a gravity pipeline section to the outlet. Treated water is discharged from the outlet to Cockatoo Creek, approximately 600m upstream of SunWater’s Glebe Weir on the Dawson River.

Water stored at the weir is then released periodically, and used by customers downstream – predominantly irrigators – within the Dawson Valley WSS.

DELIVERING THE WATER

The pipeline has two types of customers:

• Pipeline users who take water directly from the pipeline

• River users who take water stored in the Glebe Weir pond or water discharged from the weir and extracted from downstream weirs or the Dawson River.

Existing customers along the Dawson River within the Dawson Valley WSS – from Glebe Weir to the end of the Upper Dawson subscheme – who have medium priority (supplemented) allocations, will automatically receive the benefits of additional water added to the scheme.

These customers, typically irrigators, receive announced allocations through the year as a proportion of their annual maximum water entitlement volume and in accordance with available water supply volumes and calculations provided in the Resource Operations Plan.

These calculations will take into account additional volumes to be made available to the scheme by the discharge of treated water from the pipeline, potentially improving both reliability and maximum entitlement volumes.

EXTRACTING THE BENEFITS

The water being supplied from the QCLNG project is treated to a very high standard, utilising ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis, allowing SunWater to supply water for beneficial use and in accordance with its environmental approval conditions and stringent water quality requirements.

Water quality and the receiving environment is monitored at a number of locations to ensure ongoing compliance.

“We are committed to seeking innovative water supply solutions for our customers and are pleased to deliver this project,” concluded Mr Donaghy.

NETWORK MODERNISING A RURAL WATER

The $40million Harcourt Rural Modernisation Project, currently being undertaken by Coliban Water, will replace the Victorian region’s century-old irrigation infrastructure with a modern and efficient pressurised water supply. The extensive works involve the installation of 65km of pressurised pipeline, two pump stations and a balancing storage tank.

The small rural town of Harcourt is located in the Central Highlands region of Victoria, located approximately 121km from Melbourne. It is the foremost apple growing region in the state and home to developing wine and cider industries.

For the last 100 years, the town and surrounding regions have been supplied with water for irrigation via a system of open concrete and earthen gravity channels. However, as a secure and reliable water supply is vital in order to underpin the agricultural growth in the region, the need to replace this ageing infrastructure with a more modern and efficient system was identified.

The Harcourt Rural Modernisation Project will provide rural customers in Harcourt with year-round access to water through a pressurised piped system. The new system is expected

to save around 3,000ML of water per year. These savings include an estimated 950ML of water loss and a further 2,000ML from water licences that rural customers sold to Coliban Water in 2013.

Coliban Water formed the Harcourt Water Services Committee in November 2008, composed of Harcourt rural customers who provided advice and guidance on modernisation.

In 2012 the business case to modernise the irrigation system was approved by the Victorian Government and works began at the site in March 2014.

INFRASTRUCTURE OVERHAUL

The backbone of the new system is a 19km, 500mm ductile iron (DICL) pipeline, which allows for a maximum flow rate of approximately 23ML a day.

The reticulation pipeline is 44km

and made of either polyethylene or DICL. The diameter of the reticulation pipeline varies from 63-225mm, depending on the required flow.

There are two pump stations at Barkers Creek and Faraday. The Barkers Creek pump station includes four Omega 200-670B pumps and Faraday includes three Flygt CP3240 submersible pumps.

A 2ML concrete balancing tank has been constructed in North Harcourt. The tank is approximately 24m in diameter.

CONTRACTORS AND WORKS

The contract for the supply of pipes and fittings was awarded to Pentair in 2013, including various fittings, valves, ductile iron pipe and fittings to be used to construct the backbone of the new modernised rural pipeline system. All pipes and fittings have been supplied to

the site.

The tender for the supply of pumps was awarded in two parts; one for each new pump station site. Xylem was contracted for the Faraday site and KSB for the Barkers Creek site. The total cost for both pump supply contracts was around $600,000. These contracts involved the supply of the pumps and motor sets needed for the new pump stations.

The contract for the construction of the balancing tank at Harcourt-Sutton Grange Road Harcourt North was awarded to A1 Quality Concrete Tanks; and the contract to construct the pipeline and pump stations was awarded to Redline Group.

BUILDING THE PIPELINE

The majority of the pipeline has been laid using traditional trenching methods.

Thrust boring and directional drilling were used for the backbone pipeline, and directional drilling for the reticulation pipeline.

Trenchless techniques were used for sections that passed under roads, a cattle pen and a dam. There were also sections with significant native vegetation and areas of cultural heritage that could not be trenched.

The original construction timeframe for completion was September 2014. Works on the project were

temporarily suspended in October 2014 to resolve matters between Coliban Water and the pipeline construction contractor. Construction of backbone pipe recommenced in February 2015.

As of 25 March 2015, around 95 per cent of the backbone pipeline and 55 per cent of the reticulation pipework has been installed. Construction of pump stations at Faraday and Barkers Creek is around 30 per cent complete.

FACE THE CHANGING NETWORKS OF ENERGY

by David Leitch, Utilities Analyst, UBS

David Leitch spends his days analysing trends in utility markets and forecasting the impacts of new technologies on the sector. Here, he shares his thoughts on how the energy sector will respond to the challenges new technologies, such as solar and storage, present those who manage networks and distribution.

The history of the electricity industry has been well covered by others, but the point is that by around 2005, most of Australia had an interconnected grid with centralised generation dispatch, regulated monopoly distribution and transmission, and retailers competing for customer billing rights.

Coal-fired generation had shown that it could be produced using air rather than water cooling, but for all the talk about this being a critical development, little changed in the world of technology.

Then along came the Renewable Energy Target (RET), bringing with it centralised wind power. A new form

of generation to be sure, but requiring no real change to the existing business model.

The real game changer was photovoltaic (PV) solar. PV solar’s essential difference is not that the fuel is ‘free’ or comes with greater environmental benefits. The thing that matters about solar is that it has very few diseconomies of scale. The unit cost of a cell used to power a torch is little different to the unit cost of a solar farm used to run a town. It might even be less. This meant in turn that solar could be used to arbitrage the existing system. Since 40-50 per cent of the delivered cost of thermal electricity is in wires and poles, if they could

be eliminated via rooftop solar, then electricity could be consumed behind the meter in an economically effective fashion. Of course, it can’t all be consumed behind the meter, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

The next thing that separates solar from the conventional system is that the capital required is minute relative to the cost of centralised generation. This means it is perfectly practical and is in fact the ‘norm’ for the household to own the ‘means of production’, placing the consumer in control. If you like, the customer has become the competitor. This loss of control is a serious issue for existing industry players. The household doesn’t care what the

AEMC or the AER or the ACCC say about what can and cannot be done. They don’t care about how much reserve capacity is needed or how it should be paid for. Many don’t even care how much solar is economically efficient. They simply make a consumer choice and get on with it. Regaining ‘control’ over the system is one of the challenges for the existing industry.

Of course, solar by itself cannot provide all of the power on demand that Australia needs. There is easily enough land to produce all of Australia’s electricity from solar, but we need a way to manage the on demand and after dark side of things. That’s where storage comes in. We don’t yet know

where we will get to with storage, but lithium iron phosphate and chemical flow batteries (for utility scale) seem very promising. UBS anticipates a halving of lithium costs by 2020 and that won’t be the end of the matter. Lithium is very abundant and there seems to be no insurmountable barrier to producing a lot of storage.

In about five years’ time it is expected that solar and storage will be more or less competitive with grid-delivered electricity for a suburban house with the roof space to hold the panels. Much of the light industry in Australia (the big shed business) will find itself in the same position.

How will the utilities manage this

situation? Will there be mass grid defection with ever higher charges for those that remain on the system? Will there be no need for thermal generation? Will it be the retailer or the network that owns the relationship with the customer?

It’s too early to answer these questions, but just as coming events cast their shadows before them, so too can we speculate. Our thoughts are as follows:

1. We don’t think there will be mass defections from the grid.

2. Networks will perhaps be in a more powerful position. They have the opportunity to effectively become

micro-generators themselves, either by building small generation units or storage units where grid reinforcement is needed, or by owning the panels on household and business roofs. However, as this would be a commercial business and not a regulated monopoly, the challenge for the network will be to move fast enough.

3. Retailers will also continue to

chase the relationship with the customer. Although the news headlines have focused on the ‘zero down’ options that the big retailers will offer (balance sheets are weaker than they used to be but still strong enough for this), in fact the immediate battle ground in states other than Victoria will be over the humble meter. Retailers claim to be able to put

Your network to people into Networks

communicating meters in for $200-$250 each; about 15 per cent of one year’s bill.

4. Once all the households are connected it will then be up to the software jockeys to come up with innovative ways to minimise the cost of delivered electricity. For instance, it clearly uses fewer system resources to export solar power to the house next door than to one 100km away.

ALL POWER TO THE CONSUMER

One thing seems clear: consumers have more power now than they used to. The economics have moved in their favour and with storage that will only increase. For everyone else, the challenge will lie in getting the consumer onto their team. The electricity industry has moved from being ignored to openly disliked as a result of higher costs. Not only that, but this author believes that coal fired electricity globally is the largest contributor to global warming and will have to be phased out, probably sooner rather than later. That’s controversial of course. But we think it likely that environmental costs will increase over time. As a result, all of the players in the industry need to adapt business models to maximise their position in the new order. This may mean making hard decisions and sooner than many may think. For instance, whether to bid for Queensland or remaining New South Wales generation assets; or whether to take some ‘early mover’ losses by setting up a leadership position in storage and associated ICT equipment.

Despite the world-leading position Australia has in rooftop solar, not only in its sun and space but also very much around the efficiency of installation, much more can be done. Storage in particular needs industry champions. Market forces dictate that if the need arises it will be filled. We wait to see who the players and the winners will be in this exciting market.

INCENTIVISING INNOVATION, ENCOURAGING DEMAND MANAGEMENT

As the demands placed on Australia’s energy grids continue to evolve, demand management activities play an increasingly important role in ensuring a reliable supply of electricity, without the need to build costly additional infrastructure that will only be required at times of peak demand. In the wake of the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC’s) Power of Choice review, various changes to the National Electricity Rules have been made to incentivise demand management activities and further rule changes are currently under consideration. The Energy Networks Association (ENA) recently released a paper outlining the appropriate steps to ensure distribution network companies can make the most out of demand management.

In February 2015, the AEMC published a consultation paper asking for industry feedback on changes to the National Electricity Rules (NER) proposed by the COAG Energy Council and the Total Environment Centre (TEC), including reforms to the existing demand management incentive scheme.

The objective of the rule change requests was to provide an appropriate return to distribution network service providers to incentivise efficient demand management projects, as well as improve clarity and certainty regarding how the scheme will be developed and implemented.

The ENA’s response addresses various questions raised in the consultation paper, strongly supporting the rule change proposals and encouraging further reforms to promote demand management activities and support higher risk innovation projects with the potential to bring forward significant benefits to consumers over the long-term.

Furthermore, the ENA suggests that the AEMC should broaden the scope of the rule change process to consider the regulatory framework for demand management by electricity transmission businesses.

INCENTIVISING DEMAND MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING MARKET

Like the Power of Choice report and the COAG Energy Council and TEC rule change proposals, the ENA’s response identifies a gap in the current incentive framework that could discourage distribution businesses from pursuing demand management projects. The ENA suggests the creation of more comprehensive innovation allowance and incentive arrangements, that take into account wider market factors that may impact the ability of network distribution companies to implement demand management schemes.

