Sydney Water is Australia’s largest water utility owned by the NSW Government that provides water and wastewater services for more than 5 million people in Greater Sydney. By 2036 Sydney is expected to grow to around 8 million people, putting Sydney’s existing water network beyond capacity.
The Prospect South to Macarthur project, or ProMac, forms part the infrastructure investment by Sydney Water to upgrade and expand Sydney’s water and wastewater infrastructure. The project aims to delivering infrastructure that is needed to service development in the South West Growth Area and future growth in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis. As part of the ProMac project Sydney Water is building a new reservoir at Liverpool and two new reservoirs at Oran Park, to allow for a total of 100 million litres of additional reservoir capacity.
Sydney Water is also building 15km of additional pipework, three pumping stations and augmenting the existing network to transfer water to the new reservoirs and to service growth. Construction began in September 2020. The project will be delivered in stages over two years with the new assets to be commissioned in late 2022.
Water and wastewater are essential services for all major cities. The systems used to deliver these services can be continually operational or in standby. But regardless of the configuration the older, installed equipment used in these applications have an accelerated chance of failure once their lifespan reaches 15 to 20 years.
Considering this, Sydney Water looked to invest in new infrastructure and technologies that will not only withstand the growing, dynamic South Western Sydney area but also meet the challenges of a changing climate with safe, reliable, world-class water services. As part of this goal, they sought after advanced system solutions for their water pumping applications at the Prospect, Liverpool and Harrington Park sites.
ABB worked with Sydney Water consultants AECOM GHD Joint Venture as well as head contractor ACCIONA, and sub-suppliers KSB Australia and Flowserve to be awarded a contract for a range of drive and motor products and services. These will form a part of these water pump station upgrades. The equipment will be installed to power and control nine pumps across the various locations in this project.
Liverpool Reservoir upgrade – part of Sydney Water’s Prospect South to Macarthur (ProMac) project 
ABB's M3BP low voltage process performance motor with IE3 premium efficiency 
ABB’s AMI 450 high voltage modular induction motor 
ABB's ACS580 medium voltage general purpose drive 
ABB's ACS880-37 cabinet-built ultra-low harmonic drive
The contract includes ACS580MV medium voltage drives, ACS880 ultra-low harmonic single drives, spares, and commissioning.
These advanced technology drives have been engineered to operate without disrupting the power network due to harmonics. Harmonics pollute the electrical network and make equipment connected to it behave erratically. They can cause damage to sensitive electronic equipment, interference in communication equipment, and give false readings on measurement devices.
Sydney Water recognised that the ACS880 drives were naturally designed to reduce harmonics in the network and could easily integrate into their existing system without concerns of wider disruption. This meant there was no need to oversize the electrical system or account for higher investment costs in additional infrastructure. By using clean technology such as this, the need for any additional filters or power quality equipment is eliminated.
Like all water utilities, Sydney Water must sometimes connect to residential power networks. Standards that regulate interference by industrial equipment require stringent levels to be maintained so that these connections don’t interfere with everyday devices like mobile electronics and televisions, for example. ABB’s ACS580MV and ACS880 drives are category C2 rated for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), which gives Sydney Water compliance to operate their pump stations with shared networks so that the drives can be run on residential networks without any concern of interference to the general public.
Sydney Water also purchased ABB’s AMI 450 high voltage modular induction motors and M3BP low voltage process performance motors with IE3 premium efficiency. About 80% of energy usage at water plants is attributed to the operation of motors for pumping. ABB’s high efficiency motors can deliver significant energy savings because they use less energy at the same power output, which concurrently lowers CO2 emissions.
The AMI 450 motors are optimised for variable speed control to deliver an energy efficient solution for Sydney Water and packaged to fit precisely with ABB drives. These modular induction motors will also be customised to meet the needs of Sydney Water to offer them a low-loss, high power density solution that is more efficient, yet smaller and lighter when compared to other alternatives on the market.
M3BP cast iron motors provide greater protection against all the harsh environmental elements found in water applications and will also afford Sydney Water with lower running costs, low noise levels, and low maintenance costs all in a smaller footprint.
Mike Briggs, Head of Motion for ABB in Australia says, “thanks to the ProMac project, Sydney Water will now secure future water sustainability for even more residents in Western Sydney and ABB is proud to be a part of supporting that investment.”
ABB’s ability to address all of Sydney Water’s site safety concerns for personnel, room clearances, and design compactness as a complete integrated solution, made the ABB solutions offering and design framework one that surpassed any other existing benchmarks that were put forward for this project. It also demonstrated ABB’s ability to confidently stand by a complete performance guarantee. ABB’s ability to manage the product lifecycle of the equipment by assuring service, parts and labour, combined with full load testing facility capability all with a guarantee of 24/7 support via ABB’s global network, will extend the lifetime of these products for up to 20 years.
As water pump stations around Sydney continue to age, ABB hopes to continue to support Sydney Water in the cyclical requirements associated with anticipated upgrades.
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 110,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com
