News

Wessex Water joins major hydrogen group

YTL Wessex Water has joined the Hydrogen South West (HSW) partnership.

Wessex Water, which serves 2.8 million customers in the region, has plans to optimise hydrogen usage for future operations by collaborating in the development of hydrogen infrastructure and technology across SouthWest England. With water management expected to undergo significant changes through climate change, Wessex Water wants to provide reliable, affordable services for customers and communities, and deliver a better environment for nature and people. HSW’s cross-sector partnerships will generate investment for projects beyond heavy industrial clusters. Not only are these ambitions set to assist the journey to Net Zero by 2050, but also to enhance skills and deliver new job opportunities for a sustainable future.

Wessex Water Chief Operating Officer, John Thompson, said: “Wessex Water is committed to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions by 2030 and full de-carbonisation of all aspects of our work by 2040, a decade ahead of the UK government’s 2050 target. “It is absolutely essential that we all work together across the South West to achieve these aims and therefore we are very keen to be part of Hydrogen SW and to be collaborating with some of the other large infrastructure and transport organisations in the region.” Simon Earles, Chair of Hydrogen South West added: “HSW continues to bring together organisations, covering aerospace, shipping, high-tech engineering and public utilities to create an infrastructure ecosystem. We welcome Wessex Water as the newest member to help us fulfil this ambition.”

The HSW partnership includes Wessex Water, Airbus, easyJet and Bristol Airport.

SEPTEMBER2021 DECEMBER2021

ISSUE20 ISSUE21

Improving Asset Health • Trenchless Technology • Wastewater Monitoring & AnalysisWastewater Treatment & Technology • Sludge Management • Pressure Sensors for Water Pipelines

Pipeline Rehabilitation • Data & Analytics in the Water Utility Sector • Clean Water Networks Pump Technology and Innovation • Wastewater Treatment and Technology

If you would like to participate in the March edition of Water Industry Journal we shall be featuring:

Leak Detection & Repair Pressure Sensors for Water Pipelines Improving Customer Experience Digital Transformation Ensuring Water Quality Wastewater Treatment & Technology

Contact David Lancaster on 0191 580 5476 or email david.lancaster@distinctivegroup.co.uk for more information.

Is the water sector ready for AMP8?

The supply chain has a critical role to play in the complex challenges facing the UK water sector in AMP8, and its successful delivery, says Lila Thompson, the chief executive of British Water.

“There is no time to waste. Now is the time to get serious about water as an imperative for climate action,” said a joint statement from an eminent panel of water and climate leaders at the UN COP27 negotiations in Egypt, in November 2022. The statement urges heads of state and governments to take a more integrated approach to water to replace the existing fragmented management across the world.

Closer to home the water industry is facing a challenging backdrop of supply chain disruptions, energy price increases, skills shortages, and the need to address sectorwide carbon targets and environmental and performance issues. We believe failure to address these challenges could lead to further difficulties for the whole sector, including and perhaps most dramatically of all, suppliers leaving the UK water sector to explore other markets including those overseas. In today’s resource-constrained market, this will severely limit utilities’ ability to meet customers’ expectations and could result in water companies failing to meet Ofwat’s required regulatory outcomes in AMP8 – the regulatory asset management period 2020-25. The supply chain is critical in the delivery of these outcomes, with external expenditure on goods and services amounting to around 55% of water company revenues, according to the Institute of Civil Engineers. The water industry is the most capital intensive of all major sectors and its supply chain is complex, and will become increasingly so as the industry shifts focus away from asset intensive processes to services such as nature-based solutions, digital technologies and demand management. That is why pragmatic decisions need to be made urgently, and communicated properly, within the water industry to keep it moving forward, with fully engaged suppliers playing a leading role. The relationship between the regulators’ requirements and inputs from the supply chain is indirect. It functions in a complex dynamic via water companies’ planning and procurement, and the need to deliver services to customers and protect the environment. It is heavily dependent on the management of water companies’ relationships with the supply community, and British Water believes this indirect linkage is ripe and ready for improvement - with substantial benefits for customers, the environment, the companies, and their shareholders.

