Binnies and Rezatec have launched an intelligent satellite-based dam monitoring system, with the strategic partnership combining Binnies’ reservoir expertise and digital ecosystem services with Rezatec’s Geospatial AI techniques to deliver strategic reservoir safety, operational and commercial benefits.
The announcement comes shortly after Binnies (previously Black & Veatch’s water businesses in Europe and Asia), joined integrated environmental, engineering and technical services business, RSK Group, earlier in January 2021.
iDMS, a remote monitoring service, uses Geospatial data to pinpoint any movement in the dam’s structure, down to a few millimetres of displacement. In addition to precise movement, satellite data identifies other indicators of problems with dam infrastructure, such as vegetation moisture and vigour, which can signal water seepage. This provides a unique risk management tool that supports and enhances existing reservoir safety best practice, while being both scalable and cost effective.
Big data from long-term retrospective and ongoing satellite monitoring, at weekly frequencies, along with data science and analytics, will enable reservoir owners to optimise operational practices and ensure the resilience of their long-term reservoir safety strategy, said the companies.
“We are really excited to be bringing a new perspective to reservoir owners’ ongoing efforts to improve reservoir safety,” stated Rachel Pether, All Reservoirs Panel Engineer, Binnies. “iDMS will baseline a dam’s unique basal rhythm of movement, within millimetre accuracy alongside moisture content, providing valuable insights and enhanced resilience in dam safety for asset owners. The data will be used to provide a more detailed risk profile, prioritise future investment and enable focused operational activity to improve reservoir safety. This new data set brings a new science to monitoring reservoir asset health.”
“Rezatec is passionate about providing world-class analytics to help dam and reservoir owners become more proactive, efficient and resilient to the challenges we’re facing,” added Philip Briscoe, Chief Operating Officer, Rezatec.“Our partnership with Binnies and launch of iDMS will further enable dam and reservoir owners to ensure safety and manage asset risk.”
iDMS is part of Binnies’ Digital ECO-X suite of products, its cloud-based ecosystem, which enables integration of multiple data sets across multiple partners like Rezatec providing asset management tools with utility clients’ IT systems.