For instance, the response states, “The current framework is unclear as to how it would treat network businesses implementing distributed generation supply solutions for remote customers. In a number of circumstances, demand management and distributed generation are more than just substitutes for network augmentation.”

The ENA calls for a longer-term view of the future role of demand management and distributed generation to be developed as part of a broad vision for the future of the energy sector. The response cites recent Australian Energy Regulator

(AER) cuts to demand management programs proposed by networks in New South Wales and the ACT as examples of why more positive regulatory incentives and guidance are needed.

The ENA says that the current design of the incentive scheme represented a reasonable “first step” at the time of creation, but that a re-examination of both the governing rules and their design is warranted.

In particular, the ENA believes the rules should specify clearer policy objectives and guiding principles for the separate innovation allowance and demand management incentive scheme components, which are absent from the current framework.

REDESIGNING NETWORK INCENTIVES AND REGULATION

The ENA suggests that the balance of prescription and flexibility incorporated into the current rules could be improved.

“On the one hand, the rules provide wide discretion over some core elements, such as the overall objective and whether the scheme needs to be consistent with guiding design principles. On the other, the AER lacks discretion under the rules to recognise net market benefits attributed to a

demand management project.”

The ENA considers that clear objectives and principles should exist to guide the discretion in the design and implementation of an incentive scheme or regulatory approach and that the degree of prescription and flexibility should be adapted to match the specific context.

“As an example, there may be relatively lower levels of overall prescription around the ‘small scale incentive scheme’ provisions in recognition of the limited financial penalties and rewards applicable under those schemes, but relatively greater prescription around more material issues such as principles for the rollingforward of capital bases.”

The need for financial incentives for distribution businesses to innovate is also raised.

The ENA states that these are necessary to encourage demand management solutions when they may otherwise be considered ‘higher risk’ than network alternatives, due to Service Target Performance Incentive Scheme penalties and reputational damage if the solution fails to address a network constraint.

The response also reiterates the need for demand management incentive schemes to be technologically neutral.

As demand management can take a number of different forms and be achieved via a range of technologies, the ENA states that it would be inappropriate to predicate the forms of demand management permitted under the scheme and this could stifle innovation.

For instance, the ENA considers that

there is no need to favour embedded generation projects over other demand projects conducted under the schemes. To do so may risk cross-subsidisation and distort investment decisions. It is also unnecessary, as networks have been conducting demand management projects with embedded generation and energy storage as a component for some time.

ENCOURAGING DEMAND MANAGEMENT INNOVATION

The ENA states that the proposed rule changes to innovation allowances would provide greater certainty for networks seeking to make significant multi-year investments in demand management projects, which may have high upfront costs.

“The proposed amendment by the COAG Energy Council – by providing scope for recognition of leading edge innovative projects and activities – has the strong potential to increase utilisation of any future allocated allowances.

“Similarly, by increasing the scope of innovation allowance projects to tariff based projects, the rule amendments would position networks to undertake a range of additional experimental trials and programs in a new area not provided for under existing schemes. This is likely to increase future utilisation of allowances.”

The ENA also supports provisions for payments to network distribution businesses based on a proportion of market benefits produced by a demand management project and for the rules to explicitly include a payment for revenue foregone in the implementation of innovative demand

management projects

The ENA strongly advocates for the inclusion of both tariff and non-tariff based demand management options within the scheme, stating that there is “significant net public benefit in measures that provide incentives to undertake innovative tariff design and trial initiatives to support demand management, including direct load control and rebates or incentives to reduce demand at critical peak”.

“Demand management tariffs provide an opportunity for innovation in sending sharper price signals to customers of the value of reducing peak demand, in locations where the value could be high.

“With the passage of the AEMC’s recent network tariff rule changes, networks and customers will be more closely engaged than ever before in developing new and revised tariff offerings that drive lower system costs for consumers in the long term. In this environment, mechanisms which promote and encourage a trialling of range of innovative tariff design options will serve as a useful empirical base of knowledge for future network tariff approval processes.”

For the good of Australia’s grid future, incentives under the National Electricity Rules should encourage the use of the optimum solutions for constraints throughout the network. The ENA’s response to the AEMC’s consultation paper represents the next steps on the road to further innovation in the energy sector and encouraging projects that facilitate the creation of more responsive, effective energy networks within Australia.

(Shown above) CBI’s SF1EL breaker proves a ‘no load’ reading in Themoscan tests whilst other RCBO’S still use power even with the load turned off.

PEAK VERSUS AVERAGE DEMAND LOADS: MANAGING THE LOAD

Across Australia, there is considerable fluctuation in the peak loads placed on electricity networks, as opposed to the average load, with considerably increased demand in extreme heat. Here, Energy Supply Association of Australia (ESAA)

There has been much discussion about Australia’s electricity demand, in particular the decline in consumption (average demand) over the last five years.

This has been largely due to growth in residential solar panels, improved energy efficiency and reduced industrial

Data and Statistical Analyst Nick Cannard provides a comprehensive overview of the variation in load different states face in peak versus average conditions. Source: NEM-Review, EGA, IMOWA *2014-15 data exclusive of WA.

load as a result of structural changes in the economy.

This overturns a long-term trend of growth in average demand. Between 2004-05 and 2008-09 average demand increased across the National Electricity Market (NEM) by two per cent each year. Since 2009-10 this trend has

reversed. Between 2009-10 and 2014-15, average demand in the NEM decreased at a rate of 1.4 per cent a year. Peak demand continues to fluctuate, with the peak closely linked to heatwaves. In Western Australia, average demand and peak demand have increased at a similar rate over the period: average demand has increased 21 per cent, while peak demand increased 24 per cent between 2003-04 and 2013-14.

A look at the ratio of peak to average demand at both the regional level and distribution network level shows the challenges faced in meeting peak demand. Figure 1 shows the regional peak to average demand ratio across the NEM and South West Interconnected System.

South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales experience the highest variation in the peak to average demand ratio, while Tasmania and Queensland have a more consistent and lower ratio. It is worth noting that these two states experience a more consistent weather pattern. Queensland, instead of extreme

peaks, has larger, but more consistent loads during the summer months.

As average demand continues to fall, peak demand does not need to reach historical highs to lead to high peak to average ratios. South Australia and Victoria achieved their highest ratios in 2013-14 when several days of extreme heat led to demand levels just short of the records while New South Wales achieved its highest ratio in 2012-13. The highest annual peak regional demand for South Australia and New South Wales occurred in 2010-11 while in Victoria peak demand occurred back in 2008-09.

Each jurisdiction faces different challenges, which include extreme weather events, natural disasters, isolated customers and different topographies for distributors to contend with. Demand is highly dependent on weather and occurs during the summer for all regions except for Tasmania where peak occurs during winter and New South Wales can change depending on the extremes of the two seasons.

Regional demand includes large industrial loads which are directly connected to the transmission rather than the distribution network. Most business and all residential customers, including those with embedded generation, are supplied from the distribution system.

Figures 2, 3 and 4 show the peak to average demand ratio for each distributor in the NEM. Peak demand is calculated by summing non-coincidental peak demand at each substation in the network, with the exception of ActewAGL and TasNetworks, where transmission connection point data is used instead. Accordingly, the figures for these two networks are not directly comparable to other networks.

Distributors must cater for maximum demand in their region of operation. SA Power Networks and United Energy experience consistently high ratios. SA Power Networks is the only distribution network in South Australia whose regional demand ratio is also the highest of all jurisdictions (see Figure 1). United Energy in Victoria is substantially different to the Victorian jurisdictional ratio, which varies between 1.5 and 1.9.

Source: AER RIN

Source: AER RIN

Ausgrid Endeavour Essential ActewAGL

FIGURE 4: SOUTH AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA AND QUEENSLAND PEAK TO AVERAGE DEMAND BY DISTRIBUTOR FINANCIAL YEARIV. SOURCE: AER RIN.

FIGURE 3: NEW SOUTH WALES AND ACT PEAK TO AVERAGE DEMAND BY DISTRIBUTOR FINANCIAL YEARIII. SOURCE: AER RIN.

FIGURE 2: VICTORIA PEAK TO AVERAGE DEMAND BY DISTRIBUTOR CALENDAR YEARII

SOURCE: AER RIN.

The average United Energy ratio is 2.18 with a maximum of 2.36. The data for the Victorian heatwave in 2014, where the regional demand ratio recorded its maximum value of 1.9, is yet to be reported to the AER. South Australia experienced a heatwave over the same period and recorded the highest ratio of 2.53 for this period.

Table 1 shows the difference for each distributor in their respective regions for the peak to average ratio.

Footnotes to Figures 1-4

I Western Australia data is obtained from EGA Table 2.8, SWIS Electricity Demand Outlook and esaa analysis of SCADA data available on IMOWA website .

II AER RIN data, non-coincidental peak demand at a substation level has been used for all companies excluding TasNetworks and ActewAGL where non-coincidental peak demand at the transmission point is used. Average demand has been calculated as energy delivered across the DNSP system divided by the number of

period hours, 8760. As upgrades and network maintenance occur across the entire distribution network to cater for these peaks, this is the best representation of how large the gap is between average demand and peak demand. Victoria reports for the calendar year while all other

jurisdictions report on a financial year basis.

III Ibid.

IV Ibid.

TABLE 1. AVERAGE, MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM PEAK TO AVERAGE RATIOS ACROSS ALL JURISDICTIONS. SOURCE: AER RIN.

THE EVOLUTION OF DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMER MONITORING

As technology advances and network capabilities increase we’ve seen a great deal of change in the technology that utilities can use to monitor their electrical networks. Taking a closer look at the evolution of this market, the newest addition being offered provides the utility with data that when analysed enables the utility to be proactive rather than reactive to their ever changing requirements.

Traditionally with pole top distribution transformers, the only monitoring available was via an analogue maximum demand indicator (MDI). As standard the MDI was mounted up the pole close to the transformer and only had its reading taken when crew were available to visually take a reading and reset the unit. This single or three phase device only gives one maximum demand current indication that happened sometime between when it was last reset and the time the reading was taken.

Then came the electronic maximum demand indicator (eMDI). This device is solar powered with three phase current connections (via split core current transformers), recording data such as minimum, maximum and average current; transformer temperature; and ambient temperature. The eMDI utilises drive-by wireless data download, and can store up to two years worth of data at ten minute intervals. The eMDI has operated on the Australian electricity network since 2012.

The most recent development in distribution transformer monitoring comes from WF Energy Controls, in the form of the AM10. This device is an asset management tool designed specifically to monitor kiosk and pole top transformers, with a reference to voltage, current and temperature. The device can record and display voltage, current, voltage unbalance, power factor, frequency, sag/swell, harmonics to the 32nd harmonic, THD, phase angle and two temperatures.

Connection is via voltage transformers, or directly to the voltage;

and to the current transformers, split core current transformer or Rogowski coils for current. The transformer temperature sensors are easy to install, using a magnet. The Rogowski option is preferred by many utilities for the ease of retrofitting where there are no in-situ current transformers available and space is tight.

The AM10 is also designed to measure multiple feeders per phase (up to five feeders/phase), which is important for high value kiosks in critical sites. The AM10 is a purpose built compact design that can fit most sites; and downloading the data recorded by the device (up to two years worth of data) is simple to do, via 3G cellular data or SD Card.