Earlier this year, British Water’s Supply Chain Taskforce surveyed supply chain companies on their experiences of working with water companies in three key areas - innovation, procurement, and cyclicality. Using the valuable findings in our submission to Ofwat for the 2024 price review, British Water recommended that the regulator measure supply chain satisfaction with water companies, and water company satisfaction with their supply chains. This would build on the work of British Water’s annual Water Company Performance Survey, and further the understanding of resilience in the sector at a time when supply chain connectivity is of paramount importance. In responding to Ofwat, British Water explained that the supply chain is a community, which can bring important markets to water if enabled properly. To achieve this, joint working initiatives that provide opportunities for supply chain companies to participate and up their contribution to tackling these big issues will be key. The sector will be better able to tackle its joint problems by bringing together individual companies, across utilities and the supply chain, along with sector organisations such as Water UK, UKWIR, WRc, Spring - as well as British Water’s UK, technical and international forums and the Water Industry Forum. What is clear from the conversations taking place at COP27 is that the world is finally starting to understand the value of water and the ongoing importance of protecting, conserving and restoring water and waterrelated ecosystems. Closer to home, it is clear that here in the UK there is an urgent need for change across the industry to meet these pressing challenges too. British Water and its supply chain members are ready and willing to be an integral part of the discussions and help drive action. We are committed to work with regulators, water companies and other stakeholder to drive these matters forward as we move closer to AMP8.

If COP27 can be considered to be a watershed moment for climate action, then with the right relationships, policies, knowledge and tools, AMP8 could prove be a watershed for the UK water sector too. Lila Thompson

British Water represents the interests of UK water and wastewater supply chain companies together with wider stakeholders across the sector, through its UK, Technical and International forums, connecting them to contacts to raise their profile, grow their business and promote best practice. Our Water Industry Forum provides challenge-led, independent thought leadership, to tackle the challenges facing the sector.

How to implement a motor purchasing policy

Electric motors account for a significant proportion of the water industry’s energy consumption. Against the backdrop of rising prices, putting in place an effective motor purchasing policy can help to reduce bills, and meet PR24 goals, as James Thomas, UK Water Industry Manager, ABB, explains.

A significant amount of electricity consumption within UK water industry is consumed through the use of electric motors, which drive much of the rotating equipment needed to transfer and treat the water network (e.g., pumps, blowers, centrifuges, etc). The introduction of an electric motor policy can reduce energy usage and improve efficiency.

Why UK water companies should implement high efficiency electric motor policies

Electricity usage accounts for a significant proportion of a motor’s overall lifecycle costs, whereas initial purchase costs only represent a small fraction of this expenditure. High efficiency motors therefore provide an opportunity to lower lifecycle electricity costs. The extra cost of a high efficiency motor is often quickly recouped in reduced energy usage. To reduce energy consumption, water companies should adopt a total cost-ofownership approach (TOTEX) and consider implementing an electric motor purchasing policy. Additionally, this course of action will assist water company’s efforts to meet Ofwat PR24 strategic goals to:

Increase focus on long term cost savings

Drive improvements through efficiency and innovation

Deliver greater environmental and social value

Ensure customer expectations of service and maintain affordability Create working partnerships with innovative organisations Embrace new thinking by collaborating with others inside and outside of the sector

Support Green Recovery initiatives Achieve Net Zero carbon targets

Recommendations for implementing a motor purchasing policy

1. Specify a minimum standard For use within the water industry, all motors purchased need to meet the most recent WIMES standard), which states that all motors between 0.75 kW – 1,000 kW need to meet the IE3 energy efficiency standard as a minimum. From the 1st of July 2023 all new motors in the range of 75 kW to 200 kW need to meet the IE4 efficiency standard per the EU ecodesign regulations for electric motors. IE4/IE5 options are already widely available and should be considered the preferred option. 2. Plant upgrades and refurbishment Use a minimum IE4 motor or IE5 where possible. IE5 synchronous reluctance motors are the most efficient and resilient but must be used with a variable speed drive (VSD). It may be possible to use existing VSDs if compatible. 3. New installations Given the expected total expenditure benefits, all motors purchased for new installations, including package plants, should be energy efficient and exceed the minimum standard set in WIMES, i.e. IE4 or IE5 synchronous reluctance and compatible VSD if the option is available. This specification must be shared and specified with project teams, contractors and plant OEMs such as pump manufacturers. 4. Repair or replace? When an electric motor fails and is rewound, its efficiency is more often than not reduced, resulting in increased energy costs. Therefore, it is often more cost effective (based on lifecycle costs) to replace the failed motor with a new high efficiency motor, rather than rewinding a failed motor. Furthermore, a repaired IE2 motor is still an IE2 motor. Upon motor failure for motors less ≤ 75 kW: • Repair if due to a bearing failure and no other failure has occurred. on LCC with a new energy efficient motor i.e.

