Webinar: Sunwater’s Drone journey from Ex-Cat to ReOC

Sunwater is a pivotal water service provider in Queensland (Australia), managing 19 dams and 1,951 km of pipeline to store, capture, and deliver 40% of the state's commercial water use to over 5,000 industrial clients. 

Due to the criticality and complexity of SunWater's operations, they have developed an extensive drone pilot program of more than 50 pilots to improve the management of their extensive linear assets, huge dam facilities, emergency response and more. 

At present, they are currently on the journey to upgrade their predominantly excluded category (Ex-CAT) fleet to ReOC certified to increase the capability of their operations to include complex water sampling, weed spraying, EVLOS, BVLOS and more. 

Check out our interview below with SunWater’s OT Systems Engineer and Drone Program Lead, Ben Harrison, as he unpacks their journey to date, lessons learnt, and what they have installed for the future. 

Key points of Our Interview with Ben Harrison:

• The evolution of Sunwater's drone journey has seen a transition from pure data capture to a focus on interconnected systems and data sharing, reflecting the evolving capabilities in the technology sector.
   
• Sunwater's focus on using technology and innovation to reduce staff exposure to critical risks in the water operation space.
   
• Sunwater has close to 50 pilots across the state, indicating a significant investment in drone technology for day-to-day inspection checks and other use cases.
• Sunwater does not have dedicated drone pilots, but rather integrates drone capability into the skill set of their operations and engineering teams.
• The use of drones is leading to increased efficiency and visibility at regional sites, benefiting various teams and departments.
• Access to detailed information earlier in the project space leads to better-informed decisions and prevents going down the wrong path.
• Equipping engineers and surveyors with drones has been super helpful in quickly getting visual inspections without the need for field trips.
• Starting a drone program requires a strong use case and driver, not just moving into it for the sake of it.
• The idea of digital twins and using drones is a big focus for Sunwater, capturing survey data and photogrammetry points organization-wide.
• Sunwater is dedicated to leveraging GIS capabilities to display and provide catalogued and discoverable drone imagery data, addressing issues of data management and visibility.
• They have been trailing the capabilities of a thermal drone for asset management, including leak detection and monitoring the impact on Earth and banket dams.

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