Offered with RPMS management software, the AM10 is a powerful tool to report on and manage all distribution and power transformers on a utility’s network. Informed decisions can be made about managing and right sizing

of assets when annual load profiles can be properly recorded and analysed.

Key benefits of the WF Energy Controls distribution transformer monitors include:

• The eMDI is a simple, solar powered device with easy drive by communications that provides considerably more data than traditional analogue MDIs.

• The AM10 records large amounts of annual profile data for a range of sites, and with 3G communications, it is a powerful device that can quickly add a lot of value to the network.

• Both devices are compact and purpose built with inbuilt communications, transformer and ambient temperature monitoring.

• RPMS software is available to enhance the reporting of the data and more importantly to make better decisions about network assets.

WF Energy Controls is a privately-owned company specialising in the design and manufacture of current and voltage transformers for the low to medium voltage electrical industry. Based in Sydney, NSW, WF Energy Controls supply network and electric companies worldwide. For more information visit www.wfenergycontrols.com.au or phone 1300 665 374.

AN ELECTRONIC MAXIMUM DEMAND INDICATOR.

THE AM10, FROM WF ENERGY CONTROLS.

SMART METER DATA: THE ONLY LIMIT IS YOUR

by Ann Burns,

& Strategy

As utilities around the world continue the adoption of smart metering technologies, Australian utilities need to keep pace or run the risk of falling seriously behind.

Water and electricity are among the last remaining services where consumers are expected to be happy receiving a bill every three months paid in arrears. When it arrives it contains one meaningful data point – the total consumption for the quarter. Being happy with this situation is akin to being happy reading a three month old newspaper – no choice of content and it’s out of date before you get it. Smart meters are rapidly changing this, and the opportunities to find new revenue streams and cost savings for utilities are endless.

Globally, the electricity industry has already rolled out millions of smart meters and continues to do so rapidly, reaping the benefits to optimise the grid and directly benefit consumers.

Australian states, other than Victoria where there was a mandatory rollout, will have targeted rollouts in a competitive environment in the near future. With the massive uptake of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) and other distributed energy resources increasing rapidly, smart meter data is being used by utilities to help optimise the size, cost, and effectiveness of

placement of panels.

The water industry has been much slower to latch on to the trend. In some cases this is due to upfront costs and smaller benefits, but in many instances it is due to a narrow and parochial view of the benefits. Many smart meter business cases lack foresight and creativity – usually due to the stringent requirement for benefits to be immediately demonstrable.

Business cases tend to categorise the financial benefits as avoided costs (e.g. meter readers), deferment of infrastructure augmentation, network operational efficiencies (e.g. leak detection), and demand management activities. Benefits for the consumers in the form of greater control and insight, and also innovative uses of the data (e.g. by third parties) are barely considered, and almost always are not given a monetary value. For water utilities, where customer satisfaction is sometimes considered the equivalent to share price, this is a glaring oversight.

A cursory glance at developments in international markets shows what is possible. Companies like Bidgely detect real-time appliance consumption patterns, which can be used to

indicate when they need servicing or provide automatic control options. In the US there is the Green Button Initiative where 60 million users can authorise third parties to access their standardised smart meter data to provide insight into their usage and extra services. Green Button has listed the following as recent innovative applications for customers:

• Insight – entrepreneur-created web portals analyse energy usage and provide actionable tips

• Heating and cooling – customised heating and cooling activities for savings and comfort

• Education – community and student energy efficiency competitions

• Retrofits – improved decisionsupport tools to facilitate energy efficiency retrofits

• Verification – measurement of energy efficiency investments

• Real estate – providing energy costs for tenants and/or new home purchasers

• Solar – optimising the size and cost effectiveness of rooftop solar panels.

Growth

Lead for Resources, Accenture APAC; and Simon Vardy, Utilities Strategy Lead, Accenture Australia

YOUR IMAGINATION

UTILITY CUSTOMERS ARE INCREASINGLY SAVVY AND AWARE OF THE USAGE INFORMATION AVAILABLE. “OLD NEWSPAPERS ARE NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH – CUSTOMERS WANT THE APP,” SAY ANN BURNS AND SIMON VARDY.

There are also related examples from other industries such as credit card firms selling transaction data to digital advertising and other marketing companies. A real example of this is MasterCard Advisors, which launched its Information Services division around two-and-a-half years ago, and in recent months has been approaching media agency trading desks with an enticing offer: data representing 80 billion consumer purchases.

There is no doubt that smart meter business cases should also be updated as lessons are learnt through pilots and the early rollout stages. It may well be that benefits that were not originally thought of become the most valuable benefits in the long term, such as new innovative products and increased customer awareness of usage.

Evidence from the mandatory smart meter rollout in Victoria shows that the network planning, efficiency, and cost avoidance benefits were underestimated and there were many benefits that were not even thought of before the rollout began. For example, tens of thousands of wiring faults were detected when the meters were being installed; with the detection saving multiple house fires and possibly lives.

On the other hand, there were many issues raised before the rollout that have since become redundant. Principle amongst these were privacy concerns about who had access to the data and what it could be used for. A recent Accenture survey showed that 72 per cent of energy users are comfortable sharing information about their household energy usage with their energy provider. The evidence suggests that the majority of people

are keen to allow others to use their consumption data if it provides them with a direct benefit.

The water industry runs the risk of seriously falling behind in the customer offerings stakes. Water prices have increased significantly in recent years to pay for infrastructure and desalination plants on the back of the millennium drought, but have missed the chance to offer customers extra insight, control, and convenience. This has already shown up in customer satisfaction surveys, with a recent Accenture Water customer survey showing 77 per cent of customers surveyed wanted more detailed consumption information delivered by their water provider.

Drawing from Accenture’s global experience, we would recommend thinking beyond the obvious and really considering:

• Monetising more benefits and including more than direct cashable benefits in net present values.

• Learning from other global rollouts, particularly how the data can be used and what customers are doing with it.

• Paying close attention to hardship customer needs. For example, a change in billing frequency can significantly impact payment reliability and help utilities’

working capital.

• Considering smart meter data not in isolation but as consumer’s value convergence of utility data –water, electricity, and gas.

• Looking for partnership arrangements to help monetise the data.

• Estimating customer and social benefits from the usage of data can be more important than extending asset life and deferring investment.

• Not forgetting about the value of innovation spurred from smart meter data.

Consumers continue to say they want control, convenience and reduced cost of utility services. Usage of smart meter data is only limited by imagination and the rollout of smart meters is prevented by narrow business cases which all too often fail to understand the value of the data.

As utilities around the world continue the adoption of smart metering technologies and seek to obtain the next generation of benefits from these initiatives, Australian utilities need to keep pace or run the risk of falling seriously behind. This will leave the market wide open for others who see the potential of realising new revenue streams from smarter infrastructure. Old newspapers are no longer good enough. Customers want the app.

THE KEY INGREDIENT FOR A TRULY SMART WATER METERING SYSTEM

by Associate Professor Rodney Stewart, Griffith University

A range of external factors have placed an increasing responsibility on water utilities to adopt more sustainable approaches to urban water management, as the era of readily accessible and inexpensive water fades. Covering costs, monitoring non-revenue water and meeting customer demands for equity in billing in the face of rising water prices are some of the core challenges. Recognising that smart metering systems have the potential to revolutionise current utility operations and customer engagement approaches, Rodney Stewart argues that information systems and associated informatics are the (currently missing) essential ingredients for the successful deployment of smart meters.

To date, roll-outs of smart metering have been driven by the desire to reduce manual readings, increase data on time of use, leakage management, and end-use measurement (like length of shower and toilet flushes, amongst others). In the coming decade, the deployment of smart water metering will transition from being predominantly pilot or trial studies to mainstream citywide implementation. City-wide smart metering implementations have the potential to stream gigabytes of time stamped water use and other associated information (such as water temperature, pressure, quality) from pipe networks right down to the individual water use appliances (e.g. washing machine) and fixtures (e.g. tap). Such datasets are powerful for a range of water planning, engineering and customer response decisions – but only if processed, refined and reported in a way that is more intuitive and informative than traditional approaches.

ADVANCED METERING PRODUCTS PRESENTLY OFFERED

The terms ‘intelligent’ and ‘smart’ metering are often indiscriminately associated with some combination of technology that is in some way superior to conventional metering. This inherent ambiguity is, however, indicative of the plethora of technological configurations smart metering covers, and its relevance to both the energy and water sectors. For example, automated meter reading (AMR) systems are often sold as smart metering systems, but they merely serve as a better way to collect customer water use data and rarely better inform utility operator or customer functions.

Put simply, a smart metering system should, at a minimum, enable remote reading of water flow (consumption) and other optional data (e.g. water quality, pressure, etc.) at a resolution which improves current operational and customer decision making (e.g. collected in litre increments at least hourly), include accessible and userfriendly data registries of collected

data, and autonomously produce readily accessible and useful reports for a range of purposes.

This latter requirement is really the critical component of a smart metering system and many of the current smart meter providers are just offering the advanced metering ‘hardware’ without the critical cloud or edge-based software systems that make collected data useful for water professionals and customers. Moreover, water utilities do not often have the in-house capabilities to build robust data acquisition and informatics algorithms and tools. Essentially, big data alone without effective and efficient data mining methods and informatics algorithms to achieve enhanced decision making is really not that smart at all and will actually bog down water utility operations as they drown in data.

PUTTING THE ‘SMART’ INTO METERING

The benefits of smart metering have been declared at many conferences by the growing horde of companies

seeking to be the global leader of this burgeoning industry. However, while ‘product’ is ready, many of the potential benefits of smart metering systems have been unfulfilled due to the lack of focus on the necessary data mining and analytics functionality required for re-engineering the way the water utility sector goes about its business. Many of the unfulfilled benefits of smart metering include:

Better city-wide urban water planning

Smart metering enables better understanding of the water consumption patterns of a city’s various residential, commercial and industrial customers and will aid urban water planners to better understand consumption trends and extract greater efficiencies from the present system.

Near real-time water distribution network analysis

Accurate and up-to-date demand data collected at a high resolution is essential to ensure that future mains water supply networks reflect current usage patterns and are designed

efficiently from an engineering, environmental and economic perspective.

Targeted water demand management

The prevalent reactionary policies to reduce water demand in supply crisis highlights the need for more detailed information at the “coalface”. The use of smart metering and subsequent datasets could significantly improve decision making in relation to water demand management strategies.

Evidence-based water demand forecasting

Total and disaggregated water consumption data will also allow water businesses to monitor the effect of scarcity pricing or restriction regimes on water consumption in near real-time, and also monitor rebound trends following the removal of these strategies.

Proactive water loss management

A real-time monitoring system would also enable water utilities to intervene as soon as an exception alarm is raised.

Targeted demand efficiency

Regular monitoring of end-use consumption data provides the ability to immediately quantify the effect of targeted water efficiency programs on their intended water end-use(s) (e.g. can instantly establish savings from a washing machine rebate program implemented in a city).

Addressing water-related energy demand

Data from smart water metering systems coupled with energy specifications for water supply products and fixtures (e.g. pumps, water heating systems, etc.) enables unpacking of water-energy nexus implications.

Evidence-based economic assessments

Smart metering and water end-use data provides opportunities for detailed financial analyses on the cost and water saving benefits of implemented water supply programs, ultimately driving a true least cost planning agenda.

