We were thrilled to be profiled in the NZ Entrepreneur magazine – as part of their “Innovation Nation” series. Innovation Nation is a series celebrating stories of innovation and entrepreneurship from around New Zealand.

The feature explores the way we are addressing the challenges – and opportunities – facing primary industry in New Zealand.

Read the full article in the NZ Entrepreneur magazine here:

SOUTHERN WATER ENGINEERING OPTIMISING PERFORMANCE IN THE KIWI WINE CAPITAL

Marlborough business Southern Water Engineering (SWE) aims to optimise primary industry performance by improving water and wastewater systems – all by monitoring and analysing data and putting in fixes before the problems pile up.

Founded fourteen years ago and officially launched in 2011, the sixteen-person team at SWE balloons to at least 25 during the busy grape-growing season (typically October to April), when the grapevines require correct water management to achieve the best outcome for harvest. As most of the nation’s wine is produced in Marlborough, the need for optimal management of water and effluent ramps up a notch.

Though SWE’s water management tools work on all sorts of farms, vineyards have traditionally been SWE’s main focus – after all, that’s where the greatest demand has been.

Over 28,000 hectares of vines (over 70% of the national total) are under the care of wine producers in Marlborough, a dry region where vineyards typically use drip irrigation to provide grapevines with 2.2mm of water per hectare per day. If growers get their water requirements wrong, they reduce wine quality (which impacts the wine market as a whole) as well as setting the vines up for subsequent ongoing problems and additional costs.

If New Zealand were to go the way of Australia and bill for water, water bills would potentially be five figures or more each year for local vineyards. The UN has reported that by 2030 demand for water could be 40% greater than the supply available.

With an industry that often prides itself on continuous improvement, many are keen to get ahead of the curve with water use before it becomes mandated – and costly. With wine industry exports reached $2.01 billion for the year ending December 2020, it gives an indication of what’s at stake each year.

The problems largely stem from five main areas: poorly functioning irrigation systems; degradation of systems caused by faults (such as incorrect operating pressures); a mix of older technologies with inefficient system designs; the fact that few tests are conducted on systems (except pressure tests); and a lack of awareness of potential problem areas leading to unexpected, and often avoidable breakdowns.

Examples of the costly consequences from underperforming systems which SWE aims to minimise are:

• A worker may have to drive for large amounts of time (emitting greenhouse gases) to get to a pipe failure and work out how to solve it.
• Vineyard operators may have no idea that a drip irrigation system isn’t working, and otherwise-productive vines might end up with reduced yield (resulting in reduced return for the grower).
• A leak may result in water wastage, leaving insufficient water for effective irrigation within the grower’s allocated water rights.
• A leak may not be detected until the vineyard operator arrives at the vineyard or the leak is reported by a neighbour.
• Failures in vines caused by too much or too little water are likely to have an ongoing effect on future harvests.
• Effluent from wine processing may not end up evenly distributed on the land and result in non-compliance fines and environmental issues.

Founder and managing director Stephen Leitch has spent fourteen years at SWE developing tools to try stop the above problems setting in. Leitch’s current focus is part of a wider 25 years in the irrigation industry, including roles at FruitFed and WaterDynamics and before that, Leitch studied at agricultural sciences hub Lincoln University – with plenty of family influence to steer him into his current role. “Everybody in my family is an engineer of some sort,” Leitch told NZ Entrepreneur. “I went to Lincoln and did a horticulture degree but I somehow ended up back in engineering!”

To condense SWE’s services to one sentence, the company essentially offers hardware, software and services for primary industry, so clients with a water fault can narrow down the fault from their office or smartphone – as well as stopping problems before they occur thanks to proactive maintenance and monitoring.

SWE provides growers, farmers and producers with everything from up-to-date pumping and filtration technologies to maximise pump performance – through to remote access alarms so alerts are received when irrigation breaks down. Tech solutions SWE offers include programmable logic controllers, supervisory control and data acquisition systems and radio link / telemetry, and their SmartAudit offering, all of which helps clients weather the ‘big dries’ which Marlborough is prone to.

With the SmartAudit service, for example, SWE routinely identifies an average of 5% potential water saving per year. This amounts to a potential saving of 102m3 of water per hectare per year – a figure which would amount to a minimum saving of 2.3 million cubic metres of water per year across Marlborough, or nearly 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water. (Making this degree of saving would also offer the potential of irrigating a further 900 hectares of extra land, if you wanted to).

To be clear, Leitch says, this represents not a one-off saving but an annual saving. Leitch remarks it is important to note that this 5% represents a very conservative estimate of potential water savings. “We have regularly seen the potential for at least 20% savings in vineyard blocks audited to date.”

SWE’s interventions can help deliver improved uniformity of water delivery, improving plant health and yields – and importantly, more efficient use of water. For the client this also results in fewer breakdowns and increased lifespan of irrigation components, enables planning for capital expenditure for future maintenance and upgrades and can even sometimes result in lower running and replacement costs.

