The UK Met Office announces a new A–Z of storm names every September, officially beginning the new storm season for the UK. In winter 2021, the Met Office named the first two storms in as many weeks, with projections from mid-December expecting that a further six storms would hit the country leading into the new year.

Despite the predictability of storm season, the impact on utilities companies routinely causes significant problems. In the wake of Storm Arwen on November 26 2021, approximately 3000 homes in northern England remained without power for more than a week. This reflects the challenge of harsh seasonal weather on utilities companies — a challenge that is only set to escalate as global climate change makes erroneous weather events a more common occurrence.

Unsurprisingly, an excessive surplus of water can cause problems in the water network. If assets such as pumping stations become flooded due to a high volume of rainfall or overflowing surface water sources, it can cause further flooding in domiciles and office spaces. It’s for this reason that water and sewage companies are obligated under the Water Industry Act 1991 to ensure their systems are resilient and that the area they serve has effective drainage.

Yet ensuring resilience in the water network is no simple task due to the size of the network and the number of distributed assets. It’s for this reason that water operators depend upon supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems at remote sites and, increasingly, an effective data management and control platform. The local control systems are necessary to accurately monitor and control equipment, but an effective overarching system makes it possible to remotely address issues as they arrive.

For example, Novotek routinely works with water companies across the country to help them establish more effective automation setups to facilitate remote decision-making in a streamlined, efficient manner. One of the challenges that arises frequently is that of data silos, where field engineers may have access to pertinent equipment health or performance data that is valuable but inaccessible to other teams. Fortunately, this is best — and easily — addressed with an overarching system that collects data once and presents different views to different stakeholders.

Not every system will be well positioned to provide flexible data views to users and be capable of ensuring effective response to floods. Ideally, an industrial automation platform should also feature effective data visualisation, as well as predictive analytics that can use locally collected data to anticipate the likelihood of asset damage or outage. These attributes allow operators to easily coordinate an effective and rapid response to seasonal flooding as it occurs, at the most vulnerable or at-risk parts of a network before further problems ensue.

As winter storms continue to become more frequent and impactful, water operators must be increasingly prepared to combat the effects and maintain uptime of network assets. Automation has long been a necessity due to the scale of operations, but the effectiveness of automation deployments has never been so important.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across the UK have faced a surge in cybercrime. In fact, research indicates that UK businesses experienced one attempted cyberattack every 46 seconds on average in 2020. Industrial businesses are a prime target for hackers and the ramifications of a data breach or denial-of-service attack are far-reaching, making system security imperative. Here, David Evanson, corporate vendor relationship manager at Novotek UK and Ireland, explains how industrial businesses can keep their vital systems secure.

For many business leaders and engineers, it is still tempting to consider large multinational companies or data-rich digital service providers to be the prime target for hackers. However, the growing volume of cyberattacks on businesses globally show that any company can be a target of malicious attacks on systems and services.

According to research by internet service provider Beaming, there were 686,961 attempted system breaches among UK businesses in 2020, marking a 20 per cent increase on 2019. Of these attacks, Beaming noted that one in ten intended to gain control of an Internet of Things (IoT) device — something that indicates a tendency to target system continuity rather than conventional data.

Both factors together are cause for alarm among industrial businesses of all sizes. Hackers are targeting all manner of companies, from start-ups to global organisations, and focussing more on the growing number of internet-connected devices and systems that were previously isolated.

The consequences of a device being compromised range from data extraction to service shutdown, and in any case the financial and production impacts to an industrial business are significant. There is no single quick fix to bolster cybersecurity due to the varying types of hacks that can take place. Some cyberattacks are complex and sophisticated; others less so. Many attacks on devices tend to fall into the latter category, which means there are some steps industrial businesses can take to minimise risk.

Novotek has been working closely with industrial businesses in the UK and Ireland for decades. One common thing that we have observed with automation hardware and software is that many engineers do not regularly upgrade software or firmware. Instead, there is a tendency to view automation as a one-off, fit-and-forget purchase. The hardware may be physically maintained on a regular schedule, but the invisible software aspect is often neglected.

Older firmware is more susceptible to hacks because it often contains unpatched known security vulnerabilities, such as weak authentication algorithms, obsolete encryption technologies or backdoors for unauthorised access. For a programmable logic controller (PLC), older firmware versions make it possible for cyber attackers to change the module state to halt-mode, resulting in a denial-of-service that stops production or prevents critical processes from running.

PLC manufacturers routinely update firmware to ensure it is robust and secure in the face of the changing cyber landscape, but there is not always a set interval between these updates.

In some cases, updates are released in the days or weeks following the discovery of a vulnerability — either by the manufacturer, Whitehat hackers or genuine attackers — to minimise end-user risk. The firmware version’s upgrade information should outline any exploits that have been fixed.

