The School of Engineering is a partner in €3.1M project on energy and water sustainability

The School of Engineering at Cardiff University is the only UK partner in the €3.1M EERES4WATER (Promoting Energy-water Nexus resource efficiency through Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency) project. There are 11 organisations from five different countries making up the consortium. The project is funded through the Interreg Atlantic Program and is focused on addressing the water-energy nexus and optimizing the energy management of the water cycle. The consortium held its first meeting on the 11^th April.

INTERREG Atlantic Area is a European funding programme which promotes transnational co-operation among 36 Atlantic regions of five European countries. It supports co-operation in the fields of Innovation & Competitiveness, Resource Efficiency, Territorial Risks Management, Biodiversity and Natural & Cultural Assets.

There are five Spanish partners, Technological Corporation of Andalusia (CTA), University of Seville, Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (Ciemat), Technological Institute of the Canary Islands (ITC) and Brinergy Tech. There are two partners from Ireland, University College Cork (UCC) and Resolute Marine Limited (RML), and the Regional Agency of Energy and Environment of the Interior (ENERAREA) and the University of Évora are the two partners from Portugal. The French partner is Campus E.S.P.R.I.T. Industries.

The project also includes six other organisations that participate in the project as associate partners including Dwr Cymru Welsh Water Limited.

These different regions share similar problems regarding high energy-water interdependency, requiring a specific political framework aligned with European directives and joint actions on technological advances.

This project intends to implement technological innovations and articulate common policies - at institutional, technical and social levels - to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources in processes and resources related to the integral water cycle, through the involvement of the public sector, universities, research centres, SMEs and business associations from the participating regions and beyond.

The ultimate goal of the project is to turn this challenge into an opportunity and position the Atlantic region at the forefront of energy and water sustainability; in terms of resource efficiency and clean energy production capacity.

Dr Reza Ahmadian, the lead researcher from Cardiff University, said: “The partners all share similar challenges with regard to water resources and energy, and this project will bring together several regions enabling us to work together to find solutions to common problems.”