Leitch says tackling vineyard inefficiencies requires a team who composed of a mixture of “brainstormers” with a vision of the future, plus “others who can do the nuts and bolts and actually get us there,” meaning mechanical engineers who take care of steel headworks, installing pipe and servicing pumps and controllers. The team have a progressive company culture looking after them, and SWE has recognised for its progressive values almost from its inception.

SWE is Toitū carbonzero™ accredited, and pays all staff above the Living Wage. SWE won the ‘Business Innovation’ category at the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards (2017) and was shortlisted for the Irrigation NZ ‘Innovation in Irrigation Award’ (2014) and was also supreme winner of the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards (2013).

Continuing with their drive to innovate, SWE is currently in beta testing phase for their newest offering – “swelink” – which provides clients with real-time data and trend analysis across their system, and has the potential to greatly improve system efficiency, reduce water wastage and enhance effective and timely decision-making. Leitch says swelink is the culmination of a lot of R&D and is “excited” for what it can do for their clients.

Despite the company’s focus on innovation and technology, Leitch says he isn’t looking to completely automate irrigation. Collaboration is the focus instead. “What we do is collect the data – and build the analysis – to enable that. And I think a smart entrepreneur looks for how you work with other businesses to get the best outcome for everybody.”

The post Innovation Nation Series – Optimising Performance in the Kiwi Wine Capital appeared first on SWE.

Client Profile

Rapaura Springs operates from the independent 12,000 tonne Spring Creek Vintners winery situated in Spring Creek, Marlborough. The company makes their own award-winning brand wines and offer full contract winemaking facilities. Rapaura Springs are carefully managed under Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand standards.

In 2018 the company purchased a 365-hectare vineyard (including 130 hectares of vines) in the Blind River / Tetley Brook area of the Awatere Valley, near Seddon. The vineyard is a mix of flat and undulating contoured land and draws water into storage dams from the Blind River Irrigation Scheme water. The vineyard produces fine Sauvignon Blanc, with a smaller amount of Pinot Gris – and the company intends to plant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for vintages to come. The Awatere grapes made up “about a third” of the Rapaura Springs wine that won the Sauvignon Blanc Trophy at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in 2015.

You can take a virtual look around the vineyard here: http://bit.ly/BlindRiverVineyardTour

Project Overview

The system and equipment on the vineyard were aging, and it had not had professional review since installation, so it was considered timely to pay some closer attention to the block.

For example, the system relied upon older-style, diesel-driven pumps, which required considerable manual assistance to keep them fuelled and running. In fact, one of the drivers for reviewing the system was the labour-intensive nature of the block – which kept the vineyard team extra-busy running the irrigation. The control system was also not working, and the system struggled to keep up with the demands of the operation. Having recently purchased the block, Rapaura Springs were keen to have the system maintained and brought up to date.

Rapaura Springs’ Gus Altschwager describes the property as “one of the driest places to grow in Marlborough”; mitigated by the virtues of a creek and a large dam. Water efficiency was therefore also of considerable importance.

Solution

SWE assessed the system and equipment on the block to identify where best to focus the project efforts. Once the key issues were identified, SWE took the Rapaura Springs team to see another nearby vineyard system which had many similarities to what was proposed on their Blind River site. The client found it beneficial to see first-hand what a difference the recommendations could make. SWE outlined the recommendations and a two-phase approach was agreed upon to upgrade and repair the system and components.

In Phase 1, the system was overhauled and upgraded including such undertakings as:

• Installation of electric pump stations, and replacement of all the aging and labour-intensive diesel pumps;
• Upgrade to the pump control systems including installation of touchpads – involving electrical and automation/programming work;
• Installation of a new irrigation control system, including new cable infrastructure;
• Installation of a new mainline to and from the large storage dam;
• Performed maintenance on existing system components, including replacing media in filters, and servicing all the valve/air valves/pilots in the field; and
• Modification to existing headworks to better utilise available water from the Blind River Irrigation Scheme and storage dams, while simultaneously irrigating the vineyard effectively.

Results

The client now has a new app and web-based software that allows them to quickly and simply control such things as how long the system runs for, the flow rates and so on. This also allows the client to ‘drive’ and monitor the entire system remotely – and provides real-time insights which can assist in the client’s decision-making. The remote monitoring also enables remote assistance and service from SWE, helping to reduce unnecessary call-outs and repair and maintenance time – and therefore cost. It also informs the service team about the nature of the problem – which, for example, may mean when SWE needs to attend a call-out, the technician comes with insight into the problem (and can potentially bring additional equipment or parts in the service vehicle), again reducing time and costs.

By upgrading the irrigation control systems, this has allowed the client to better monitor flow rates and control the valves in the field. The new mainline also allowed the client to make better use of the main dam, particularly as the 2018-2019 drought took hold.

The system runs more efficiently and is tremendously less labour-intensive. SWE conservatively estimates that running the system requires at least 90% less manual intervention (than before the project was started).

