Clean drinking water and effective municipal sewage systems are things that are taken for granted in Sweden. However, few people reflect on the work that goes on behind the scenes to make such services constantly available. The sector is now undergoing digitalization to optimize operations and ensure systems run as reliably as possible. Skånska VA SYD, one of the country’s largest water management companies, is well ahead of the curve.
In Sweden, we take access to clean drinking water and serviceable sewage systems as a given. They belong to that class of critical infrastructure that just has to work. This means that improved operational and IT security, as well as enhancing efficiency, are system owners’ constant goals.
Digitalization and automation are today important tools for upgrading water-works, wastewater treatment plants and other components of water supply and sewage operations.
"We see ourselves as an advanced process industry with many different types of processes and complex systems. It really doesn’t matter what’s in our pipes; we can’t ever stop our operations," says Johan Åman, Automation Strategist at VA SYD.
VA SYD supplies drinking water to the municipalities of Burlöv, Eslöv, Lomma, Lund and Malmö in the south-west Skåne region. It also treats wastewater from these municipalities, as well as that from Vellinge and parts of Staffanstorp and Svedala.
The utility's business goals include being one of Europe's 10 most efficient water supply, sewage and waste-management organizations by 2025. Digitalization and automation are central to this ambition. In its 2020 annual report, VA SYD Director Joel Olthed comfirmed: "Digitalization is here to stay and it is of the highest priority".
Creating a flexible, common platform
In 2020, the utility initiated a project to create a common digital platform for all its diverse operations. This aims to safeguard operations, but also to facilitate the collection, storage, processing and provision of all process and operational data contained in its automation systems.
As VA SYD has grown, the various basic infrastructure it has installed contains very different automation systems. It currently administers about 400 different sized facilities, from pumping stations to wastewater treatment plants.
"There are different versions, variants and makes, all delivered and installed by different actors. Requirements have also changed over the years. We want to create a common automation platform to simplify and derisk our entire operation," says VA SYD Project Manager Henrik Aderup.
"This means we need a solution that links all of our facilities and substations, which is unique for a water supply and sewage operation," adds Åman.
There are obvious synergies in terms of fewer service/support agreements and replacement parts. It will also be easier to learn how each facility works. More people will be able to understand how to maintain, manage and operate the control systems. Generating large amounts of measurement data will also provide a better basis for operational decision-making. However, while there are many ideas, the project is still in its infancy.
"We’ve looked closely at how we want to create the platform- and started building a proof-of-concept installation. We’ve also started to collect, store and make measurement data available to the operation," says Aderup.
''It is a matter of laying a digital foundation for the future.''
Henrik Aderup, Project Manager at VA SYD.
The search for the right system
In its search for the optimal automation solution for the platform, VA SYD focused on a modular, scalable, and well-structured automation system that can be tailored to current needs, while also catering for future changes. The choice fell on ABB AbilityÔ system 800xA, a digital DCS (Distributed Control System) that forms the nerve center of thousands of process systems around the world in the chemicals, oil and gas and brewing industries to name just a few.
"It can be scaled up to the size we want to work with. It is also important for us that it’s a DCS, not a traditional SCADA [ supervisory control and data acquisition ] system. The local presence of both supplier and expertise was another advantage," says Aderup.
Building for the future
The future for VA SYD is exciting – and challenging. Skåne is an expanding region with a population that may well double in 20 to 30 years. Increasing demands on VA SYD's management of drinking water and wastewater mean both its operations and cyber security have to safeguarded.
''The Internet of Things, 5G and Industry 4.0 – data, information, AI, machine learning – are driving developments in industry. What we are building now will be the VA SYD automation platform for the foreseeable future," says Aderup.
"These are the first steps in a process. The system we install now lays the basis for continuous improvement and efficiency gains. Our vision is for the entire water network to be connected and managed in a fully automated process," he adds.
Market-leading industrial automation platform
ABB Ability™ System 800xA monitors and manages more than 50 million objects in over 10,000 installations in more than 100 countries. As a DCS it improves the availability, safety, efficiency and productivity of industrial processes.
"You can effectively tailor the system to the size of your facility. Our DCS are designed to connect large systems, providing superior reliability and process functionality. The very high availability is another advantage for process facilities where downtime is a disaster, not least in the water supply and sewerage market, It could bring big benefits for both large and small customers in this sector," says Roger Lexfors, Regional Sales Engineer at ABB."
Furthermore, System 800xA is much more than just a process control and monitoring system, it is also a perfect integration platform and excellent starting point for customer’s digital journey.
VA SYD IN FIGURES
Employees: 447
Quantity of drinking water supplied: 45.9 million cubic meters annually
Amount of wastewater treated: 63.4 million cubic meters annually
