Canal de Isabel II, the water services provider in the region of Madrid, Spain, continues to move forward as part of its clear commitment to digital transformation. In this regard, it has entrusted its new IoT project to Hidroconta and Orange as suppliers of 9,000 gateways – connected to Orange’s NB-IoT mobile network and using TST Sistemas technology implemented by Hidroconta – to enable the connectivity of more than 100,000 water meters.
The project entrusted to a Temporary Joint Venture between Hidroconta and Orange is part of the Strategic Plan 2018-2030 of Canal de Isabel II, which provides for the digitalisation of urban water cycle uses, including the deployment of cutting-edge meters, thus offering its customers remote reading services.
Thanks to Orange’s NB-IoT network, Canal de Isabel II will benefit from low battery consumption for its concentrators, which is vital for them to operate throughout their lifecycle. In addition, this network allows greater signal penetration for transmitting readings in difficult locations, as well as lower hardware acquisition and communications costs.
Gabriel Aparicio, responsible for this project at Canal de Isabel II, said: “Remote reading of water meters is an important part of the digital transformation of water cycle management, which should enable a much more responsible and sustainable use of a scarce resource. With it, it will be possible to offer end users a better service thanks to real-time information about consumption, moving from bimonthly readings to hourly readings, in addition to benefits such as remote management of smart meters, automatic leak detection, etc.”
María Ruano, Hidroconta’s Marketing Manager, added: “This is an important project that consolidates Hidroconta in the development of remote metering projects. The Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) to advance the digitalisation of water cycle management in Spain is supporting these projects and many municipalities are engaging in extensive remote reading deployments, such as this initiative launched by Canal de Isabel II in the region of Madrid. In this case, the idea is to digitise water consumption data from the meter fleet, monitoring consumption every hour and sending this information to Canal de Isabel II for analysis and management.”
According to Íñigo Polo, Director of Public Administrations and Digital Services at Orange, “Canal de Isabel II’s confidence in Orange’s IoT services is the result of our leading position in this technology, the good results that our network has offered in terms of performance and autonomy, as well as our constant support for two years to help them in the implementation of the pilot projects that allowed testing the new remote metering technology.”
Remote meter reading is an important part of the digital transformation of water cycle management, which should enable a much more responsible and sustainable use of a scarce resource. With it, it will be possible to offer end users a better service thanks to real-time information about consumption, moving from bimonthly readings to hourly readings, in addition to benefits such as remote management of smart meters, automatic leak detection, etc.
