A company that is paying close attention to these trends is Kamstrup. With its head offices in the small Danish town of Skanderborg, Kamstrup makes 400 000 meters every year, 90 000 of which are water meters.
With 24 subsidiaries and 43 distribution companies spread across the world, the company has a big footprint and is very much in touch with global trends. As general sales manager Hans Peter Kyk says, “We are not quite world-wide, but we are heading that way.”
The five biggest macro-economic factors in the water meter sector have been identified by Tine Lind, Kamstrup’s Commercial Services Manager.
The drivers in the global economy are:
• a rise in water prices world-wide local authorities which are choosing to reduce usage rather than spend large amounts of money on new treatment plants
• drought conditions
• water pollution
• population increase.
Another big factor for all water companies, private and public, is the price of electricity and the need to consider the carbon impact of using conventional power.
Grundfos is the world’s biggest producer of pumps and its Regional Business Director responsible for emerging markets has seen this trend take off.
Says Niels Fielsøe Petersen, “We see solar energy applications growing fast, especially in East Africa.”
Although the pumps that Grundfos is currently rolling out to game reserves to supply water holes for animals to drink from can generate up to 9.5kW, the solar industry is changing so fast that large applications will soon be widely available.
At the Mombo Camp in Botswana, South Africa energy firm On Track Solar has delivered a system that gives the exclusive lodge enough power to provide everything that a luxury hotel needs.
Company founder and CEO Corrie van Wyk notes that, “Until a few years ago, it was considered impossible to run a game lodge on solar.”
The needs of a game lodge are complex, but with 500 panels providing 110kW, van Wyk says it has the power “equivalent to what a small village/town would need.”
Utility demand
The second major driver of demand for ever-more sophisticated meters is coming from water utilities themselves. In addition to the pressures relating to energy availability, energy prices and carbon issues, utilities are also subject to a number of factors that are pushing them to invest in smart meters.
These factors include:
• Incorrect readings of old-fashioned meters
• The lack of proper surveillance which means that available data is inadequate
• Lost revenue
• A lack of analysis of consumer behaviour
• Meters being stolen for their metal.
Lind reports that these factors have persuaded Kamstrup to concentrate their research and design efforts on finding ways to solve these problems.
Says Lind, "Two of the most important trends in the metering sector are ultrasonic metering and remote reading.”
“Previously, meters were mostly mechanical. We foresee that the market will move in the direction of electronic pumps.”
“The second trend is that we foresee that remote reading will really spread out, so that meters will not have to be read manually anymore.”
Kamstrup’s MULTICAL®21 meter proved a big hit with the delegation of Southern African water specialists who had a chance to see the meter in action in December.
Within an hour, one vehicle driving through a suburb can take 500 meter readings. There are no moving parts so no maintenance is required. A lithium battery provides power back-up – for 16 years! And the meter is made of synthetic PPS, which removes the threat of theft.
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