New Telemetry System for Water Utilities Company

Serck Controls (UK), a subsidiary of Schneider Electric, a global energy management specialist - has been awarded a £3.2m contract to deliver a new telemetry system to Anglian Water in the UK. The system will form part of its Integrated Remote Intelligence Service (IRIS) programme.

Serck’s SCX system will allow the new telemetry system to be seamlessly integrated with Anglian Water’s existing corporate IT environment to optimise the alarm handling and asset management. The new system will also allow for a more advanced configuration to reduce the number of alarms raised.

The contract is part of Anglian Water’s investment in its telemetry system to improve business efficiency and mitigate business risk and includes a five year service support agreement from Serck and Schneider Electric.

The telemetry system gathers data from thousands of remote assets in real time and assimilates that data into business centric information that allows Anglian Water to safely and efficiently run its operations. These assets can range from reservoir levels, borehole levels and water quality readings to pump or valve status and covers both clean and waste water. This information is processed and displayed on computer screens within the operational control rooms and key stakeholders desks, enabling Anglian Water to ensure that its plant is running cost effectively and to its designed performance, saving energy wherever possible.

The technology will also provide the base for future phases of product exploitation and innovation to develop network modelling and process optimisation engines.

Barrie Cressey, sales and marketing director at Serck Controls commented: “In a water utility, it is widely recognised that people and energy are the two highest expenditures. Managing these costs is vital in the current economic climate and this telemetry system allows for efficiencies in both areas. It also enables Anglian Water to look to preparing for the future, as SCX provides a sophisticated IT level integration tool and modern replacement for its previous ageing legacy system.“

Serck Controls are currently designing the customised solution for Anglian Water - part of which includes conducting design and innovation workshops with a cross section of users within the water company - in order to develop the most effective solution to their information needs. Once this is completed, the project will move forward into the implementation stages.

Chris Boucher, director of information Services at Anglian Water added, “Our telemetry replacement project is a great example of how we’re working with leading technology providers to deliver a 21st Century telemetry solution that will meet our needs as a frontier performer. It’s a solution that will take advantage of new technology enabling Anglian Water to optimise our current performance, deliver a better service to our customers and support cost effective future innovation.”