Cost reflective urban water tariff reform

Smart meters can also inform the development of different tariff systems (e.g. scarcity pricing) to influence consumption behaviour. While there are many fears related to tariff reform, it potentially has strong advantages for reducing consumption in water scarcity periods, peak network periods, etc., thereby reducing the average cost of water supply for the entire customer base.

Heightened customer satisfaction

The present customer water information and billing arrangements are vastly inadequate. A smart metering system provides the impetus for a new approach to knowledge transfer of water consumption data, directly to consumers via a range of communication platforms and in-house displays.

COUPLING SMART WATER METERS WITH INFORMATICS

Griffith University has teamed up with industry partners Yarra Valley Water, City West Water, South East Water, Cisco and Aquiba to develop the architecture for some of the critical informatics components of a truly intelligent meter.

This project develops intelligent pattern recognition algorithms using international datasets to autonomously categorise household water consumption data into end uses (e.g. showers, leaks, etc.). Significantly, the project resolves information synthesis concerns by using a hybrid combination of non-linear blind source separation techniques adapted from the pattern recognition, signal processing and decision science fields. Nguyen et al. (2015) provide a complete description of the preliminary system developed.

This project seeks to develop an autonomous and intelligent system for residential water end-use classification, customer feedback and enhanced urban

water management that will enhance water businesses and their customers’ understanding of water consumption through providing near real-time reports on when, where and how water is being used in their homes. The prototype smart metering system developed from this project has significant potential for global commercialisation.

References

Beal, C. and Stewart, R.A. (2013) Identifying residential water end uses underpinning peak day and hour demand. ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 140(7), 04014008.

Nguyen, K.A. Stewart, R.A. Zhang, H. Jones, C. (2015) Intelligent autonomous system for residential water end use classification: Autoflow. Applied Soft Computing, 31, 118-131.

Stewart, R.A. Willis, R.M. Giurco, D. Panuwatwanich, K. and Capati, B. (2010) Web-based knowledge management system: linking smart metering to the future of urban water planning. Australian Planner, 47(2), 66-74.

WHY ARM CREWS WITH THERMAL IMAGING CAMERAS?

What drove Californian utilities Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric to add over 650 new FLIR thermal imaging cameras to their armoury? It all boiled down to simple common sense: who wouldn’t want a tool that can help minimise risks and maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of their predictive maintenance program?

Safety is always priority one for a lineman or troubleman. Before entering an underground vault or using a disconnect stick overhead, it’s vital to know whether an electrical component or connection is uncharacteristically hot before approaching it. A thermal imager can help spot that right away, whereas the naked eye cannot. In fact for Southern California Edison (SC Edison), scanning underground equipment with a thermal imaging camera before climbing down into a vault is now written into the company’s safety procedures. Thoroughness is also crucial for ensuring

that components and systems are functioning at peak performance.

Following policies and procedures takes discipline, alertness and time – things that should never be sacrificed for increased productivity. What the two utilities discovered, though, was that such inspections were taking considerably longer when using an infrared (IR) thermometer, a fairly common tool of the trade. An IR thermometer can only target one spot at a time, often requires working closer than is practical and safe, and typically provides merely an average temperature across a circular area. Missing a hotspot could mean missing a brewing problem that signals an impending failure, which could also leave the technician with a false sense that all is well. That’s why both SC Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric have chosen to invest more in FLIR thermal imagers.

Thermography groups at both companies had discovered that a FLIR camera could scan a larger area and more

targets from a safer distance much faster, as well as capture literally thousands of accurate temperature measurements in each image. Select SC Edison crews already had FLIR i40s, so with credibility well-established, FLIR was a logical choice when SC Edison decided on nearly 300 additional i40s and when PG&E ordered over 350 i7s.

With more technicians and trucks armed with the technology, a far greater number of linemen and troublemen are now able to do quick scans and safety checks on their troubleshooting rounds. As a result, more potential problems are being caught and fixed in time to prevent outages, expensive replacements and injuries.

Both utilities are now benefiting from the confidence and higher productivity that comes with the greater accuracy, improved efficiency and safer working conditions that the lower-cost FLIR thermal imaging cameras help make possible.

CCTV LEADS TO BEST PRACTICE ASSET MANAGEMENT

A local council in Sydney is enjoying the benefits of a dedicated asset management program, utilising the benefits CCTV inspection technology is able to deliver to its customers and the community.

The council began the process of cataloguing their stormwater assets in 2009, with a view to developing a comprehensive asset inventory which outlined the condition of every asset and allowed for the planning and execution of a maintenance program that was efficient and minimised risk and economic impact.

The pillars of the asset management program to be implemented by the council were as follows:

• Develop an accurate stormwater asset inventory and be able to report on each individual stormwater asset’s attributes, location and condition.

• Introduce a ranking system for stormwater asset defects to enable defect repairs to be prioritised.

• Introduce best practice trenchless technologies to economically extend life of assets.

• Reduce reactive maintenance expenditure resulting in lower overall annual maintenance expenditure.

• Develop and progressively update accurate Asset Management Plans which will provide a platform for

continuous improvement.

• Develop a scalable asset management approach that could be adopted for other management programs.

SETTING THE SCENE

Council’s drainage assets include more than 500km of piped drainage systems and associated pits, gross pollutant traps, flood retention basins, formed channels and waterways with a combined value of over $350 million. The drainage network is projected to grow at a rate commensurate with the growth in the road network.

Prior to the implementation of this program the council had an outdated asset register with very limited information available for work planning and programming.

Council commenced a program to comprehensively inspect its piped drainage network to assess its structural condition and hydraulic performance. These inspections, which use a closed circuit television (CCTV) system, are ongoing and their purpose is to provide council with accurate

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Complete Capability

- With 3 crawler sizes and a selection of 12 wheel types

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- Mobile touch screen and desktop control panels allow inspections to be performed with ease

- Plus a detachable automatic lift, carriage and auxiliary lamp

condition data and digital imagery of its pipe network infrastructure.

The commencement of theses inspections has enabled council to proactively develop maintenance and renewal strategies that are responsive and cost effective. They have identified the need for the following broad categories of drainage renewal and replacement activities, which are expected to improve hydraulic performance and significantly extend service lives:

• Restoring the piped drainage system through the relining of long lengths of existing deteriorated pipes. This trenchless method of pipe restoration uses robotic techniques to apply a PVC liner within existing pipes to restore structural integrity and flow efficiency.

• Restoring the piped drainage system through the application of structural patches to isolated failures within pipes using the trenchless method.

Both these programs utilise technology that has been transferred from the water and sewer industries and this council is one of a few councils that has embarked on a large scale planned stormwater pipe renewal program using these trenchless and environmentally sympathetic technologies.

To enable works to be delivered efficiently, council has established long term contracts with ITS PipeTech who specialise in pipeline and culvert rehabilitation works for ongoing maintenance and renewal of stormwater drainage.

Council’s works programs are undertaken on a priority basis and funded by the Stormwater Management Service Charge.

PRIORITY PROTOCOL AND RISK MANAGEMENT

The priority selection protocol for risk management procedures, restoration, renewal and replacement of drainage systems is based on asset condition assessments and knowledge of other performance parameters including strategic location of pipes, flooding and community safety.

BENEFITS PROVIDED BY THE PROJECT

By identifying, targeting and repairing stormwater pipelines before they fail, council has been able to greatly minimise silt and debris entering the water courses during rain event as

the result of collapsed pipe lines. Furthermore, the cleaning of the stormwater pipelines as part of CCTV inspection was carried out using combination units which remove silt and other debris (such as plastic bags and bottles) existing in lines, preventing the material from entering any waterways.

The resultant effect is the improvement of water quality, the overall ecosystem health and reductions in the occurrence of flooding and drainage control issues.

A BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLE

During the audit stage of this program council’s stormwater pipes were found to be in worse structural condition than first thought. Defects included missing pipe sections, large joint displacements, bends, and protruding connections mainly due to aged and poorer construction standards.

Lack of a progressive maintenance program would have led to these defects developing further, and can often make it difficult or impossible to rehabilitate the pipe without costly civil repairs or open cut relays.

This program implemented proactive replacement prior to complete collapse and saved council more than 50 per cent of the cost by using a trenchless solutions compared to traditional open excavation and replacement.

Following implementation of this program council is able to confidently:

• Manage workflow

• Manage budgets

• Reduce public complaints

• Demonstrate value to ratepayers

• Build up a knowledge base of assets

• Apply best practice protocols.

Further benefits will come to council within the next five to seven years, by which point council will have a 100 per cent accurate asset inventory and condition data.

With accurate data, staff will be able to provide cost effective infrastructure solutions; and benefit from the knowledge transfer from ITS PipeTech regarding the latest trenchless solutions for repair and maintenance of stormwater assets.

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MAKING THE MOST OF MOBILE CCTV

Bega Valley Shire Council has recently upgraded its CCTV inspection equipment, and the council has been thrilled with the results their new system is achieving.

In May 2014 Bega Valley Shire Council invited tender submissions for the supply of CCTV pipeline inspection equipment under the tender ‘Supply of CCTV Vehicle and Mobile Office’.

The tender called for a system capable of inspecting pipes from 150 to 1,500mm in diameter and up to 300m in length. The system was to be mounted in a vehicle, yet needed to have the ability to be removed to facilitate operation in remote and inaccessible areas.

Austeck was awarded the tender in late September and set about bringing the project to fruition within the target six week delivery deadline.

“The specification was a unique and challenging one in that it not only called for cutting edge technology as far as the functionality of the CCTV equipment was concerned, but also a delivery system that had not been attempted in Australia before,” said Austeck Managing Director Tristan Day.

Comprising the Kummert F200 Crawler system to meet the rigorous performance criteria of the CCTV equipment, the design of the vehicle was set out to ensure the maximum safety, productivity and comfort of the crew. Programmable LED hazard bars, 270-degree operator workstation,

80 litre water tank, multi-functional lowering device and a 1,000W reversecycle air-conditioner were just a few of the features of the final product.

“Austeck has delivered in excess of 60 CCTV vehicle mounted systems over the years and hundreds of portable ones, but, this time, the client wanted one system with the capability of both a portable and stationary system,” Mr Day said.

“Thankfully, a defining attribute of the Kummert system is that it delivers just that, which, coupled with its solar power source, affords the client the unprecedented flexibility of having a fully automatic system that can be deployed literally anywhere.”

Having run vehicle mounted CCTV pipeline inspection equipment for many years, Bega Valley Shire Council has a great deal of experience in the field and certainly did their homework when it came to putting together the desired specification for their replacement system. Looking for an holistic approach to carry them forward, they sought to move away from the ‘bolt-on’ style methodology of their existing technology, citing user friendliness, cost effectiveness, functionality and productivity as their main priorities for their new equipment.

Edan Jeffs from Bega

Valley Shire, a

career CCTV operator with seven years’ experience, said “The new equipment runs purely from the onboard solar system provided by Austeck without the aid of a generator or relying on power being generated by the vehicle’s alternator. At this point in time we have never had to charge the system from mains and the batteries have never dipped below 80 per cent. Since we received the system in October 2014 it has proven to be superior to its predecessor in every way.”

Bruce Powell, Water and Sewerage Operations Manager for Bega Valley Shire Council, added, “Further, as the modern construction of the Kummert system allows for its simple disassembly and servicing, the operator has opportunity to replace key items locally. As a regional water utility wishing to minimise system service downtime and costs, this was another attractive feature of the Kummert offering to council at the time of tender.”

