French water distribution company Société de Gérance et de Distribution d’Eau (Sogedo) has signed a 10 year deal with Singapore-based IoT development house Unabiz, which owns the Sigfox IoT network technology, to enhance water conservation and management in France. Sogedo will deploy more residential water meters, consumption sensors, pressure sensors, and condition monitoring sensors. All of them will be based on Sigfox. Sogedo has utilised Sigfox-based IoT sensors since 2016.
In total, Sogedo has already deployed around 22,000 Sigfox-based IoT devices in its water distribution network, which serves various public authorities in France with drinking water as well as water sanitisation services. It claims to have received 1,000-odd alerts from them in the period, enabling it to detect 500-odd leaks in its customer base and save 90,000 cubic metres of water (“the equivalent of 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools”).
Sogedo has also avoided “more than 100 potential pollutions” in the period, by detecting “water backflows”, it said. This has resulted in a direct improvement in drinking water yield, it added. Citing the “increasing scarcity” of water, Sogedo wants to double the number of subscribers taking advantage of sensor-based remote meter readings by next year (2024). Its plan is to expand and “significantly digitalise” Sogedo’s water supply networks over 10 years.
Unabiz, in charge of Sigfox since last April, is actively receptive also to hybrid IoT solutions using cellular-based technologies. Sogedo has resolved to help customers understand and control their water consumption, and to enable “consumption monitoring at scale”, according to a statement. It promised “accurate and more timely billings”, as well, to reflect consumption patterns collected in “near real-time” from remote readings over the Sigfox network in France.
The statement said: “The active monitoring of asset conditions, such as the wear and tear of infrastructure components, enable preventive maintenance of devices… preventing any disruption of services and improving resource conservation.” Lyon-based Sogedo claims to be the “leading independent water and wastewater company” in France; it is the fourth largest water distributor in the country.
Julien Siffert, expert in remote control solutions at Sogedo, said: “This partnership demonstrates our desire to offer our customers services that meet their needs and current challenges. The combination of Sogedo’s expertise in water and UnaBiz’s know-how in communication technologies bring about better operations, time-savings and the better management of precious water resources for the benefit of the community.”
Patrick Cason, managing director of UnaBiz in France, said: “This partnership demonstrates the relevance of UnaBiz’s IoT solutions in the utilities sector and our plans to further densify our network in France. In addition to the [Sigfox] network infrastructure, UnaBiz will also provide additional services such as [its] multi-cloud platform, access to new IoT protocols, and additional sensors for new potential services.”
He added: “By putting technological innovation at the service of environmental transition, UnaBiz and Sogedo are making a lasting commitment to transform tomorrow’s world.”