{"id":33326,"date":"2026-05-20T08:40:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T06:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/?p=33326"},"modified":"2026-05-20T09:11:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:11:35","slug":"energy-security-guarantees-towns-water-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/20\/energy-security-guarantees-towns-water-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy security guarantees town’s water supply"},"content":{"rendered":"

A remote reservoir which provides drinking water to over 35,000 customers is entirely monitored and controlled by an off-grid power installation which must not fail. Electricity energises their control systems, operates the water treatment plant, and opens and closes pump valves.<\/p>\n

The lead acid batteries which had provided back up power were coming to the end of their life, but also the site operator, McMinnville Water & Light,\u00a0<\/em>based in Oregon, U.S., noticed that staff were having to spend much more time at the facility – finding problems, analysing power information and putting mitigations in place. The system was old and difficult to work with.<\/p>\n

Understanding the problems facing the water engineers enabled power system designer Artek<\/a> to reimagine their installation; to choose the hardware, and to tailor the software to offer an optimised power installation which meets their needs uniquely.<\/p>\n

Working alongside Cascade Solar<\/a>, the challenge was to add provide redundancy, meet highly variable load demands, provide remote data communications, comply with strict seismic requirements, and<\/strong> to make the power system easier for their technicians to read and understand with clear live data information.<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/a> * Sam Reiser, Lead Engineer: A Victron Energy system tailored with Node-RED flow meets McMinnville Water and Light’s needs precisely.<\/p><\/div>\n

At the heart of the installation is an 80kWh, 48V Lithium NG battery<\/a>\u00a0bank which are managed by dual Lynx Smart BMS NG<\/a> units. The duality of the installed architecture adds an important layer of redundancy and protection\u2014critical in an environment where maintenance access is limited and failure mustn’t be allowed.<\/p>\n

Power delivery at the site is split across two inverter-charger systems, each designed for a specific role: In the first instance a MultiPlus<\/a> 48\/2000 operates 24 hours per day, providing the power required to monitor and control the site’s equipment. The operators have clear visibility of the system’s status via the GX Touch 70<\/a> and can maintain control of water flow infrastructure.<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/a> * Jordan Burgess, Embedded Systems Engineer & Garmin Support<\/p><\/div>\n

Alongside it, a more powerful split-phase system comprised of dual MultiPlus-II<\/a> 48\/5000 units handle the site’s \u00a0high-demand loads – powering the nitrogen accumulation pump used to actuate hydraulic valves. They also manage battery charging when a generator is running.<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/a> The battery system is housed in seismically rated Rittal enclosures, ensuring structural integrity and compliance with local codes.<\/p><\/div>\n

This dual-inverter architecture allows the system to efficiently balance continuous low-load demand, punctuated by intermittent high-power requirements.<\/p>\n

Node-RED flow provides bespoke automation<\/h4>\n

Rather than running the larger inverter system continuously, Artek implemented a demand-driven control strategy.<\/p>\n

Using a Cerbo GX as the central communication hub, custom Node-RED logic was developed to deliver inverter operation idealised for real site conditions. The system responds directly to signals from an Allen-Bradley PLC, which indicates when pumps are running\u2014or need to run.<\/p>\n

When that signal is activated, the split-phase MultiPlus-II system comes online. When it\u2019s not needed, the system remains idle – reducing standby consumption and improving overall efficiency.<\/p>\n

The same logic also responds to generator activity. The generator has an auto start – triggered by a preset battery state of charge – and the MultiPlus-II’s begin to charge the depleted battery bank at maximum generator efficiency.

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The implementation includes:<\/p>\n