Derceto signs NZ $5.5M export software deal with UK's Northumbrian Water Ltd
Top 10 UK water utility forecasts major savings from multi-million pound energy management software investment
One of the top ten UK water utility companies – Northumbrian Water Ltd – has signed a £2.6 million ($NZ5.5 million)
contract with specialist New Zealand water utility optimization software company Derceto via their UK partner, Mouchel.
Derceto’s CEO Wayne Spittal says the contract, the largest signed by Derceto to date, will see Derceto implement its
Aquadapt software throughout Northumbrian Water Ltd plants in the UK, enabling significant energy cost savings of around
£1 million annually
The implementation, at all five major water networks within Northumbrian Water’s operating areas in Essex, Suffolk, and
the north-east of England, will also deliver other operational benefits.
Northumbrian Water serves a population of 2.6 million people in the north east of England with water and sewerage
services. Essex & Suffolk Water supplies water to 1.7 million people in the Essex, south Norfolk and north Suffolk areas.
Northumbrian Water Network Manager Dennis Dellow says the decision to purchase Aquadapt had been driven primarily by the
need to control, manage and predict energy costs.
“For a water utility, energy is the second highest cost after labour,” Dellow says. “We are principally interested in
Derceto’s Aquadapt as a way of reducing energy costs, mainly through more efficient pump scheduling. But as the product
was evaluated, and Derceto analyzed the cost saving opportunities, it became clear that in addition to achieving
significant energy savings, Aquadapt could also provide accurate energy modeling, and that data could be used to
negotiate more favorable three-year energy supply contracts.”
He says there will also be operational benefits from being able to support individual operators with a powerful software
tool designed to enable consistent and predictable operation.
“Because we have a lot of storage we have quite a lot flexibility in how we pump the water. But we have a highly complex
system with hundreds of pumping stations and reservoirs, so it’s a big challenge to maintain supply and manage
reservoirs at operational levels while at the same time maximizing lowest cost electricity use. This is a bigger and
more complex problem than can be managed by individual operators over such a large number of sites.”
Dellow says that in looking for a solution Northumbrian Water went out to the entire market throughout Europe.
“We certainly found no other product that would do what Aquadapt can do. Some vendors said they could develop a
solution, but we saw Derceto’s Aquadapt as a proven and working solution, already doing what we want to do at other
water utilities in North America, New Zealand and Australia.”
Northumbrian Water’s implementation of Derceto’s Aquadapt will be a first across the European Union, Dellow says.
“No other water company in Europe is doing it on this scale. We have a lot of work ahead of us to deliver on the
business case, but we are very confident that we can achieve the cost savings and efficiencies forecast – and
significantly reduce our energy costs over the long haul.”
A rolling implementation throughout the five discrete water distribution systems within Northumbrian Water will be
completed over the next 20 months with support from Mouchel, Derceto’s UK implementation partner.
ENDS