Intoto Radius™ monitors dam health with X-band radar

Ageing dams pose a growing threat to life and limb. By 2050, most of humanity will live downstream of large dams built in the 20th century, many beyond their design life. The cost of upgrading these dams is rising, causing some to be decommissioned. Moreover, climate change is accelerating the dam ageing process.

“The old-school method of measuring wave impact on dams is no longer sufficient,” explains Aagedal.

Intoto has introduced a superior way to measure the impact of waves on dam health. The tool, known as Intoto Radius™, detects waves across large water areas using X-band radar, which is typically deployed on ships for object detection at sea. Radius™ is the world’s only tool capable of collecting wave data on the entire expanse of a dammed body of water.

“By taking the radar technology a step further, we focus on saving wave data in a time series, which enables analytics and data-driven decisions,” says Aagedal.

Radius™ is the latest innovation in the Intoto SmartDam platform of tools that harnesses data for comprehensive insight on dam management. In addition to Radius™, SmartDam includes buoys that monitor waves at specific spots and weather stations that provide hyperlocal weather data. Ice profiling sonar assesses ice draft, while Intoto Ice Force™ analyses the impact of forces caused by ice and Intoto Forecast™ optimises downstream flow.

“Intoto is a full-service organisation. We customise SmartDam packages for our users based on their specific needs,” says Aagedal.

By providing data for dam management, Intoto Radius™ uncovers the need for structural improvements. “We help to target investments in dam maintenance and construction. There are many old dams out there, and the question for each dam is what must be done in the next 10 to 20 years to keep it safe,” explains Aagedal.

With greater knowledge, decision makers can finetune their investments, which may lower costs while increasing safety. In the most extreme cases, dam failure or decommissioning can be prevented.

In addition, Radius™ provides crucial information on weather-related wave motion. “We are seeing much more extreme local weather which demands more targeted data. Using generic data isn’t good enough anymore, especially in remote, high mountain areas,” he adds.

There are roughly 58 000 large dams worldwide. Norway alone has 6 500 dams, and 625 of these are regarded as vulnerable. “Based on current figures, we estimate that our global market potential for Intoto Radius™ exceeds USD 3 billion and for the entire Intoto SmartDam solution portfolio quite a bit more,” says Aagedal.

Established in 2015 to improve data collection after severe flooding, Intoto collaborates closely with Statkraft, Norway’s largest power generator and owner of 123 hydropower plants.

“Statkraft approached Intoto and asked us to develop SmartDam. We launched the platform in Scandinavia in early 2023 with great success. Now we aim to expand globally,” concludes Aagedal.