Digital is poised for expansion; despite hiccups
Digital and smart water continue to gather pace with partnerships being signed and investment made.
Bluefield Research launched a new ‘Digital Water’ report, stating that “the global digital water market looks poised to continue its rapid expansion, despite some high-profile hiccups in the second half of 2019”.
In this summary article, we summarise four recent stories in the digital water space.
Combining digital machine health with pumps
Danish pump giant Grundfos has signed a strategic partnership with US ‘digital machine health’ solution provider, Augury.
The two companies have been working together for two years and plan to use “connected equipment” to now offer a range of services and new business models.
By adding an AI-driven intelligence layer on top of existing assets, the companies aim to collect mechanical and operational data automatically.
This they claim will enable them to provide “actionable machine health insights and diagnostics”, said Anupam Bhargava, group VP of industry at Grundfos.
“As we prepare our portfolio for the future, it is key that we leverage this knowledge base to build more intelligence, IoT, remote monitoring and advanced diagnostics into our offerings to ensure differentiation, which is one of the highest priorities for Grundfos.”
Understanding digital water opportunities in the UK
The UK Water Partnership has published a White Paper with the ambition to “help UK plc win its share of the $30 billion digital revolution in water”.
Called ‘Digital Water – understanding the commercial opportunities for UK plc’, the document outlines why ‘digital thinking’ has the potential to revolutionise the water sector “in ways that were previously almost unimaginable”.
Outlining commercial opportunities for the UK, key themes such as irrigation management, utility tariffs and benefits, sewer and sewerage monitoring were identified, as well as many others.
Chairman Richard Benyon said the partnership wants to galvanise a focused, national effort to embrace the digital revolution in the water sector.
Available to download here, the document has been published for consultation, with responses welcome by close of business on 28 February.
GoAigua rebrands as IDRICA in Spain
Spanish smart water company formerly known as GoAigua, has been renamed and relaunched as IDRICA.
Developed a decade ago by Spanish utility company Global Omnium, the Valencia headquartered company has a new engineering division, focusing on water projects in the areas of management, operation and maintenance, engineering and consultancy.
The name GoAigua will continue to be used as the name for the technology and solution deployed by IDRICA.
The company is behind a Digital Twin model being used in Valencia, which has achieved an error rating of less than 2 per cent in pressures and 4 per cent in flows.
UK SaaS firm wins £5m investment for international expansion
Geospatial analytics company Rezatec secured £5 million in investment from Gresham House’s Baronsmead and Renewable Energy venture capital trusts.
The company will use the investment to build sales capabilities in North America and South Asia, as well as extend its product development capacity from its UK-based HQ.
Operating across forestry, agriculture, financial services and infrastructure, Rezatec satellite technology was used by US water utility Central Arkansas Water to identify and monitor contaminants entering one of its primary drinking water sources, Lake Maumelle.
The investment follows the firm winning a contract for a pipeline risk assessment deployment with Italian utility, HERA Group.
“Rezatec has grown rapidly, particularly with enterprise customers in North America and has built a highly scalable, market-leading SaaS (Software as a Solution) platform that utilises low cost, real-time geospatial data to deliver actionable insights to its global client base,” said Harry Gooden, director, technology investment banking at N+1 Singer.
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