However, it’s important to note that legacy PLCs may no longer receive firmware updates from the manufacturer if the system has reached obsolescence. Many engineers opt to air-gap older PLCs to minimise the cybersecurity risk, but the lack of firmware support can also create interoperability issues with connected devices. Another part of the network, such as a switch, receiving an update can cause communications and compatibility issues with PLCs running on older versions — yet another reason why systems should run on the most recent software patches.

At this stage, engineers should invest in a more modern PLC to minimise risk — and, due to the rate of advancement of PLCs in recent years, likely benefit from greater functionality at the same time.

Firmware vulnerabilities are unavoidable, regardless of the quality of the PLC. At Novotek, we give extensive support for the Emerson PACSystems products that we provide to businesses in the UK and Ireland. This involves not only support with firmware updates as they become available, but also guidance on wider system resilience to ensure that businesses are as safe as possible from hardware vulnerabilities. The growth in cyberattacks will continue long beyond the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and infrastructure and automation are increasingly becoming targets. It may seem a simple step, but taking the same upgrade approach to firmware that we do with conventional computers can help engineers to secure their operations and keep running systems safely.

The best approach may be to let the data dictate where to focus your innovation efforts. Or, if there’s a lack of useful data, then that itself may be the answer.

In this whitepaper, Novotek UK and Ireland explains how utilities operators can get to grips with data management to create an effective data-driven approach to innovation. Covering how to consolidate and modernise assets for data collection, how to make sense of utilities data and which method to use to get the most long-term value from data, the whitepaper is an invaluable resource for utilities operations managers and engineers.

Complete the form below to receive a copy of the whitepaper.

Innovation has been a buzzword uttered by many a water provider in recent years. Since the UK’s water services regulation authority, Ofwat, published its price review 2019 (PR19) paper in 2017 and made innovation a focal point, most water providers have considered the use of new technologies to bolster productivity, reduce costs and strengthen continuity of service. This has made data acquisition, aggregation and analysis technologies more appealing to water operators — however, introducing new systems is understandably complicated in such complex networks.

The water industry’s need to innovate is not going to pass any time soon. In December 2020, Ofwat opened a consultation on what the industry should look like by 2040 and how the regulator, the sector and stakeholders can meet the challenges of the intervening years.

At the launch, Ofwat commented:

It’s the first of these suggestions, smart networks, that initially appears to be relatively easy for water operators to develop. A smart water network consists of various analytical, measurement and sensing devices and systems that offer insights into everything from water quality and pipe pressure to pump speeds and ambient temperatures in reserves. This field data can provide various insights to stakeholders.

However, a physical network as expansive and complex as water infrastructure presents ample opportunity for devices and systems to be deployed in an isolated and inefficient way. This means that its very likely certain raw data will be collected numerous times, stored in multiple disparate systems and siloed from certain groups of stakeholders. In our view, this isn’t a smart network; it’s a pseudo-intelligent network. If the data is being collected and used to inform strategic decisions, then it stands to reason that the systems collecting and housing that data should be deployed strategically as well.

Water operators at the start of their deployment journey can avoid a wide range of headaches by considering the three Rs of data:

• Reduce overlap of data collection
  
• Reuse collected data for multiple purposes
  
• Repackage data for multiple stakeholders

Reducing overlap in data collection means ensuring that raw data points are collected only once by a single sensor or system, and stored in a clearly defined system, such as a Historian software. This avoids the expense of investing in multiple systems to collect the same data several times for different purposes, as well as the cost of setting up those systems.

Reusing collected data for multiple purposes builds on this. The insights a technician will need to draw from machine data will differ significantly to that of an operations manager or area manager. However, the raw data can be fed into various reports and calculations to offer different kinds of insights. For example, the energy requirement data of water treatment equipment is relevant not only for energy usage reports, but also for sustainability reporting. Making the data readily available for multiple reporting purposes enhances business flexibility.

These values are especially important in the water sector, where context is key and the interplay between different parts of the network can have a tangible impact on overall operations.

One of the costliest oversights that many businesses encounter when focussing on data collection is that technicians often embrace a silo mentality, where they understand the value that data offers to their immediate machine or area of operation. For example, it might be that pump pressure monitoring is perceived as being valid only insofar as it informs maintenance schedules for that system. This mentality might make it appear to be a good idea to invest, separately, in sensor devices to measure water flow rates in the local area, which monitor water flow and pipe pressure.

Instead, repackaging the pump pressure data to support analysis of water flow would reduce overlap between systems, and in turn reduce the time and cost expenditure of configuring another system to also collect pressure data.

This same principle of the three Rs can be applied to data collection and analysis of all kinds throughout the entire network. In effect, data should be treated similarly to the water network itself; collected from a single source and transferred into a defined system, from which it can be supplied to where it is needed, for what it is needed for. If water operators are truly to improve productivity and reduce operational costs with innovation and new technologies, the key is to find ways of strategically collecting data once and using it in multiple ways. Doing so enables the company to be more flexible, adaptable and prepared for changing market conditions.

