LoRa water meter as a new generation of intelligent remote meter reading tools, with its low power consumption, long distance, low cost and other technical advantages, has become an important starting point to promote the digital transformation of the water industry. At present, the technology has been piloted in first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou and some second – and third-tier cities, and has achieved initial results. However, from a nationwide point of view, the popularization and promotion of LoRa water meters still faces many challenges, and requires multi-party coordination.
First, the main difficulties facing the promotion of LoRa water meters
(1) Greater cost input pressure
From the point of view of equipment procurement costs, the market price of a single LoRa water meter is generally between 300-500 yuan, which is 5-8 times that of traditional mechanical water meters. In a medium-sized city of 500,000 users, equipment updates alone need to invest 150-250 million yuan. In addition, the supporting base station construction, system platform construction, network maintenance and other investment is huge. According to the calculation of a pilot project in a provincial capital city, the unit user cost of the full deployment of LoRa water meter system reaches 800-1000 yuan. For most water enterprises, this investment is difficult to obtain corresponding returns in the short term, which seriously restricts the enthusiasm of promotion.
(2) Technical reliability needs to be improved
In practical application, the technical performance of LoRa water meter still has obvious shortcomings. First of all, the signal penetration ability is insufficient, and in complex environments such as basements and old residential areas, the signal attenuation is serious, resulting in data transmission failure. Data from a pilot project show that the success rate of signal transmission in the multi-storey underground garage scene is less than 70%. Second, the problem of data packet loss is prominent, and in some regional pilot projects, more than 30% of LoRa water meters have data loss. In addition, there is a large gap between the battery life and the theoretical value, and some devices need to replace the battery after 2-3 years of use, increasing the maintenance cost.
(3) The operation and maintenance system is not perfect
The large-scale deployment of LoRa water meters puts forward higher requirements for the operation and maintenance ability of water enterprises. On the one hand, equipment fault diagnosis, data exception processing, system upgrade and maintenance need professional technical team support; On the other hand, compared with the traditional meter reading mode, the daily operation and maintenance cost of the LoRa water meter system is significantly increased. It is estimated that a city with 500,000 users needs to invest 3-5 million yuan in system maintenance costs every year. In addition, compatibility issues between devices from different vendors also pose challenges for system integration and subsequent maintenance.
(4) Lagging digital transformation of the industry
At present, the digital transformation of China’s water industry is still in the initial stage. According to statistics, more than 60% of water utilities have not yet established a professional information team and lack data analysis and application capabilities. This disconnect between management capabilities and technical equipment has made it difficult for many companies to give full play to the technical advantages of LoRa water meters. At the same time, the inertia of the traditional operation model also affects the promotion and application of new technologies.
Second, the development prospects and suggestions of LoRa water meters
Despite the many challenges, the huge potential of LoRa water meters in intelligent water management, accurate metering and water saving and environmental protection cannot be ignored. With the promotion of new infrastructure construction and the deepening of smart city construction during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, LoRa water meters are expected to usher in new development opportunities.
(1) Policy support continues to increase
The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Housing and other departments have issued policies to encourage the promotion and application of smart water meters. The “Urban Water Supply Price Management Measures” clearly states that it is necessary to promote the transformation of “one household and one meter”, which provides a policy basis for the promotion of smart water meters. Many governments have also incorporated smart water meters into key projects of smart city construction, giving financial subsidies and policy support.
(2) Technological progress drives down costs
With the acceleration of the LoRa chip localization process and the large-scale production effect, the equipment cost is expected to gradually decline. At the same time, the application of a new generation of LoRa technology (such as LoRaWAN) will further improve signal penetration and transmission stability, reducing maintenance costs.
(3) Market demand continues to grow
Under the dual drive of smart city construction and water-saving society construction, the demand for smart water meters continues to grow. It is expected that by 2025, the size of China’s smart water meter market will exceed 20 billion yuan, and the compound annual growth rate will remain above 20%.
(4) Suggested measures
1. Improve the policy support system, increase financial subsidies, and reduce the renovation burden of water enterprises;
2. Strengthen technology research and development, improve equipment performance and reliability, and reduce maintenance costs;
3. Promote the development of industry standards and promote equipment interconnection;
4. Strengthen the digital transformation of water enterprises and improve the ability of data application;
5. Innovate the business model and explore the operation model of “equipment + service”.
The promotion and application of LoRa water meters is a systematic project, which needs the coordination of the government, enterprises, technology suppliers and other parties. With the continuous maturity of technology, the continuous support of policies and the growth of market demand, LoRa water meters will surely inject new impetus into the construction of smart water, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the water industry to the direction of digitalization and intelligence.