Sydney Water seeking energy savings

Identifying ways to reduce energy usage takes on added importance when you’re consuming almost 1% of New South Wales’ total electricity demand each year. That’s the challenge facing Sydney Water amid the unprecedented transformation of Australia’s energy sector over the past decade.

As Australia shifts to being a more energy-efficient, data-informed and export-focused clean energy economy, Australia’s largest water utility is on the hunt for ways to reduce usage and put a lid on costs for consumers. To assist it in meeting this challenge, Sydney Water has engaged Aecom for its Energy Consulting Services program, with specialist support on energy markets to be provided by Schneider Electric Professional Services (formerly M&C Energy Group).

Over the next five years, Aecom will assist Sydney Water optimise assets and increase renewable energy generation from its wastewater treatment plants, transforming them into energy and nutrient recovery systems to be harnessed and valued. Other performance improvement projects will aim to reduce energy use in wastewater and pumping systems through new technologies and optimised performance.

Schneider Electric, meanwhile, will provide smart energy procurement and advisory services that will assist Sydney Water to respond to the market and ensure the accuracy of its invoices and energy data for over 1000 sites.

AECOM’s Chief Executive, Australia New Zealand, Michael Batchelor, said Sydney Water is leading the way for other Australian utilities to respond to the combined pressures of population growth, rising energy costs, capital constraints, ageing assets, increased performance standards and expanding customer markets.

“Sydney Water is examining options to lower its costs by further reducing energy use and by increasing renewable energy generation in areas such as biogas, hydrokinetic systems, waste heat and, perhaps in future, other new energy sources,” said Batchelor.

“By leveraging smarter systems and new technologies - such as microbubble technology - this program will be an important step forward in achieving efficiencies which will ultimately benefit consumers.”

Sydney Water’s General Manager of Business Strategy & Resilience, Paul Freeman, said consumers are at the heart of its business.

“Sydney Water is focused on achieving cost savings and process efficiencies to enable us to continually improve our capacity to meet the needs of our customers while keeping prices down,” said Freeman.

“Sydney Water is committed to being energy smart and doing more with less, so we’re looking for smart solutions and smart partners to help us achieve this.”