Community of Irrigators of Canal del Páramo (León, Spain)

Remote control system for the Irrigation Modernization Project of the Canal del Páramo Irrigation Community: Sectors 1 and 8 (2017-2018)

The Community of Irrigators of Canal del Páramo, located in León (Spain), is considered one of the largest communities in the region, since it has several sectors in which they cultivate a variety of species, such as corn, beet, beans and irrigated cereal (lwww.canalparamo.com).

The Community signed an agreement with the public company Seiasa (http://www.seiasa.es/seiasa/indexCookies.html) for the modernization of irrigation of sectors I and VIII, that benefits more than 1,700 irrigators. The works in sector I were carried out by the UTE Ecisa-CyMi (www.ecisa.es), and those in sector VIII, by the construction company Conacon (www.conacon.com), of Sando group.

Among the actions planned were the installation and commissioning of a remote-controlled system that has been entrusted to the company ORIONIS.

The installed remote-controlled system consists on 465 RTU units of the sigma 22 model to control the main hydrant (189 RTU in sector I and 289 RTU in sector VIII), which communicates with the control center of the Community via mobile network 2G/GPRS through an Intranet.

In addition to the RTU, these have been equipped with sensors for the control of the hydrant: pressure bores, flow detectors, flowmeter, position detectors for hydraulic valves and mini-solar panels.

One of the most innovative features of sigma 22 RTU is that the communication with the control center is ONLINE (real time), which allows instantaneous action on the hydrants, essential functionality to control the network when there are incidents such as breakages, stops for operational maintenance or when it is necessary to carry out emergency irrigations. The RTUs also have new unique features such as Bluetooth communication to perform maintenance operations using a smartphone and vandal-proof detectors such as solar panel disconnection, movement and intrusion.

In 2018 campaign, both sectors were put into service and watering at full capacity, with special emphasis on sector VIII, where the level of land slipping of the plots was greater than 90% of the irrigated area.

All this is completed with maintenance services of the installed devices, which allow a correct and optimal management of the irrigation.