Click here to find out more about the 3 Rs of automation data with our infographic guide.

Asset management is integral to utilities businesses. Assets must remain operational to ensure that customers receive a satisfactory and uninterrupted service, and regulatory bodies apply ever-increasing pressure on operators to maintain good qualities of service. Regulators often push operators to not only provide continuous supply to customers, but to do so efficiently while keeping costs controlled.

For example, in the water sector, the UK regulator Ofwat routinely publishes a price review that outlines a revised framework for operators. PR19, the latest review that came into effect on April 1, 2021, set operators the goal of reducing their bills by 12 per cent by 2025. This would amount to a £50 reduction in the average household annual water bill. Alongside this, the regulator is pushing operators to embrace innovation to improve their performances, with incentives and funding in place to encourage this.

It’s because of these pressures that the evolving edge is proving increasingly important for operators. The conventional approach to maintaining remote stations and assets would involve sending technicians to them, which produces labour costs and is time intensive. Introducing edge devices and control systems to these stations allows operators to remotely measure, monitor and control the performance of assets with increasing detail and accuracy.

However, the introduction of edge systems in utilities is not without its own challenges. One of the core ideas behind edge deployments is that asset and equipment data can be collected and pushed to an analytical platform, often a cloud-based system accessed by network managers elsewhere. Maintenance can then be managed more intelligently.

The sheer volume of data produced in these stations, which is pushed to cloud servers in real-time, leads to very high cloud storage costs due to the message-based charging structure of many cloud providers. Across an entire network of thousands of assets, the costs for operators are exceptionally high — making it harder to increase edge deployment while simultaneously reducing costs.

To overcome the issue of elevated costs from edge deployments, network managers need to use modern edge technology to open up options. If an edge system has the capacity to accumulate raw data, this makes it easier to send data to cloud storage in a larger, single instance.

Alternatively, more advanced edge systems — such as a Historian system — can aggregate data from several sources and perform some level of compression or analysis before sending to cloud storage. Similarly, it could be that some raw data does not need to be sent to the cloud, so the ability of a system to parse data at the edge can reduce cloud requirements.

Both options allow operators to get the full benefit of edge technologies in remote stations, without high cloud costs. Not only can modern edge control systems be accessed remotely by technicians or be set to automatically make certain process adjustments, but the data collection capabilities of edge computing can be managed in a cost-effective way.

As edge technology continues to evolve and offer greater computing capacity, operators will be able to manage remote stations and assets with increasing efficacy and efficiency, cost-effectively. With the utility service quality expectations from customers and regulators increasing year on year, the evolving edge offers an ideal solution to long-standing challenges.

In 2015, at the UN climate conference of parties (COP), world leaders agreed to take united action in limiting the rise of global temperatures to less than two degrees Celsius. The pressures to reduce carbon emissions, as well as the shift to post-recession, less energy-intensive industries, have led to a surge in demand for new power and utilities offerings across the globe.

Fossil fuels account for up to 82 per cent of the world’s primary energy usage, but as governments begin to tightly regulate this usage and renewable energy generation is on the rise, utilities companies need to evolve. This presents several growth opportunities for the utilities industry to integrate additional services into their portfolio. However, one of the greatest challenges facing utilities companies is the integration of new and emerging technologies into their business models.

Utilities companies need to begin by evaluating their current systems and infrastructure against their business goals. At Novotek, we’ve found that many utilities companies are using legacy equipment or disparate systems from a wide range of suppliers that, often, are out of sync with other operations in the facility.

While global investment in digital electricity infrastructure and software may have grown by over 20 per cent annually since 2014, at Novotek we are urging utilities companies in particular to move faster. By modernising and consolidating a facility’s existing systems into one, businesses can make a significant return on investment (ROI).

Data consolidation techniques reduce inefficiencies like data duplication, costs related to reliance on multiple databases and multiple data management points.

Currently, the utilities sector is greatly fragmented as a result of decades of outsourcing in incremental functional and geographic silos. With technologies that exist today, like GE Digital’s Predix Plant Applications software, which is part of the Predix manufacturing execution system (MES) suite, utilities companies can now manage the hundreds of devices and pieces of equipment operating simultaneously across not just one plant, but an entire portfolio from one system in real-time.

Combining predictive machine learning and advanced analytics, the technology can help utilities managers to transition from a reactive to a proactive and prescriptive operating model.

This is because Plant Applications allow plant managers to analyse and configure insights from the data collected, to make informed business decisions and establish new unfragmented processes, to improve other areas of the business, like reducing waste. By 2025, data analytics will to be a core component in assisting companies, like those operating in the utilities sector, in making key business decisions. By consolidating various processes and integrating automation technologies, like GE Digital’s, utilities companies can optimise their operations to significantly improve performance and retain a competitive edge.