Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SWaM (Smart Water Manager SCADA system for entire grid of water wells management.)

Teaser

In the last decade water resources have become increasingly relevant for governments, large companies and research organizations. This trend is due in part to a greater awareness of the delicate balance of environmental systems and in part to the intensification of the...

Summary

In the last decade water resources have become increasingly relevant for governments, large companies and research organizations. This trend is due in part to a greater awareness of the delicate balance of environmental systems and in part to the intensification of the scarcity of resources phenomenon throughout Europe, even in areas notoriously abounding of water. Currently, water resources are fragmentarily managed. The different stages of water provision such as tapping, pumping, suction and the subsequent stages have always been considered as distinct and independent operations from each other. This fragmentation, however, affects the energy efficiency of water pumping and provision operations. The presently unconditional exploitation of water resources does not respect the natural water cycle and the capability of the aquifer to regenerate, and as a consequence it affects the quality of groundwater and causes the aquifers’ depletion.
In such a complex scenario, which should foresee strategies for implementing more effective and efficient water resources management systems (withdrawal, distribution and disposal), we are interested and willing to introduce the Smart Water Management System - SWaM, which aims at considering the water reservoirs exploitation as a whole, and not as a fragmented set of operations. The proposed technology will support the necessary monitoring of the water wells and reservoirs and will be extended to the management of entire fields of water wells on a territorial basis, thus reducing the risk of performing ineffective abstraction, supply and distribution steps and in spending unnecessary effort on maintenance of the whole wells field.
The SWaM is a completely new product, composed by a set of hardware and software systems enabling real savings for Public Authorities and Water Management Companies. In addition to the SWaM system, the project aims at providing a central platform in constant dialogue with the local monitoring networks at reservoir scale, already present in the area. The main objectives of the project development will be:

o Objective 1: to bring the SWaM technology from the present readiness level 6 to 7 (completed, with some insight in the activities foreseen by TRL8);
o Objective 2: to extend and coordinate the operation of the already available independent modules of the SWaM (the Smart Well module) to an entire grid of water wells;
o Objective 3: to engineer some functionalities of the SWaM system such as well installation (piping, drainage, cementation), well maintenance (purging, washing), well operation (pumping, tapping, suction), grid of wells operation (energy efficiency, losses), control over aquifer’s quality and water quality.
o Objective 4: to engineer the complete automation of the water distribution and management structure, making the SWaM a self-contained apparatus provided with specific operational logics, thus needing no external control or intervention;
o Objective 5: patent filing of the SWaM new and inventive features;
o Objective 6: development of marketing and IP protection strategy, creation of appropriate and reliable sales channels, supply chain structuring and partnership securing for Phase 2.

Work performed

Phase 1 project allowed us to focus on the creation of a sound business plan and an accurate feasibility assessment. In the course of the action’s duration, the following activities have been performed:
1. The creation of Deliverable D1.1, implemented through the active contribution of the project members, the document being drafted, iteratively revised and modified according to the most recent available data and information;
2. The assessment of whether the SWaM technology, tested and validated on a single-well application, can be actually extended to the management of a whole well field, and the evaluation of the impact of such product on the proposers and on the customers’ businesses;
3. The evaluation of the project’s contribution to societal objectives setup at a European level, and the identification of the standardization/ certification path that will have to be followed to comply with regulations and guidelines on environmental protection;
4. The description of the existing technology and of the improvements that need to be made on the prototype for the achievement of a new and more efficient management tool for the water sector;
5. The drafting of a financial plan forecasting revenues and sales volumes for the SWaM introduction in the market and future commercialization;
6. The analysis of the IP framework suggesting a proper exploitation strategy and a protection path for the intellectual property generated during the project;
7. The selection of an appropriate framework and funding scheme supporting the SWaM engineering and validation phase in a multi-well context, identified in a Phase 2 Project of the H2020 Programme.

The main results achieved in the project mostly relate to the creation of the Deliverable reporting:
- The identification of the target market for the SWaM and of the customers and stakeholders groups,
- The description of the regulative framework for the project, and an analysis of the main barriers to entry of the target market (strategies to overcome them),
- An overview of the main contribution of the SWaM project to standards and to societal and environmental objectives,
- An analysis of the main competing products/companies in the reference sector and the creation of a strategy to reach the market (revenue model identification),
- A study showing the value proposition of the project, the current state of development and the technical feasibility of the proposed solution, the description of the minimum viable product expected at the end of the project and the possible upgrades and improvements to be performed after market introduction,
- The creation of an executive plan (work packages and tasks), of the Phase 2 project Consortium structure and of the estimated project budget; financial projections have been made for the SWaM product sales confirming the beneficial aspects of the project and its economic feasibility,
- The description of IP-related issues and of how the knowledge generated in the project will be dealt with and protected, together with a draft of the agree exploitation strategy.

Final results

The output of the SWaM project development will result in a new standard in water supply and distribution, and we expect it will contribute to the creation of best practices for effective and efficient resource management.
The European level of the problem and of the solution proposed is clear to the proposers; due the high level of professional contributions covering interdisciplinary aspects of the product development, the project will grant the possibility to reach the European market and extend its benefits to customers in all the member states.
We are proposing the development of the innovative SWaM technological solution with the purpose of:
a) Improving water management operations and save energy and money (customers’ side),
b) Achieving higher environmental sustainability and meeting the European and international requirements on water protection and saving (policy-makers and regulators’ side),
c) Generating revenues and allowing for the growth/widening of the commercial offer of the proposers granting them adequate market share (Consortium’s side)
The answers that the proposed SWaM solution would bring to the sector with its technological advantages are expected to be:
1. General water management operational costs reduction;
2. Increase of the efficiency in terms of water consumption and energy (energy savings ~20%);
3. Fast resolution of problems related to withdrawal and distribution;
4. Easy management of even wide well fields;
5. Centralized modular tool, easy to install and use (user-friendly interface);
6. Improved quality of service for utilities and water companies;
7. Integrated approach making use of a complete set of hydraulic variables of the well field for the optimization of the different operations;
8. Creation of a specific algorithm of optimization and full automation of distribution;
9. Accessible and affordable technology that can be subject to different levels of customization.

The proposed SWaM solution is ultimately expected to generate the following benefits in the specific market segment identified:
o Capability to control and optimize the water pumping and the aquifer exploitation by increasing the overall energy efficiency of the withdrawal operations by 40-45% and
o Provision of an integrated platform and efficient architecture enhancing the management of the water resource on a territorial basis and reduction of costs associated to water abstraction and supply.