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Victorian utility recognised at Asian Water Awards

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03 Dec, 2024

This post was originally published on Sustainability Matters

Following its win in October at the Australian Water Association (AWA) Victorian Water Awards, Victorian utility South East Water has netted two more awards at this year’s Asian Water Awards, held in late 2024.

The utility’s Hydrotrak Geofencing technology received the Water Technology Excellence (Research and Development) – Australia award, as well as the Water Technology Excellence (Water Resource Management) – Australia award, at the Asian Water Awards.

Developed by South East Water’s Research and Development and Operational Technology teams, the Hydrotrak Geofencing System uses GPS location devices integrated with GIS spatial data of its network and hydrants to automatically detect the location of a vehicle when it is stopped at a hydrant for a tanker-filling operation.

The device then automatically sounds an audible alarm, prompting the driver to push the fill button, which generates billing data. 

Since deploying the system in December 2022 to over 300 water carter vehicles, South East Water said it has recovered more than 65 ML of water that was previously unaccounted for, reducing both water and revenue loss.

South East Water’s General Manager of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation, Daniel Sullivan, said the solution played an important role in driving long-term water security and South East Water’s financial sustainability.

“HydroTrak helps us account for water extraction from our hydrants, providing improved financial outcomes at a time when customer affordability is a challenge,” he said. 

“It resolves a common industry problem — the inability to detect and charge water carters for their hydrant use. Historically, this has resulted in significant water and revenue loss for water utilities, with these losses needing to be absorbed by customers.”

South East Water said it is working with a number of interested organisations to facilitate industry-wide adoption of the Hydrotrak Geofencing System. The utility anticipates that larger-scale adoption of the technology could provide better financial outcomes for the industry.

“Understanding water carter consumption will allow for better demand forecasting, resource planning and management. This will translate into numerous community-wide benefits like better, fairer prices for customers,” Sullivan explained.

Image credit: iStock.com/yotto

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ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB has gained Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) status for its Gearless Mill Drive (GMD) ring motor — technology used to drive large grinding mills in the mining industry.

An EPD is a standardised document that provides detailed information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. Based on a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, the EPD highlights ABB’s commitment to transparency, environmental responsibility and supporting customers in making informed decisions on sustainability in their supply chains.

ABB analysed the environmental impact of a ring motor across its entire life cycle from supply chain and production to usage and end-of-life disposal. The study was conducted for a ring motor of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill with an installed power of 24 MW and was based on a reference service life of 25 years.

“Sustainability is at the core of our purpose at ABB, influencing how we operate and innovate for customers,” said Andrea Quinta, Sustainability Specialist at ABB. “By earning the Environmental Product Declaration for our ring motor, we emphasise our environmental stewardship and industry leadership for this technology. We adhered to the highest standards throughout this process, as we do in the ABB Ring Motor factory every day. This recognition highlights to the mining industry what they are bringing into their own operations when they work with ABB.”

The comprehensive LCA was conducted at ABB’s factory in Bilbao, Spain, and was externally verified and published in accordance with international standards ISO 14025 and ISO 14040/14044. It will remain valid for five years.

The ring motor, a key component of the GMD, is a drive system without any gears where the transmission of the torque between the motor and the mill is done through the magnetic field in the air gap between the motor stator and the motor rotor. It optimises grinding applications in the minerals and mining industries by enabling variable-speed operation, leading to energy and cost savings.

The full EPD for the ABB GMD Ring Motor can be viewed on EPD International.

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