The application rate is more uniform, and water efficiency has improved notably. SWE will verify the precise impact on water efficiency more closely in Phase 2 as part of the SmartAudit planned.

What the Client Said

“It’s the best crop we’ve ever seen on these vines, and the best-looking canopy. We’re very happy with the project, and the project management. Having the ability to control the system with greater accuracy and efficiency (as a result of the system enhancements done by SWE) meant we got through the 2018-2019 drought in significantly better shape.”

Gus Altschwager – General Manager of Viticulture and Winemaking, Rapaura Springs

Rapaura Springs Wines staff, from left: general manager Gus Altschwager, viticulturist Simon Bowers, and co-owner Ian Wiffen, at the northern boundary of the company’s 365-hectare property. Photo credit: Rapaura Springs

The post Case Study: Blind River Vineyard System Upgrade appeared first on SWE.

Client Profile

Alton Downs vineyard is located in the Awatere Valley, approximately 22 kilometres south of Blenheim, in the Marlborough region.

The approximately 75-hectare vineyard grows predominantly Sauvignon Blanc grapes, alongside 4 hectares of Pinot Noir – according to the most appropriate varietal match for the terroir within the parts of the vineyard.

The vineyard produced award-winning grapes in 2017, and the Vineyard Manager has been involved with 17 wine awards in his career to date. The client is extremely quality-focussed, with great attention to detail, and was keen to ensure the vineyard was able to operate at optimum efficiency.

Project Overview

Vineyard manager Duncan Cramp asked SWE to undertake a SmartAudit of the vineyard. Having recently come to manage the block, Duncan was keen to have professional insight into the set-up and the performance of the system, that would allow him foresight into potential issues and allow him to budget appropriately for repairs and/or improvements. Duncan was also aware that the application rate on the block was minimal, and so at times the system struggled to keep up with the demands of the operation. The system itself was also ten years old, and had not had professional review since installation, so it was considered timely to audit the block.

Solution

SWE performed a full SmartAudit service on the block. Our engineers measured the system performance, assessed the condition of all irrigation components and design, and evaluated them against specific performance criteria.

Originally the block had one river pump to service the whole 75 hectares, so when the pump failed, or performed under-par, the system struggled to keep up or catch-up, with the vineyard’s requirements. The system also had difficulty performing against forces of heat and evaporation even when the system was functioning at full capacity – struggling to meet the required application rate in competition against the sun and north-west wind.

The SWE designers therefore redesigned the system, installing an additional pump to feed the lower terrace, so the existing pump would only service the upper terrace.

We identified that the majority of irrigation zones were working either demonstrably under-pressure – or markedly over-pressure. Some pressures were higher than the structure of the dripline was designed to accommodate, causing excess wear and tear, blowouts and increased dripline repair requirements.

We also investigated the cause of the lower pressure zones. In one example, we were able to identify that UV damage was causing squirting drippers in places, which in turn was causing excess flow, and thereby affecting the pressure and harming the water efficiency. Furthermore, we identified that the mainline feeding one of the blocks was slightly undersized for its present requirements. We therefore redesigned the system to split the affected zone into two zones – effectively halving the flow through – meaning the flow rate was less, accomplishing increased pressure, and achieving industry standard uniformity and water efficiency.

The SWE team also serviced all the field valves (almost all of which were in a state requiring work). The diaphragms had started to deteriorate and valves, pilots etc also required attention or replacement.

We also installed new systems that allow for an enhanced level of monitoring and management as well as remote monitoring and accessibility.

Results

The client was supplied with a full SmartAudit report which clearly outlined all system plans, components and specifications. The report outlined a comprehensive list of findings and recommendations – as well as detailing the ‘immediate fixes’ which were able to be implemented efficiently on the spot.

Following discussions with the client we jointly created a plan to implement important recommendations in the short-term, and plan ahead for future enhancements. The report also serves as a valuable reference document and benchmark for the client in the coming years.

As a result of the SmartAudit the system has been redesigned with a second pump to deliver water to the vineyard, enabling us to halve the system application time (from 24 hours to just 12 hours). Problems have been resolved by system maintenance and mitigated by adjusting pressures and zone modification. Remote monitoring also allows for real-time insights and decision-making for the client. The remote monitoring also enables remote assistance and service from SWE, which can help to reduce unnecessary call-outs, and also inform the service team about the nature of the problem – which, for example, may mean we can attend with foreknowledge of the problem (and potentially bring additional equipment or parts with us when we arrive).

The system runs significantly more efficiently, with field valves operating more reliably and regulating effectively. Components are now working under conditions which are within spec for their performance. The application rate is more uniform, and power and water efficiency has improved significantly.

What the Client Said

“The team at SWE have done a great job. I’m really pleased with the outcome, especially the system performance, and increased power and water efficiency.”

Duncan Cramp, Vineyard Manager, Alton Downs Vineyard

The post Case Study: SmartAudit at Alton Downs Vineyard appeared first on SWE.