Since the commissioning of the Bega system, Austeck has been approached by numerous authorities and contractors with a similar desire to take their technology and the service they provide to the next level with solar powered Kummert equipment.

A BETTER PERSPECTIVE: INSPECTION FOR UTILITY ASSETS

Following on from our feature on unmanned aerial vehicles in the last issue of Utility, we take a closer look at how drones, equipped with high quality imagery technology, are providing network owners’ new perspectives of their assets in unprecedented detail.

The concept of unmanned aircraft has been around for decades, with various developments and applications centred on military purposes. In recent years, the technologies have found broader commercial applications including surveillance, asset tracking, and cinematography.

One of the long-running challenges for utility network owners in managing their assets has been finding ways to easily access, survey and inspect their assets and easements, as well as the surrounding areas. By their nature, utility assets can be located just about anywhere, and the ability to thoroughly inspect them can be severely limited by the surrounding geography, environmental considerations and land ownership. It is for these reasons that utility network owners, in conjunction with asset intelligence service providers, such as Select Solutions, have become early adopters of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), by bringing them together with existing inspection technologies and defining processes that allow operators to capture valuable and cost effective high resolution digital imagery, video and thermal imagery.

For many years, utilities have used aerial surveillance and network patrols using helicopters and fixed wing aircraft have been used to supplement ground

based inspections. However, flight regulations and limitations, along with prohibitive costs, have restricted the adoption of these services for utility owners under pressure to reduce costs of network maintenance and service to its customers.

In contrast, UAVs, with their low levels of flight altitude, vertical take-off, and high maneuverability, are able to provide detailed imagery from multiple positions to show in detail the condition of the asset or the extent of a defect. UAVs are also far cheaper and more flexible in deployment than aerial surveillance by helicopter or aircraft and are able to be effectively deployed in situations where manned aircraft would not otherwise be of use such as facilities, bridge and water asset inspections and monitoring.

ONBOARD IMAGERY TECHNOLOGY

Combined with image capture technology, practical applications for UAVs have rapidly expanded, and opportunities for further applications are limited only by the weight of available sensors and the payload of the UAV. In current operations UAVs are fitted with a range of devices depending on the intended use including high resolution digital cameras, video cameras, LiDAR imaging units, thermal and infrared camera technology.

Fitted with stability devices such as gimbals and gyroscopes, the UAV operator is able to finesse both the craft and imaging device to capture clear, high resolution imagery that can be explored in detail to understand the condition of the asset.

The technical capability of UAVs varies from unit to unit. As an example, a current unit in operation by Select Solutions to carry out inspections of electricity distribution assets features:

• Eight independent rotors

• GPS-stabilised remote controlled operation

• Vertical take-off and landing

• Minimum 14 megapixel GPS enabled camera with 20x full HD zoom or 24 megapixel GPS enabled camera with 18-55mm lens

• High resolution and georeferenced images

• Up to 30 minutes flight time

• Up to 1,000m range of operation (subject to CASA regulations)

• EMF protection for operation in electrical network environments.

LAUNCHING UAV OPERATIONS

Many organisations who have explored the use of UAVs in their asset management programs have been deterred by the complex regulations and protracted accreditation process through the Civil Aviation Safety

Authority (CASA) for a UAV Operator’s Certificate. Both UAV pilots and the operating organisation are required to hold accreditation through CASA including the construction of an operator’s manual which can take around 12-15 months and cost more than $25,000-$30,000.

A further barrier for entry is being able to select the most suitable device on the market for your specific needs whilst giving consideration to the speed at which the technology is developing and previous models are becoming obsolete.

Utilities who have been early adopters of this technology have avoided these pitfalls by partnering with accredited service providers who are able to offer a variety of UAV models that are fit for purpose, have an established team of UAV pilots, and can be advisers on the development of internal processes for the UAV program such as criteria for UAV use, scheduling and management controls.

FUTURE APPLICATIONS OF UAV TECHNOLOGY

As the development of UAVs continues and further advances are made in the payload, battery life, and flight range of these devices, they will become widely adopted across the utility sector for a growing range of operations including routine asset inspection, vegetation and easement patrols, structural surveying, and inspection of assets on private property.

Australia’s regulatory body, CASA, continues to be a world leader on UAV regulation. The application of UAV for operations “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” will provide real opportunities for exploration of cost-effective UAV operations for longer range easement and linear asset patrol. Select Solutions is taking an active approach to work with CASA on the development of appropriate regulations for this new frontier in the UAV industry.

Whether it is through video surveillance of pipeline easements,

high resolution imagery of electricity poles and wires, LiDAR capture and processing of vegetation clearances, or inspecting the structural integrity of a water reservoir, the progress of UAV development is sure to bring significant advances for utility network owners. When combined with traditional inspection techniques, UAVs will allow network owners to develop a ‘best of breed’ approach where the inspection method used for each asset is planned based on its location, type and accessibility; resulting in cost savings, mitigation of safety risks wherever possible, increased levels of high quality data capture, and reduced impact to customers.

CONNECTING THE UTILITY INFORMATION

DOTS

by

Ted Surette, National Sector Leader – Power & Utilities, KPMG and Bob Hayward, ASPAC CIO Advisory Centre of Excellence, KPMG

The internet has reached almost every building, every person, every device and now every thing on the planet. The plethora of new technologies have the potential to have a devastating impact on the utilities industry, warn Ted Surette and Bob Hayward, if utilities don’t take a proactive approach to integrating them into their business.

The utility industry is reeling from an assault of new technologies with disruptive impacts on long established business models that have not seen this pace of change since the days of the very first power grids.

Multiple forces are in play. The costs of infrastructure technology – such as compute, storage and networking – are continually declining. In the past decade, the costs and availability of infrastructure reached a tipping point that unleashed a surge of use that was

previously prohibitively expensive. As a consequence, it has become practical today to gather, store and analyse vast quantities of data that would have been impossible to justify just a few years ago.

The internet has reached almost every building, every person and every device on the planet. We are now witnessing the internet’s tentacles extend into every machine, every object, and indeed every ‘thing’ on Earth that we try to communicate with.

The world is being covered in sensors. These minute devices can measure temperature, pressure, flow, motion, chemicals, noise, smoke, smells, location, position – in fact just about anything imaginable today can be detected through some form of sensor. Many other ‘things’ are also being connected: actuators, beacons, drones, RFID tags, meters, cameras, robotics, personal mobile devices, wearable devices and more. All of these ‘things’ are getting cheaper, getting connected

and are getting smarter. In many use cases, they are communicating with each other (machine-to-machine, or M2M technology) and making decisions.

This Internet of Things (IoT) will be the basis of many new innovations, forcing organisations in all manner of industry sectors to adjust rapidly or face obsolescence.

Parallel to the global rollout of connected things, the past few years have also seen impressive rates of innovation in the field of sophisticated industry-specific algorithms to detect previously unknown patterns in data. These ‘analytics’ solutions, when paired with novel types of visualisation, can be applied to the most complex and intractable business problems.

Some commentators are now observing that we are fast approaching the era of smart machines, where analytics combined with forms of artificial intelligence, inference engines, neural networks and cognitive computing all delivered in an integrated machine or service are already having an impact on automating some

knowledge work.

Analytics, combined with new ways to store, process and search huge pools of data can help move organisations from information systems mostly devoted to reporting the past, to revealing important information happening right now. This move in focus of IT from hindsight to insight is now being extended to foresight – the power to predict likely future events, customer intentions and important market shifts using predictive analytics.

By tapping into the stream of data from IoT and relating that to IT and OT data, as well as external information (weather systems, social networks for customer profiling), new insights can be uncovered that can dramatically improve business decisions.

Today, it is possible to determine critical patterns by analysing data from entirely different sources, even if the data is structured or unstructured, and even if the information is complete or ambiguous. Real value in today’s utility industry can be found through information asymmetry – joining the information dots in fresh ways from

new sources and types of data that provide unique insights and foresights unmatched by competitors.

Here are just a few examples of the power of connecting the information dots for power utility firms:

• For core network operations. Predictive and condition-based maintenance of substation equipment to decrease unplanned outages; monitoring of real-time asset utilisation and optimisation of generation and transmission equipment to maximise return on assets (ROA); and short-term weather forecasts to enable prepositioning of repair assets and adjust generation to meet demand appropriately.

• To gain customer insights. Fraud detection, current diversion, enhanced customer billing, demand forecasting and personalised pricing. Use of social media (like sentiment analysis) enables new levels of customer insight and reduces customer support traffic.

• To enhance field service. Sensors

AS MORE AND MORE ‘THINGS’ ARE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET, UTILITIES NEED TO ADAPT OR FACE BEING LEFT BEHIND.

and IoT solutions instantaneously detect brown-outs and power outages; use of mobility and location solutions provides new levels of responsiveness to equipment problems in the field.

• Energy trading. More sophisticated analytics tools enable market traders to quickly find cheaper prices for energy purchases and best sale prices in spot markets.

• Regulatory reporting. Big data and analytics enable faster and more accurate reporting to regulators and provide evidence for higher rate requests.

• Security, intelligence, and data management. Vulnerability assessments must be conducted regularly to safeguard communications with active grid components; master data management and optimisation are even more important in big data applications.

In terms of technology disruption, the power utility sector is facing some of the biggest challenges of any industry. No less than five different types of technology are intersecting and undergoing rapid rates of innovation at the same time:

1. Information Technology (IT): Cloud computing, analytics, Internet of Things; Big Data

2. Operational Technology (OT): Smart Grid, embedded systems, process equipment

3. Energy Technology (ET): Solar, wind, fuel cells, energy storage, distributed energy generation

4. Automotive Technology (AT): Driverless cars, hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell cars

5. Consumer Technology (CT): Smart appliances, smart meters, data feeds to personal mobile devices.

The convergence of all these technologies has the potential for a devastating impact on the power utility industry. In the near future households may be generating much of the energy they need themselves (ET), including plugging their car into their house (AT) with high levels of visibility on power use and demand (IT), with less consumption (CT) and improved automated distribution networks (OT).

Leading utilities firms across the world are proactively preparing for these digital disruptions. One of the first and most powerful ways they are doing this is to maximise their decision making capabilities by tapping into the world of data now available, inside and outside of the business. Only by having information asymmetry and connecting all the available dots of data can a modern utility business successfully navigate a way forward through this period of intense change.

HARBOURING A CONNECTION

Greenfield developments require significant input from all sectors of the utility industry. Here, we look at the process of connecting the new Wyndham Harbour precinct in the Melbourne suburb of Werribee to water and wastewater services.

Wyndham Harbour is an exclusive new marina community located in Melbourne’s west, directly overlooking Port Phillip Bay. Featuring a variety of open spaces and community facilities, the focal point of Wyndham Harbour is Marina Square, a public meeting area overlooking the marina.

In 2016, the Wyndham Harbour Marina will become operational and will be Melbourne’s new centre for recreational boating on the western side of the bay. Additional facilities will follow in future stages, such as dry

berths and an exclusive Marina Club.

As with any greenfield residential development, there is significant work to be done to connect the community to essential services.

City West Water oversaw the water and wastewater connections. Together with major project consultant Watsons, they issued a range of tenders calling for qualified subcontractors to bring these essential services to the site.

