An Integrated Solution for
Utilities using GIS/RS
Edwin Fidel Che Liava’a
Abstract:
In the Pacific region, Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) are increasingly being
recognized as essential tool-sets for planning and development that can allow Utilities to better manage their
assets in order to make well-informed planning and strategic action decisions.
For more than 15 years of experience in the Utilities sector using GIS/RS tools for assets management and
planning, I feel the full capacity of GIS/RS is not fully utilised and sometimes not fully understood by executive
level on how powerful these tool-sets are for the successful operation and sustainability of the utility.
Most utilities have several specialised information systems to empower the services they provide for their
customers, suppliers and stakeholders. These include Finance Systems, Cashier, Billing Systems, Assets
Register, Schedule Maintenance, Supply and Demand Forecasting and Network Modelling/Simulation, etc. In
the mists of all these systems are the GIS/RS tools to support all these segregated systems.
However, day to day operations and procedures seems to neglect the GIS/RS component and in most cases the
“cart is pulled before the horse” and the GIS unit is chasing after other systems for updates instead of dictating
the data/information updates and procedures.
This paper will put GIS/RS at the heart of utilities operation and will dictate data flow and operating procedures
thus integrating all other systems as one cohesion centralised GIS/RS system.
Why?
•
•
•
•
Freedom
Education
Innovation and Development
Sharing
–
–
–
–
–
Data
Knowledge
Source Code
Information
Innovation
Real People
John
Hossack
USP
Sustainability
Client -Side
Billing Data
Assets Data
Maintenance Data
Free Energy
Solar Panel Calculator
kWh_per_Month
Months_per_Year
kWh_per_Year
Days_per_Year
kWh_per_Day
Multiplier
Watts_per_Day
Hours_Sunlight_per_Day
Watts_per_Hour
Watts_per_Panel
Number_of_Panels
380
12
4560
365
12.493151
1000
12493.151
7
1784.7358
175
10.19849
Monthly k Wh from your Powerbill (NB: Better to Sum all readings for all 12 months)
Multiplier 12 months in a year
Total k Wh per year
Muliplier 365 days in a year
k Wh per Day
Multiplier 1000 to conver to Watts
Watts per day
Hours of Sunlight per day
Watts per hour
Watts per panel
Numbers of panel
Average Daily Sunshine (hours)
Suva
Nadi
Jan
6.3
6.9
Feb
6
6.5
Mar
5.5
6.2
Apr
5.1
6.6
May
4.9
6.9
Jun
4.6
6.9
Jul
4.3
7
Aug
4.9
7.5
Sep
4.5
7.2
Oct
5
7.3
Nov
5.6
7.4
Dec
6.2
7.3
Relationship
TANGIBLE BENEFITS WORKSHEET
Year 1 through 5
A. Cost Reduction or avoidance
$
4,500.00
B. Error reduction
$
2,500.00
Economic Feasibility Analysis
C. Increased flexibility
$
7,500.00
Net Economic benefit
D. Increased speed of activity
$
10,500.00
Discount rate (12%)
E. Improvement in management
planning or control
$
25,000.00
$
50,000.00
F. Other____________________
TOTAL tangible benefits
ONE-TIME COSTS WORKSHEET
Year 0
$
A. Development costs
$
16,648.00
B. New Hardw are
$
49,610.00
1. Packaged application
$
11,200.00
2. Other: "Accommodation, Meals & Airfares
C. New (purchased) Softw are
$
8,380.00
D. User training
$
10,000.00
E. Site Preparation
F. Other: "contingency"
TOTAL One time-cost
$
7,480.00
$
9,332.00
$ 112,650.00
RECURRING COSTS WORKSHEET
Year 2
$
50,000 $
1.0000
0.9050
50,000 $
0.8190
0.7412
Year 4
50,000 $
0.6707
$
-
$
45,249 $
40,949 $
37,058 $
33,537 $
NPV of all benefits
$
-
$
45,249 $
86,198 $
123,256 $
156,793 $
One-time costs
$ (112,650.00)
Recurring Costs
$
-
Year 5
TOTALS
50,000
0.6070
##
30,350
187,143 $ 187,143
$ (125,760.00) $ (125,760.00) $ (125,760.00) $ (125,760.00) $ (125,760.00)
1.0000
PV of Recurring Costs
$
-
NPV of all Costs
$
(112,650) $
$
112650
0.9050
0.8190
0.7412
0.6707
(113,810) $
(102,995) $
(93,209) $
(84,352) $
(226,460) $
226459.9548
(329,455) $
329455.3889
(422,664) $
422663.9266
(507,016) $
507015.5445
0.6070
##
(76,336)
(583,352) $ (583,352)
583351.8502
Overall NPV
$ (396,209)
Overall ROI - (Overall NPV / NPV of all COSTS)
(0.68)
Yearly NPV Cash Flow
$
(112,650) $
(68,561) $
(62,046) $
(56,150) $
(50,815) $
(45,986)
Ov erall NPV Cash Flow
$
(112,650) $
(181,211) $
(243,257) $
(299,408) $
(350,223) $
(396,209)
A. Application softw are maintenance
$ 100,000.00
B. Incremental data storage required: 20MB X $50.00
$
1,000.00
C. Incremental communications (lines, messages, etc)
$
4,800.00
Project break-ev en occurs betw een y ears 2 and 3
D. New softw are leases or upgrades
$
1,000.00
Use first y ear of positiv e cashflow to calculate break-ev en fraction - ((15303 - 9139)/15303) =
E. Supplies
$
9,360.00
$
9,600.00
TOTAL recurring costs
50,000 $
Break-even Analysis
Year 1 through 5
F. Other - Transport
Year 3
PV of Benefits
Discount rate (12%)
Year 0
Year 1
-
$ 125,760.00
NB: All dollar v alues hav e been rounded of to the nearest dollar
Yearly Cashflow s are calculated by substracting both the one-time cost and
the present values of the recurring costs from the present value of the yearly benefits.
The overall NPV of the cash flow reflects the total cash flow s for all preceding years.
Proprietary Software
Break-Even Analysis
$700,000
$600,000
Dollars ($ thousands)
$500,000
$400,000
All Benefits
All Costs
$300,000
$200,000
$100,000
$1
2
3
4
Year
5
6
7
GIS OSS Software