Pressure optimisation at Denmark’s
most beautiful festival

Skanderborg Utility, Denmark

Smart metering provides insight into patterns of consumption and water pressure that result in operational optimisation and valuable experience for Skanderborg Utility.

Limited knowledge with traditional meters
Every year during the Danish music festival Smukfest, the population of the nearby city Skanderborg increases by 50,000 people. This temporary but huge variation in the population size puts great pressure on the local water utility to maintain the pressure in the surrounding areas during the festival.

Previously, Skanderborg Utility have had mechanical meters installed by the supply points of Smukfest. Despite supplementary pressure measurements from the waterworks itself, this only gave a general view of how the festival affected their system.

”We were only able to see the total consumption for an entire day,” explains Michael Pilc, Operations Manager at Skanderborg Utility.

”This gave us no indication of the consumption throughout the festival in terms of peak demands during the day.”

The limited insight made it difficult to identify the specific challenges related to the festival.

Real-time pressure optimisation with Kamstrup technology

When Skanderborg Utility invested in remotely read pressure sensors and intelligent water meters from Kamstrup, they were able to collect detailed real-time data about changes in pressure and water consumption. The new meters were integrated directly into the established system and could easily be read remotely with Kamstrup’s network solution, READy.

The solution from Kamstrup gave the utility a unique insight into the water consumption during the festival.

This made it possible to examine trends and pressure patterns in order identify whether the challenges lay with the utility’s own system or with the festival.

“With the new meters from Kamstrup we were able to closely monitor the pressure variations and draw a time-specific consumption pattern,” says Michael.

This knowledge enables Skanderborg Utility to manage the distribution system based on peak demands. By adjusting pressure and volume as needed, water resources can be used more optimally and thereby improve the service level for the surrounding areas and customers, who usually experience pressure loss during the festival.

Valuable insight into own water systems

In addition, the identification of the festival’s precise consumption gave a deeper insight into the existing system of the utility. With the pressure sensors from Kamstrup, Skanderborg Utility were able to collect specific, measurable data for operating the distribution system in the future and aligning with their hydraulic models. In this way, the solution provided valuable insight that can benefit the utility in the future.

Successful project with pressure optimisation of water supply forms the basis for sustainable cooperation

According to Skanderborg Utility, the accurate data from the Kamstrup meters provide a more detailed overview of the consumption needs. Based on this, the utility and Smukfest can work together to optimise the water supply and continue to ensure a good experience for the happy attendees of the festival.

In the future, the pressure sensors can be used at critical points in the utility’s distribution system to identify when the pressure can be reduced without affecting the service level. This can help extend the lifetime of the network, limit water loss and energy consumption as well as reduce the number of bursts and leaks in the distribution network.

About the project