Final Report Summary - WEAM4I (WATER AND ENERGY ADVANCED MANAGEMENT FOR IRRIGATION)
Executive Summary:
WEAM4i project was conceived as an initiative to help the irrigation communities and end users to optimise their utilisation of resources. The realisation of this idea depended on successfully integrating the water and energy nexus into a solution that combined new technologies, demand and forecasting services. In order to prove the replicability of such solution, the consortium was built having in mind three distinctive demonstration areas, namely Spain, Portugal and Germany. Each of these areas had distinctive water & energy markets, technical approaches and socio-economic aspects that were treated at the same level of importance in specific work packages within the project.
Therefore, the main concept to be developed during the project was the water demand-side management according to the available energy offer, ensuring a solution that could be implemented in different situations present in Europe. In order to do so, the following developments were targeted in WEAM4i’s Description of Work and achieved during the project’s period:
- A water demand forecast, and an energy price forecast:
o A weather forecast was introduced into the water demand forecast module and into the energy price forecast module;
o A water demand forecast module was developed and contributed to the irrigation forecast service of WEAM4i;
- Instruments for aggregating the energy demand and Decision Support System (DSS) tools for managing water demand:
o The consortium’s work in the frame of DSS module, IT platform (field and crop data management), data presentation in WEB Server and the roll out in the demosites contributed to the irrigation decision in order to optimize the costs and the resources’ consumption, focused on the irrigation process;
o The energy experts among the partners demonstrated an energy costs forecast in Spain, Portugal and Germany, contributing to the DSS module
- Innovative techniques for resource efficiency at local irrigation systems:
o Local sensors and probes tested contributed to the data management system demonstration;
o The consortium’s work in the frame of the irrigation machinery in Germany contributed to the optimization of the irrigation process that can be replicated in central Europe;
- Last but not least, an ICT platform to support the information and the underlying applications: in this task, a service bus, local sensors and probes tested in Spain, Portugal and Germany and a new IT platform contributed to carry out the data management in the whole irrigation system. A newly developed mobile app was designed to provide the farmers with a straightforward way to have information available.
Thanks to the extensive research efforts and the demonstration activities carried out, several tools and services have been developed and will be exploited in the near future, namely:
- HydrOptim: decision support tool developed by ADASA;
- Energy price forecasting tool developed by CREARA;
- New solar and hydraulic pivots, developed by LGRain GmbH;
- Development of control systems for irrigation networks to reduce the energy consumption by Ingenieurbüro Schulz
- Short-term weather forecasting for agricultural Sector, developed by METEOSIM SL;
- Irrigation WEB Portal (ADASA), including HISPATEC’s service bus, WATERWATCH’s crop water demand forecast tool and HR’s mobile app;
- Water storage facilities’ economic feasibility calculator developed by ECLAREON;
- Yara Water-sensor developed by Yara ZIM Plant Technology
Dissemination of results has been particularly important in WEAM4i. A good proof of it are the 2 publications issued during the project and the extensive number of conferences, workshops and exhibitions both organised and attended to (over 60). Leaflets, brochures, roll ups and posters have been issued in several languages in order to maximise the project’s audience. This along with the relevant presence of the project in the social media, made the project reached an average of 10,000 website visitors per year, over 500 followers in Facebook and over 40 new contacts in LinkedIn.
With regards to the socio-economic impact, the major challenge came from gaining the trust of the farmer and the irrigation communities, so they could follow WEAM4i’s advice and thus allow the consortium to fully demonstrate the project’s concept. The consortium invested significant efforts into reaching the irrigators and the irrigation communities, including several meetings, surveying and field work. One of the key aspects if WEAM4i’s approach is to succeed in the future, is to generate trust in the end user and to be able to show them the potential benefits in a straightforward, concise way.
Project Context and Objectives:
The agriculture sector is accountable for around 30% of the total water consumption in Europe, but reaches up to 70% of total water consumption in several European southern countries. In the past recent years, most of the efforts have been focused on water efficiency improvement. Furthermore, these water efficiency efforts have been carried out without taking care of energy aspects, resulting in a significant increase in energy consumption, both per irrigated surface and per volume unit of water, due to the fact that many traditional irrigation areas have been transformed into pressurized irrigation, and the increasing use of groundwater from deep soil layers.
In parallel, we are living a fast increase in terms of energy prices all across Europe, due to many different factors, and impacting on the main energy sources. Moreover, renewable energy sources (mainly wind and solar), are quickly growing in Europe and generating some new challenges and imbalances in electrical net management, as well as making more difficult the match between offer and demand.