IE4 or IE5, if option is available/possible. Upon motor failure for motors over > 75 kW: • Total cost-of-ownership assessments must be undertaken for failed motors over 75kW to determine whether replacement with or rewind/repair is most appropriate.

It’s the supplier’s responsibility to provide a quote for an energy efficient alternative (incl. required mechanical & electrical modifications to allow installation) and the potential energy savings that can be achieved. If simple payback is less than 5/7 years, the motor must be replaced rather than rewound. Typically, IE5 synchronous reluctance motors will offer the fastest payback period and should be considered before all other options.

In summary

Successful implementation of an effective motor purchasing policy can contribute towards a reduction in energy consumption and related CO2 emissions, along with improved resilience and fewer motor failures. This in turn can help to meet Ofwat’s PR24 strategic goals to increase focus on long-term cost savings, drive improvements through efficiency and innovation. If you have any questions about SynRM, or ABB’s wider motor and drive offering for the water industry, contact me at james.thomas@gb.abb.com.

New sewer to be laid in Ilkley using trenchless technology

Work is due to begin in Ilkley to lay a new sewer under the A65 to help reduce the frequency and volume of storm discharges into the river Wharfe during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall.

Yorkshire Water’s partner Ward and Burke began work in mid-November, setting up site working areas ahead of construction. Trenchless technology will be used with underground boring machinery controlled remotely throughout the project to keep disruption to a minimum while laying 800m of new sewer under the A65 to the Sewage Treatment Works.

This reduces the need to close the road as it lays pipework behind it and sends the earth back to the staging site where it is cleaned and recycled for use in other projects in the area. The sewer will operate as additional storage during periods of heavy rainfall or prolonged rainfall to reduce the frequency of discharges from Rivadale storm overflow by 40% and halve the volume of wastewater discharged during those events. The initial stage of the work will include laying the sewer between Yorkshire Water’s Ilkley wastewater treatment works and Ashlands playing fields. The second stage of the project is to lay the sewer under the A65. Remotecontrolled tunnelling equipment will be used at depths of 5-8 metres below the ground, to bore the hole for the new sewer.

The equipment will be recovered at the Ilkley Wharfe View car park once the sewer has been laid.

Ben Roche, director of wastewater at Yorkshire Water, said: “This project forms a major part of our investment in Ilkley following the creation of an inland bathing water on the Wharfe in the town. Laying a new sewer to accommodate higher flows of wastewater during periods of heavy and prolonged rainfall will ultimately reduce the number and volume of discharges from Rivadale CSO, helping to improve water quality in the Wharfe.

“We’ve worked very closely with Bradford Council highways teams to keep the disruption for our customers to a minimum. As a result, we’re making use of trenchless technology, with equipment boring the hole and laying the sewer remotely, preventing the need to dig up the A65 to complete this work. For the majority of the project, there will be limited signs of our activity underground. “We completely understand the increased public interest in river quality in our region and it’s an issue that must be addressed by a range of agencies working together. We continue to invest over and above existing investment plans in Ilkley and the surrounding area to make improvements on our network to reduce its impact on water quality. Water companies have a key role to play, but coordinated action is needed by farmers, the local authority, businesses and local people with the ultimate aim of improving the bathing water classification.” To allow the equipment to be controlled and recovered from underground, part of a Ashlands playing fields will be turned into a working compound and the Ilkley Wharfe View car park will be closed. Yorkshire Water is working with Bradford Council to develop alternative parking arrangements. The project is expected to be completed in January 2024.

Laying a new sewer to accommodate higher flows of wastewater during periods of heavy and prolonged rainfall will ultimately reduce the number and volume of discharges from Rivadale CSO, helping to improve water quality in the Wharfe.