Yarra Valley Water harnessing Internet of Things with Sagemcom

Yarra Valley Water, one of Australia’s largest utilities, has announced a strategic partnership with Sagemcom Australasia to help digitise its asset networks.

The strategic partnership is designed to take full advantage of the Internet of Things (IoT), ultimately leading to enhanced customer experiences, providing early notification of network faults and developing improved asset management predictive models and investment strategies.

Sagemcom Australasia is part of French-owned Sagemcom Energy and Telecom and is a global leader in digital metering and energy solutions. This partnership will provide digital water meters, network sensors, and the Head End System and Meter Data Management software required to manage them.

Pat McCafferty, Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water, acknowledged digital innovation’s role in delivering enhanced and more affordable services for customers.

“While large-scale digital metering within the water sector is relatively new to Australia, it’s well established throughout Europe, North America and Asia. We’re exploring how digital water meters and smarter networks can help conserve water and reduce customer bills by improving how we monitor water use and detecting water leaks earlier,” said McCafferty.

General Manager Service Futures Glenn Wilson said the partnership is part of Yarra Valley Water’s longer-term digital enablement agenda.

“We chose Sagemcom as a strategic partner following a global tender process,” said Wilson. “We were particularly impressed with their experience and proven track record, as well as their focus on innovation throughout the entire value chain. This agreement includes supplying and implementing the advanced SICONIA TM software suite to support various IoT sensors, including digital meters, that will help us become a leading digital utility. Modern open standards communications protocols mean long IoT device lives are now possible without compromising data security. Sagemcom’s approach to end-to-end encryption is a key attribute of their SICONIA TM solution.”

Yarra Valley Water, Sagemcom Australia partnership

“We are proud to partner with Yarra Valley Water and help them achieve their goals of reducing water use and improving management of their extensive asset networks. As a mission-driven company, we are committed to helping our partners move towards more environmentally friendly practices,” said Eric Rieul, CEO of Sagemcom Energy and Telecom.

These global solutions will enable Yarra Valley Water to identify water wastage and improve customer satisfaction by enabling a far more personalised service offering. Sagemcom’s integrated water pressure sensor, which is built into their digital water meter, allows utilities to better understand network performance and identify areas of concern, pinpoint the location of faults, optimise pumping and the associated energy costs and emissions, and understand the impact of any outages.

Alongside this partnership with Yarra Valley Water, Sagemcom Australia is opening a Melbourne hub to provide regional support for its software and IoT solutions.

Yarra Valley Water plans to implement the SICONIA TM solution over the next 12 months, with a scheduled rollout of a digital water meters trial planned for 2024. If successful, Yarra Valley Water is planning a larger-scale rollout of digital water meters across its entire service area this decade.

This work serves Yarra Valley Water’s 10-year strategy and strategic goal to help communities thrive by reducing water consumption and conserving precious water drinking water supply.