BMD Constructions was engaged as the principal contractor to complete the marina and residential civil works for the project – the scope of works

included construction of 8km of water supply main; 4.6km of rising sewer main and a 7m deep sewer pump station; and 1,000m of 1,800mm diameter stormwater drain, among other items.

All of the teams involved in the project were keen to utilise cuttingedge technology for the connection of the water and wastewater services, and this desire came to the fore particularly in the construction of the sewer main.

Working with Watsons, the project team reviewed the options for the

sewer main construction, and it was decided that horizontal directional drilling (HDD) would be utilised for the installation of 844m of the sewer rising main under the environmentally sensitive Grahams Wetland Reserve.

Watsons consulted with AHD Trenchless throughout the HDD design process, reviewing the works methodology, hydraulic frac analysis and bend radius to ensure that the construction met with all design and environmental protection criteria.

Construction commenced in February 2015, and the team from AHD

Trenchless successfully installed 844m of 200mm diameter rising sewage main outfall in ground conditions including below water table sand and marine clay in record time and within budget.

Other challenges in the HDD installation included keeping the borehole from collapsing, and this was achieved by using a customised drilling fluid to static charge the borehole.

The exit side for the HDD shot was in a market garden farm, which created access issues during wet times. Great care also had to be taken to not disrupt

their production schedules and day-today activities.

Works continue towards the overall completion of the Wyndham Harbour project. The end result will be a dynamic, integrated residential, commercial and marina complex based on principles which produce a balance in ecological sustainability, commercial viability and social responsibility.

The project is currently on track for overall completion over the 2015/16 summer.

SITE SET UP FOR THE HDD COMPONENT OF THE WYNDHAM HARBOUR PROJECT.

YARRA VALLEY WATER ASKS: ARE WE READY FOR RECYCLED WATER?

Melbourne water utility Yarra Valley Water is leading the way with innovative and industry-leading water recycling projects. Managing Director Pat McCafferty discusses some of the major projects the organisation currently has underway.

Melbourne is growing.

According to the Victorian Government’s ‘Victoria in Future’ report published in 2014, the population of Greater Melbourne is projected to increase from 4.3 million in 2013 to 7.8 million in 2051. Even more striking is the projection that the number of households is set to almost double in the same period, bringing the total number of households in our capital city up to 3.1 million by 2051, and requiring the construction of 1.6 million new homes across the city.

Planning for this growth is an ongoing issue for water utility Yarra Valley Water. Meeting the burgeoning needs of

businesses and residents within their service area – 4,000 square kilometres across the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne – requires extensive forecasting and analysis, coupled with consideration of the cost of works to the community.

RAISING STANDARDS THROUGH INNOVATION

Water is not a limitless commodity, and managing the expectations of a rapidly growing customer base means sometimes thinking outside the box. For Yarra Valley Water, water recycling is a strategic decision, which has allowed the company to position itself as a

leader within the water sector.

“We believe that water recycling generates value on multiple levels,” explains Pat McCafferty, Yarra Valley Water’s Managing Director.

“Investing in recycled water infrastructure is a long-term proposition, but one which brings about immediate benefits to our environment and the community.”

In 2006, the company gave the greenlight to the development of the Aurora recycled water treatment plant which would service the needs of a large-scale greenfield residential development in Epping North, and showcase the possibilities for recycled

water technology in urban Melbourne. With the potential to convert the city’s north into a ‘green oasis’, the Aurora housing estate was designed according to a holistic environmental approach to estate planning – low impact, low waste and an emphasis on sustainability through innovation. When the development is complete, the scheme will serve 8,500 homes with Class A recycled water for toilet flushing, laundry and garden watering, as well as irrigation for public open spaces.

“In making the commitment to recycled water at Aurora, we were exploring new ground, which came at a cost premium. However, Aurora has provided a platform for innovation, and learning which is of significant value and gave us the confidence to explore future recycling opportunities such as the Kalkallo Stormwater Treatment Plant,” said Mr McCafferty.

MEETING COMMUNITY NEEDS

Planning for the Aurora development paved the way for recycled water –both at an industry level, and within the community. With the pressures of drought taking their toll, local governments in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne were looking for ways to maintain their local community infrastructure and reduce their reliance on drinking water for the upkeep of parks and sporting facilities. The threat of more hot summers was enough to prompt exploration of local recycled water, and in October 2007, a $3 million upgrade to the Brushy Creek Sewage Treatment Plant was announced. By November 2008, councils had access to the equivalent of two million litres – 260 Olympic sized swimming pools – of

BOTTOM RIGHT: THE BLUE AND PURPLE PIPES ARE WATER AND RECYCLED WATER PIPES RESPECTIVELY.

TOP RIGHT: A GARDEN TAP FOR RECYCLED WATER AT A RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY.

TOP LEFT AND ABOVE: USING RECYCLED WATER AT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES.

BOTTOM LEFT: THE AURORA SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT.

recycled water per day, freeing up drinking water supplies to the local area.

“The scarcity of water during the drought meant that the upgrade at Brushy Creek needed to be completed and brought online quickly. However, it shows how community acceptance of recycled water has evolved, and the trust that we have built within our service areas to deliver recycled water that meets exceptional standards of quality,” said Mr McCafferty.

MANAGING THE RISKS

Managing potential cross contamination between recycled and drinking (potable) water systems is a serious concern for the water industry. The risk of cross connections needs to be managed to ensure public health and confidence in recycled water. Yarra Valley Water has led a research project to identify a way to monitor and detect cross connections in real-time. Working in collaboration with the Smart Water Fund, CSIRO Land and Water, South East Water and Hawk Measurement Systems, the project has developed a new inline sensor capable of detecting very small changes in water chemistry.

“Recycled water has a slightly

different chemistry to drinking water, and the sensor works by measuring very small changes in electrical conductivity within the distribution network,” explained Mr McCafferty.

“Six insertion probes and four miniaturised devices are currently being field tested in live dual-reticulation networks in Melbourne. These devices are located in strategic locations across the network, in pairs, in both drinking and recycled water assets from the source all the way to the water meter.

“This research is part of the overall water industry move to intelligent networks and digital metering. This solution represents a cost effective, but highly effective and integrated solution that provides peace of mind to the community.”

BEYOND CLASS A

The next wave of recycled water

projects is set to push the boundaries, with government and developer support for Yarra Valley Water’s Kalkallo Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse Scheme. The project includes the design and construction of a large wetland with an integrated 65 million litre capacity storage basin. Under the plan, stormwater runoff will be drawn from the storage basin and treated to drinking water standard (although initially used in the Class A system until the treatment plant performance is proven). The Kalkallo Stormwater Treatment Plant represents the next logical step in the water recycling journey.

With countries like Singapore and parts of the United States successfully incorporating recycled water into their drinking water networks, it makes sense for a drought addled country like Australia to explore the potential that

recycling brings. But are Australians ready for a shift in where their drinking water comes from?

“Attitudes have changed. In 2006 we saw the residents of Toowoomba in Queensland actively fight against plans to introduce a recycled drinking water scheme, but less than a decade later, the city of Perth has successfully completed a three-year trial which will see them receive up to 20 per cent of their drinking water from reclaimed sources in years to come,” said Mr McCafferty.

“There is still a way to go to address public perceptions regarding changes in where their drinking water comes from, but if the drought taught us anything it’s that Australians are resourceful and adaptable, and continuing to work on non-traditional water sources is important for our long-term sustainability”.

EMBRACING THE CHANGE: ENERGY STORAGE AND THE GRID

by Vassilios Agelidis and Tim Dixon, Australian Energy Research Institute, UNSW Australia

There are many new technological developments that have the potential to dramatically affect the electricity grid. These disruptive technologies are often feared by utilities, networks and distributors due to their ability to fundamentally redefine the way electricity grids need to be designed, managed and operated. And these technologies are already starting to redraw the relationship between grid owners/operators and electricity consumers – a worrying trend for many in the industry.

In the Australian context, it is widely acknowledged that traditional consumers are transforming into a new species of customer – the prosumer – becoming ever more proactive in the way they manage their electricity use, as well as increasingly generating electricity themselves through rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. There are currently estimated to be around 1.4 million small scale PV generators installed on Australian dwellings; there were just 3,500 nationwide ten years ago.

Yet up to this point the abundance of rooftop solar in Australia, while contributing to decreased demand for grid power, has not by itself been enough to entice large numbers of customers to disconnect from the grid altogether. Nor have the large numbers of grid-connected distributed PV generators significantly increased the

total percentage of renewable energy in the grid. Indeed, in the states where renewables do make up a significant proportion of generation, that honour has fallen to hydro or utility-scale wind farms.

The fact that solar generation and typical load curves don’t match have meant that, although household consumption has fallen, most people remain firmly connected to the network, relying on grid-supplied power for much of their total energy, and all of it after dark.

However, the development of a particular strain of disruptive technology – energy storage – promises to significantly increase the penetration of renewables into the grid, and perhaps in the long term, make grid disconnection a viable alternative for many households.

Efficient, cost effective, and reliable

energy storage is in many ways the ‘Holy Grail’ of renewable energy, and is seen by many as the key enabler for the integration of renewables with the electricity grid in ever higher quantities, without jeopardising network stability and security of supply. Storage can offer flexibility that renewable generation alone often cannot, moderating the peaks and troughs of PV or wind power already in the system, as well as alleviating those same peaks and troughs on the demand side.

But to implement significant levels of storage into the grid we must face the critical realisation that there is no silver bullet when it comes to storage technologies. Just as there is no single power generation technology which meets all our environmental, reliability, cost and flexibility requirements, neither is there a storage technology

which ticks all these boxes. Whether it is solar thermal, pumped hydro, or the next generation of lithiumbased or other chemical batteries, each technological solution has its own strengths and weaknesses. Research and development efforts will address some of the shortcomings of individual technologies at the materials and design level, maximising performance and reducing production costs for individual types of storage technologies. However, perhaps most important of all is intelligent management of the whole storage system and lifecycle.

From the engineering side, there needs to be an effective energy arbitrage – matching generation and load characteristics with the most appropriate storage technologies, and making them work together to create a more flexible storage system. Some storage technologies are very good at providing a steady, reliable supply of low voltage energy over longer periods of time, while others are better at providing faster, deeper discharges of power with minimal effects on asset longevity. Intelligent control systems that charge to and dispatch from the most appropriate storage sources depending on generation and load profiles are critical to increasing the efficiency, reliability, lifespan and costeffectiveness of the storage system as a whole.

There is also a need for intelligent use of storage based on price signals in the market. Each time a storage unit is used to discharge electricity,

the lifespan of that asset decreases and maintenance costs rise. Therefore, every kWh that is dispatched from a solar thermal system or battery has a cost over and above the initial generation cost. So storage operators must be able to recognise when it is profitable to use their storage assets, by integrating real time price signals into their storage systems, allowing them to dispatch only when the price of electricity is high enough to translate into a meaningful profit.

But why should utilities and networks take up the lead when it comes to developing a better storage system for the grid?

First, there are proven benefits for generators, utilities and networks alike, as intelligently deployed storage (for example, to deal with peak demand) can more than pay for itself in the form of deferment of more costly capital investments.

Second, the worst thing the industry could do is sit back and watch on. It did just that ten years ago, when solar PV systems were too expensive for most consumers to consider installing them – and as we all know, the price of PV cells fell sharply, coinciding with a rise in electricity prices. As power prices continue to rise, you would have to be

pretty naive not to think that as storage technologies become more mature and the cost of storage inevitably falls, many Australians will consider disconnecting from the grid altogether.

