Ignition SCADA upgrade future-proofs council water pumping station

Our client is one of the largest local governments in New South Wales.

Like many councils around the world, managing all assets and facilities within the region is an ongoing challenge. Relying on aging systems to provide control and visibility for each asset within council’s portfolio is not an economically secure or efficient solution.

Faced with communication issues and an existing system that presented a challenge for managing assets and training staff, the council required an upgraded system that could be integrated across the network of assets. They contracted SAGE Automation to deliver an automated solution that would meet their needs now and in the future, particularly if more assets needed to be added.

SAGE provided the council with a faster, more cost-effective and reliable open platform SCADA system to monitor and control city council assets. Choosing to install an Ignition SCADA system to meet council requirements, SAGE enabled the council to prepare for future assets to be added to their network.

Upgraded monitoring and control of remote plant

SAGE provided council with a full end-to-end solution, including functional design specifications.

Minimising disruption during the upgrade was a key deliverable for SAGE, who were able to maintain full operation of the existing control system during project commissioning. The council tasked SAGE with the delivery of a full end-to-end solution, including high-level functional design specifications.

A progressive install process allowed operators to become accustomed to the new platform prior to the full roll-out. By maintaining a consistent feel to the existing system, transitioning to the new system was much easier for operators. Integrating peripheral hardware and system features, such as SMS notifications, was delivered in stages. SAGE also provided comprehensive training on user interface and back-end modifications to enable council staff to integrate the control system with their business now and in the future.

With an upgraded control system, more assets can be monitored by council. 

Key benefits of the new SCADA system include:

• Web-based deployment, no client installation necessary
• Agnostic solution that can run on any platform
• Expandable to accommodate increased asset numbers
• Faster response times
• Full business integration, including data logging and detailed report generation.
  
  

“The Ignition SCADA solution we delivered for our client is easily expandable, making it a cost-effective modern automation system that can work with any device or integrator,” SAGE Project Manager, Michael Lloyd explained.

“In choosing this automated solution, we have provided the council with a SCADA system that can monitor assets that had previously fallen out of scope. The council can now access data from previously unmetered recycled water stations, providing more accurate water holding status insight, as well as reporting and billing for water usage.”

SAGE delivered an upgraded control system that provides greater efficiency, flexibility and reliability for the council to manage 24 pump stations and other key assets.

The SCADA upgrade of pumping stations and recycled water systems was delivered in a timely manner, reducing operational downtime. With a forward-thinking SCADA system in place, the council has the ability to support further assets as the need arises. Council is able to forward-plan knowing plant can be added without additional software licensing costs and with minimal risk of downtime while this occurs.

The SCADA upgrade is expandable to accommodate future growth for the council.

Increased revenue for council through accurate water usage reporting

The council has been able to add previously unmetered recycled water mains to their upgraded control system, enabling more accurate monitoring of water usage and thus more accurate customer charging and service.

Providing higher functionality such as automatic polling, the upgraded SCADA system can resolve communications issues more quickly and in a less labour-intensive manner. Previously, council relied on operators to manually poll the remote assets in order to identify communications issues and to re-establish connections. Twelve sites were experiencing communications drop-outs every few minutes, causing gaps in the data trending and requiring manual intervention to correct the connection. With the upgrade in place, automatic polling can bring the sites back online quickly without needing an operator.  

Reporting efficiencies with the new system provide economic benefit for council, as report formatting is fully automated and negates the need for data to be collated and reformatted to meet council report standards.

The Ignition SCADA system provides operators with enhanced usability, including full tablet and mobile visibility. It also maps the trending of data across all council assets for up to four years, providing a comprehensive overview of water usage and key metrics. 

Technology used:

• Ignition SCADA and gateway server
• Modbus
• DNP3
• Xylem Multitrode RTUs
• Kepware OPC server.
  
  

For more than 20 years, SAGE Automation has been developing water control solutions for clients in the industrial water sector, enabling greater monitoring and planning. Get in touch to consult with us on your next project.