Indeed, that scenario may not be as far off as we think. The latest generation of electric vehicles (EVs) with ranges in excess of 500km are already on Australian roads. But far from just being a new source of ‘plugged in’ demand, in some scenarios, the proliferation of EVs (particularly as second cars) may actually enable households to further reduce their reliance on grid-supplied power. EVs are essentially huge mobile batteries, and householders may soon be able to use them to power their homes during the evening peak, while charging them during the day from their own PV systems. And when they are ready to upgrade their cars, EV owners may be able to recycle the batteries from their old vehicle to further complement their own energy use.

Cheaper, more flexible and more efficient storage is not just an idea which has great present and future benefits to utilities and networks, it is the future, like it or not. The question is, is the Australian industry ready for the next revolution?

Vassilios Agelidis and Tim Dixon are, respectively, the Director and Manager of the Australian Energy Research Institute at UNSW Australia (www.aeri.unsw.edu.au). Vassilios is Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering at UNSW, and his team is currently working on a number of research projects dealing with energy storage and integration of renewables into the electricity grid.

AERI’S REAL TIME SYSTEMS SIMULATION LABORATORY.

THE FUTURE’S IN STORAGE

The inaugural Energy Storage Council conference will be held alongside the Australian Solar Council Conference & Exhibition on 13-14 May 2015 in Melbourne.

Co-locating the conference with the Solar 2015 event allows participants from energy storage and associated industries to do business in one location, with over 4,000 delegates anticipated to attend this combined event.

The Energy Storage Council conference is a free to attend two day program reviewing technology, applications and economics of energy storage. The program features over 30 speakers focusing on current market developments and trends, technology integration, policy making and industry case studies.

The future of the Australian Energy Market with the adoption of storage

technologies is put under the spotlight on day one with presentations from the Australian Energy Market Operator and leading Australian utilities.

Then international speaker Dr Ali Nourai, Energy Storage Segment Director from DNV GL, will provide insight into the US utilities’ views on energy storage and integration into the grid following a survey undertaken by DNV GL for the US Department of Energy.

The conference will also host a panel discussion focused on ‘Optimising battery storage for the new energy economy’, led by sponsor Enphase Energy’s co-founder, Raghu Belur.

Day two features presentations from industry pioneers ranging from international speaker Martin Fornage, co-founder & Chief Technology Officer of Enphase Energy, to Australian industry leader Selectronic Australia.

The conference will bring representatives from energy storage companies including technology manufacturers, equipment providers, project developers, consultants, utilities and other energy industry leaders.

This conference provides a great opportunity to be kept up-to-date on industry news, view trade displays, network with peers and hear experts address the future outlook of this emerging industry – all at no cost.

UTILITY IN PROFILE

AUSNET SERVICES

AusNet Services is Victoria’s largest energy delivery service, owning and operating approximately $11 billion of electricity and gas distribution assets that connect into more than 1.3 million Victorian homes and businesses.

AusNet Services owns and operates Victoria’s electricity transmission network, responsible for transporting electricity from generation sources – via 49 terminal stations, 13,000 towers, and 6,500km of high-voltage power lines – into Victoria’s five lower-voltage distribution networks.

The utility owns and operates an electricity distribution network with more than 49,816km of powerlines and 390,000 power poles that feed lower-voltage electricity to 670,000 properties in Melbourne’s north-east and across all of eastern Victoria.

In addition, AusNet Services owns and operates a gas distribution network that supplies natural gas to more than 633,184 properties in western Victoria via 10,478km of underground pipelines.

Based in Melbourne, AusNet Services employs more than 2,200 people in regional and metropolitan Victoria.

AusNet Services also owns Select Solutions and Geomatic Technologies; two businesses that provide a

range of services to the energy and other industries, including water, transportation, telecommunications, finance and property.

Select Solutions is a leading multiutility services company delivering asset intelligence through monitoring, maintenance, and performance solutions for electricity, gas, water and telecommunications industries throughout Australia.

AusNet Services is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and the Singapore Exchange.

A UNIQUE MIX

AusNet Services is unique in that it owns and operates the state electricity transmission network, along with electricity and gas distribution networks.

Apart from the geographical uniqueness of the networks, AusNet Services has several technologies and programs that separate it from its peers.

In particular, AusNet Services has a comprehensive demand management

program, along with in-house developed technologies, such as its Distribution Feeder Automation (DFA) and loss of neutral screen technologies.

DEMAND MANAGEMENT: MEETING THE CHALLENGE

AusNet Services has a comprehensive, industry-leading demand management program, including a range of solutions to manage the challenge of supplying reliable power to customers during peak demand periods.

Peak demand refers to the maximum demand customers place on an electricity network.

In Victoria, peak demand periods typically occur for a few hours in the late afternoon and evening of a very hot

summer’s day, when many houses and businesses are using air-conditioning.

A traditional approach to managing peak demand has been to increase the capacity of network assets – such as transformers and lines – to operate safely and reliably during these peak demand periods.

... the use of network storage may be the next frontier in demand management.

As peak demand happens for only a few hours on a few days each year, increasing the capacity or augmenting network assets may cause them to be underutilised at other times.

For many years, AusNet Services has reduced peak demand by approximately 105MW annually through efficient and cost-effective demand management solutions.

Solutions such as permanent embedded generation, mobile generators, customer demand response agreements, energy storage and the critical peak demand tariff have helped to defer or avoid investments in augmentation works.

DISTRIBUTION FEEDER AUTOMATION

In 2006, AusNet Services developed a centralised autonomous ‘real-time’ fault location, isolation and rerouting scheme that restores supply within 60 seconds to customers of a nearby fault.

“Previously, when a fault occurred, such as a tree falling over a powerline, the electricity supply would be disrupted along a large part of the powerline, affecting many customers,” said AusNet Services Managing

Director Nino Ficca.

“Now, the Distribution Feeder Automation (DFA) technology instantly pinpoints the fault on the powerline and automatically operates remotecontrolled switches to safely re-route the electricity supply around the fault to restore power to the majority of customers.

“The process is completed in usually under a minute, radically reducing the unnecessary time customers were without power while crews physically patrolled the powerline to find and fix the fault,” Mr Ficca said.

During one storm event, the DFA technology automatically restored electricity supply to 11,500 customers in less than a minute, effectively halving the number of customers that were without power until powerline damage from fallen trees was repaired.

NETWORK MONITORING

AusNet Services has developed an analytical-based application using smart meter network data (e.g. property voltage levels) to detect unsafe neutral connections from street powerlines into properties and predict future failures that can cause dangerous

electric shocks to customers.

“Since 2013, our technology has identified and allowed the removal of nearly 1,000 safety hazards that could have resulted in electric shocks to customers,” Mr Ficca said.

Late last year, AusNet Services won two Victorian Engineering Excellence Awards for technologies developed inhouse to improve the safe and reliable supply of electricity to its customers.

Winning highly commended recognition in the ‘Product design and smart systems’ category, these technologies protect customers from electric shocks and automatically within a minute (DFA).

Mr Ficca said that these technologies embody the company’s commitment to improving customer services through network modernisation.

“I’m very proud of what our employees have achieved,” he said.

“Both of these in-house developed technologies are industry leading in Australia, if not internationally, and are already protecting our customers from dangerous electric shocks and improving their electricity reliability,” he said.

AUSNET SERVICES’ GESS BATTERY STORAGE UNITS AT THOMASTOWN.

AusNet Services’ Electricity and Gas Regions

TACKLING THE SMART METER CHALLENGE

The largest change AusNet Services has seen in recent years has been the replacement of analogue meters with digital smart meters into more than 700,000 homes and businesses throughout its electricity distribution network.

While AusNet Services has had widely reported challenges in completing its smart meter program, it has also been able to implement some leading edge applications in its operational meters.

Historically, access to network data stopped at the zone substation and 22,000 volt network level. Smart meters capture and communicate never-beforeseen data from the low voltage (240

volt) network that serves customers’ properties.

AusNet Services has grasped this industry ‘step-change’ to develop in-house technologies using the data to operate its network more efficiently and service its customers better.

For example, AusNet Services has developed technologies using smart meter network data to detect electricity theft and deteriorated neutral connections, which is successfully preventing possible electric shocks to customers.

Customers are also engaging with the data provided by smart meters, with more than 10,000 AusNet Services customers using the company’s portal – www.myHomeEnergy.com.au – to view their electricity usage and better

manage their bills.

myHomeEnergy is a free web portal that helps customers monitor their electricity use and manage costs by uploading the customer’s 30-minute usage and five-minute demand data from the smart meter.

AusNet Services Customer Services Manager Shelley Cussen said “Since launching in November 2012, myHomeEnergy has become an effective customer tool to access usage data and many other features for customers to help manage their electricity costs.

“Customer feedback has been positive on the ability to compare their usage profiles to similar households – including the size of the home, occupants and location – along with the ability to set usage targets and access energy-saving tips.

“For AusNet Services, it has provided us with an insight into the way our customers consume electricity, helping us to provide a safe and reliable electricity supply,” she said.

THE FUTURE IS IN STORAGE

AusNet Services launched its latest demand management solution in December 2014, beginning the trial of a new multi-faceted solution called the Grid Energy Storage System (GESS).

Mr Ficca said that the use of network storage may be the next frontier in demand management.

“As an electricity distribution business, we’re committed to finding the right balance between safety, reliability, and costs to our customers,” Mr Ficca said.

“As such, we focus on innovative solutions to provide our customers with a reliable supply on the handful of peak demand days each year, which importantly delays or offsets network upgrades,” he added.

The two-year trial – in partnership with ABB Australia and Samsung SDI – includes using a portable 1MW battery system to automatically provide local support into the 22kV grid at peak demand periods and recharging during low demand periods. The battery can operate at full power for one hour.

Located in a Thomastown industrial estate, the system also includes a 1MW diesel generator that extends the capability of the battery system to provide full coverage for the peak demand period, typically between 2pm and 6pm.

“The network battery trial complements these existing demand management solutions, which include mobile generators, critical peak demand tariffs, embedded generators, and large customer contracts to curtail demand on peak demand days,” Mr Ficca said.

The first of its type and scale to be conducted in Australia, GESS will also aim to improve the quality of power delivery, providing active and reactive power support and other power quality functions when connected to the network.

The system can also transition to ‘island mode’ to provide power as part of a mini grid when parts of the network become isolated.

An important attribute of GESS is that the entire plant, consisting of seven outdoor containers and kiosks,

is transportable. It can be moved to various locations in the network and be operational within a short period of time.

As part of the Electricity Distribution Price Review 2010-15, the Australian Energy Regulator allocated a Demand Management Innovation Allowance (DMIA) to incentivise distribution businesses to consider demand side participation to manage network demand.

AusNet Services has utilised the DMIA to help fund demand management initiatives, including the GESS.

THE FUTURE FOR AUSNET SERVICES

Like many in the electricity sector, AusNet Services anticipates that the significant change experienced within the energy industry over the last ten years will continue into the future.

AusNet Services aims to play an active role in the future energy landscape, and continue its focus on supplying customers with a safe and reliable energy supply, through innovation and efficient investment.

The company will continue to explore and implement new innovations focusing on smart meter data, bushfire mitigation, peak demand management, and changing customer behaviours with solar photovoltaic systems and battery storage.

AusNet Services will also continue to extend their natural gas network into new communities throughout western Victoria, along with upgrading its assets.

AUSNET SERVICES IN THREE WORDS

Safe,

TO THE MIX ADDING

As the National Broadband Network continues to take shape, the Federal Government has introduced and is consulting on various new policies to allow for enhanced competition in the broadband sector. In addition, NBN Co has made a number of announcements of its own regarding the technologies that will be used to enable the transition to a multi-technology NBN rollout model. A further 550,000 premises have also been added to the national construction plan, with work expected to commence by September 2016.

FTTB GOES LIVE

NBN Co’s commercial fibre-to-thebasement (FTTB) product has been released, with around 2,000 premises ready to connect to the service at the end of March 2015.

The technology will now be used to connect multi-dwelling units to the NBN when it is identified as the most appropriate technology option according to the NBN Multi-Technology Deployment Principles.

The company has already begun connecting 6,000 homes and businesses in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra to the NBN via FTTB. All up, more than one million homes and businesses across Australia are expected to receive the NBN via this type of connection.

Trials of FTTB connections achieved average speeds of around 89Mbps download and 36Mbps upload.

The NBN FTTB rollout may have to compete with TPG’s rival rollout in some of the high-density areas expected to be most profitable. Until the FTTB product was released, NBN Co’s commercial response to this competition involved connecting multi-dwelling units via fibre-to-thepremises (FTTP). However, rolling out FTTB, which involves connecting fibre-optic cable to a building’s existing wiring, may allow more buildings to be connected in a shorter time frame, as it does not require new infrastructure to

connect each individual premise within the building.

“Eliminating the need for individual building designs and in-building wiring cuts down on construction time. Removing the need to install new equipment in the home accelerates the ability of people to connect,” said NBN Co’s Chief Customer Officer, John Simon.

Mr Simon also stated that the company’s FTTB connection success boded well for their Fibre-to-the-node product, expected around the end of the third quarter 2015, as many aspects of the connection process were similar.

NBN CO COMMITS TO HFC STANDARD

Revised agreements with Telstra and Optus mean that NBN Co will incrementally gain access to these companies’ HFC networks, enabling it to incorporate upgraded HFC connections into the multi-technology NBN rollout.

NBN Co has now announced that it will be rolling out the international telecommunications standard Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.1 for HFC connections to the NBN. This standard was developed by research and development consortium, CableLabs.

The upgraded cable theoretically has the capacity to reach speeds of 10GBps and a maximum upload speed

of 1Gbps, although actual speeds will depend on the number of premises connected to a run of coaxial cable.

HFC networks upgraded to DOCSIS 3.1 specifications can also deliver up to 50 per cent more data than is possible over current cable networks.

“NBN will utilise a network that is already deployed across millions of homes and businesses in Australia. By re-architecting the ratio of homes to a node and the use of the latest technology underpinning DOCSIS 3.1, Australia’s HFC network will become one of the most state-of-the-art technologies used to deploy broadband

services,” said NBN Co’s Chief Technology Officer, Dennis Steiger.

“Effectively, this technology has the potential to offer speeds equivalent to what’s on offer by full fibre-to-thepremises and up to 100 times faster (up to 10Gbps) than what is currently provided by today’s HFC network.”

Field trials of the technology will launch in the US later this year.

NBN Co’s HFC customer pilot is expected to begin in the last quarter of 2015 and the initial product release is scheduled for the first half of 2016. US technology firm Arris has been contracted to integrate the HFC

networks into the rollout and provide network technology, including the Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS).

The process of upgrading the HFC networks to DOCSIS 3.1 specifications will occur from 2017.

NEW RULES FOR NEW DEVELOPMENTS

The Federal Government is soon expected to release the new Telecommunications Infrastructure in New Developments Policy, which outlines a number of changes in regards to the NBN rollout in

greenfields. The final policy is expected to remain largely unchanged from the draft policy, with some small alterations. In the interim, NBN Co has begun to implement some of the changes.

NBN Co states that its understanding of the anticipated changes which are effective from 1 March 2015 are:

• Deployment charges on a per lot/premise (MDU $400, SDU $600) basis will apply to all new developments approved by NBN Co on and after this date.

• This will include developments lodged with NBN Co before this date but not approved.

• Deployment charges will not apply to developments approved by NBN Co before this date, or for those covered by a pre-existing developer agreement prior to this date.

• All stages covered by master plans appended to pre-existing Developer Agreements will be covered by the terms of those agreements and therefore the new charges will not apply to such stages.

• A new developer agreement will need to be executed for any future stages that do not form part of an existing developer agreement and such stages will be subject to the new charges.

The objective of the new policy is to improve the efficient supply of telecommunications in new developments through effective competition, while ensuring residents

in new developments have ready access to modern telecommunications infrastructure.

The draft policy allows developers to choose from competing infrastructure providers that comply with minimum standards. It will also see NBN Co levy a deployment charge on developers for infrastructure.

Where it doesn’t have backhaul available to connect a new development, NBN Co may charge developers a co-contribution of up to 50 per cent of the first $1000 per lot of capital costs it incurs. Developers will be liable for 100 per cent of backhaul costs in excess of $1000 per lot.

The changes will apply to all projects approved by NBN Co from 1 March 2015. However, because of notification requirements, these charges would only be collected from the second half of the year.

ROLLING OUT FURTHER CHANGES

The NBN rollout continues its transition towards a multitechnology rollout and is currently undergoing legislative reforms to become part of a more competitive high-speed broadband sector. The recent incorporation of FTTB connections into the rollout mix and the promise of upgraded HFC and FTTN look to play a large role in the shape of Australia’s broadband future, while further legislative changes and reforms remain on the horizon.

JOIN US AT THE QLD WATER INDUSTRY OPERATIONS CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION

Toowoomba 17 & 18 June 2015

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 magazine is bringing together experts from various fields to answer your questions.

MICROTUNNELLING

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT MICROTUNNELLING CONTRACTORS HAVE TO CONSIDER WHEN INSTALLING PIPELINES?

Microtunnelling is a pinpoint method of installing a pipe. Most microtunnelling contractors are aiming for a result which would see a pipe installed +/-10mm of design line and grade. However the accuracy of this line can be greatly affected by an accumulation of tolerance errors –sometimes referred to as tolerance stack.

Any microtunnelling installation begins with a survey of the installation. The set-up requires three ingredients: line, invert and grade. First, let’s look at the line. One of the benefits of microtunnelling is the ‘keyhole factor’. Essentially microtunnelling is a keyhole pipeline in that the pipe is installed via a small vertical shaft that is then microtunnelled to a second vertical shaft, leaving everything in between undisturbed. The issue with small shafts is that the line for the installation is required to be extremely accurate for the set up in that small shaft.

For example, if we were to look at a 4m internal diameter shaft. By the time you allow 500mm to set up your instrument (laser or theodolite/ station) you are left with less than 3.5m to establish a perfect line. If there is any error in the establishment of the line the error will then be multiplied out over the length of the line, with the error only being realised on the breakthrough at the reception shaft.

Next, the invert starting point really

should be a given, however, with the depth of these installations, transferring the level down can present issues in itself. There may be a requirement to transfer levels, staff on only vertical angles and TBMs with incorrect values, all of which in combination can result in differing magnitudes of error.

Finally, the grade on the line. This is just a matter of punching in some numbers. All instruments are different and so the number of decimal points may differ, which can create confusion. The differentiation between +/- can be difficult to identify. The chainage of the shaft may have moved with no allowance being made.

All of these issues now combine with the instrument itself – is it in calibration? Has it been set up to level or is it on a roll? What is the manufacturer’s specification of error over distance? What are the atmospheric conditions present and how will they affect the accuracy of the instrument?

Now keep in mind, all of these areas of potential error are before the actual installation process begins.

During an installation, microtunnellers are managing the machine through a variety of ground conditions – soft/ hard, sticky/flowing, dry/wet, highly abrasive/highly elastic – all of which is constantly changing and affecting the way we drill. All of these factors affect our ability to steer in the ground and remove the ground, not to mention the fluids being utilised and the wear on the bit. The ground conditions will also affect the amount of overcut on the pipe required. Overcut in itself is an opportunity for error. It allows the pipe

to move within the ground, however it is critical to allow steering and reduce skin friction. Are my thrust pressures rising? Am I moving the machine or the shaft? Has my instrument moved? These questions all need to be considered.

Once the installation is complete, there are still opportunities for error –was it an encasement pipe? Is there a need to insert the carrier pipe to grade inside this pipe? Will it be centralised and grouted? Are the centralisers a neat fit? What is the grout mix and will it flow consistently?

Are the pipe(s) accurate? What tolerance is there on the manufacture of the pipe? Is the pipe rigid or flexible?

This is without taking into account machinery issues, which are inevitable as we work in a destructive environment.

Taking all factors into account I believe the microtunneller out there, typically covered in mud or grease, does an amazing job consistently delivering precision pipelines. I encourage everyone to consider what they are dealing with. See through the mud!

ABOUT STUART HARRISON

Stuart Harrison is the Managing Director of Edge Underground, where he specialises in on-grade microtunnelling installations with millimetre accuracy. Stuart is also the inventor of the AXIS guided boring system, and he is constantly working to improve the effectiveness of this and other trenchless systems used in the installation of gravity sewers.

HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING

ARE THERE ANY ADVANCES HAPPENING OVERSEAS THAT MAY HAVE RELEVANCE TO OUR WORKPLACE HERE IN AUSTRALIA?

I noted that the Missouri Department of Transportation has seen a gradual sea change in small diameter borings for electrical services. Twenty years ago they were writing contracts where HDD could only be used with written authorisation from the project engineer when interconnecting intersection signals and lighting. Ten years ago, the option was made available for the contractors to choose between open cut and HDD in their bidding. Today, nearly all of this work is done with HDD.

The owner of Trenchless Flowline Inc. also advised that the price for pipe bursting and cured-in-place-pipe is now 60 per cent less than the open cut price, but at the start of each of these technologies the price per metre was equal to or more than the open cut price.

Their experience after installing over 60,000 feet of close tolerance HDD (CTHDD) over the past 14 years is that this method can be used for

half the combined open cut price, whilst providing all the trenchless benefits and meeting the open cut specifications. CTHDD, which is also referred to as ArrowBore directional boring, or guided horizontal boring for gravity mains, was developed to match open excavation methods. It is understood that the tight fit bored hole allows CTHDD to install large diameter pipe at very shallow depths and prevents pipe floatation when installing gravity sewer mainlines.

ArrowBore allows licensees to use standard HDD equipment to install pipelines on-grade and on-line with help from laser technology and vertical sight holes drilled along the bore path, allowing grades of 0.28 per cent to be drilled.

Bored vertically at 30-foot intervals, 16-inch inspection holes let engineers verify grade accuracy during, rather than after installation. Pilot stem depth is checked at each hole with a laser sight and a measuring rod dropped into the hole. If the drilling head is off-grade, it’s realigned with another rod that’s inserted down the hole and hooked onto the pilot stem. The inspection holes also serve as slurry outlets, as the pipe forces

the slurry up through them during pullback.

The process uses back reamers to widen the bore a quarter-inch larger than the pipe’s outside diameter. This prevents the pipe from floating within annulus space around the pipe, another feature that contributes to on-grade installation.

Trenchless Flowline offers training, tools, and equipment support for people interested in the method for sewer and water mainline projects.

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.

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