The main concept to be developed in WEAM4i is the water demand-side management according to available energy offer. In line with it, the main objectives for the project were:
- Develop an innovative water & energy smart grid for irrigation: introducing demand-side management and matching with available energy offer, thanks to the water storage capability and the ‘near-almost elastic’ demand from users;
- Demonstrate innovative techniques for resource efficiency at local level: for saving water, for improving the m3/kwh ratio and for the minimisation of the operational cost of water supply infrastructures;
- Develop an innovative integration approach: an ICT/cloud platform based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
In order to reach these objectives, WEAM4i put together 17 partners during 42 months, across three demonstration areas in Europe, namely in Germany, Spain and Portugal. The consortium showed to be highly multidisciplinary, comprising experts in irrigation, ICT, dissemination and water and energy related technologies. RTOs, large companies, irrigation communities and SMEs were involved in this initiative that amounted up to 5 million Euros of European contribution.
Project Results:
WP2: System requirements and technical specifications
This work package ended in month 4 of the project, and its main objective was to retrieve the initial list of requirements and technical specifications from all partners as well as specific requirements from stakeholders, targeted markets.
TASK 2.1 Initial system requirements and technical specifications
Starting at the project’s Kick-Off Meeting held in Barcelona, this task focused on initiating a brainstorming among all partners, raising challenges, risks and interrelationships among the requirements. This collaborative task put in place a Jira-based collaboration tool that was used in order to keep requirements status up to date. In parallel, a questionnaire was delivered to each WP leader in order to retrieve requirements.
TASK 2.2 Classification in modules and development roadmap
This task was mainly developed internally in ADASA, and it was focused on organizing the list of requirements gathered in the previous task in modules and component, i.e. the overall functionality of WEAM4i modules were split into components, reducing the components complexity and thus making analysis and the linkage of requirements/needs easier.
All the modules, components, requirements and their relationships were introduced in the JIRA tool. Finally, an initial proposal of roadmap was established with the goal of delivering the outcomes during the 2 crop seasons in a progressive way.
Figure 1: Collaborative JIRA Tool
TASK 2.3 Requirements, modules and roadmap publication
This task was focused on discussing the outputs of requirements, modules and roadmap among all partners in detail. As a result, a fully agreed report was published (D2.2 “Initial requirements and roadmap publication”).
WP3: Innovation on resource efficiency at local level
This work package officially ended in M24 and was extended till M36. Its main objective was to identify the more appropriate irrigation strategies and technologies to improve water and energy use efficiency at the farm and irrigation sector level and to describe the availability and requirements of data that can be used in the form of map (management) services as input for the demand forecasting application and ICT platform development.
TASK 3.1 Energy saving tasks
For the German site, Ingenieurbüro Schulz finished the initial work for improving the energy use efficiency, showing that potential energy efficiency gain can be carried out when an initial benchmarking study was carried out for the existing irrigation pipeline and pumping network, using modelling tools. Innovative tests were carried out with a mobile hose reel gun with several pumping units, from which water flow demands were being retrieved in real-time.
In the second reporting period, the consortium conducted studies in the German area, to enlighten why certain irrigation technologies were favoured over other choices, in order to allow optimised demonstration activities in WP7. Following this study, WEAM4i’s linear irrigation strategy was adapted to the German specific case, in order to find a suitable, cost-effective solution. The two identified solutions were:
1) The Installation of a solar-powered unit;
2) The development, installation and testing of a hydraulic power system.
These two systems were demonstrated in the end of the project and showed to be very promising for their future commercialisation.
Moreover, in order to improve the energy use efficiency of the irrigation networks in Germany, the consortium applied two steering strategies, namely a static pump system and a system with frequency controlled pumps. The obtained results showed in the end of the project that energy efficiency could be improved using the innovative pump steering systems developed by Von der Ohe. For instance, in the network Dalldorf – Meußließen, 12% energy savings were achieved through such pump strategy, using a GPS attachment.
Last but not least, using Genetic Algorithms (GA), the consortium developed a sectoring model to allow the grouping of sectors together in a way that the sum of the intake flows for a given pressure-head drops in areas where pumping efficiency is higher. In the third reporting period, the GA was applied to the Spanish WEAM4i demo site within the Bardenas irrigation community. The theoretical analysis showed that energy savings of 4.7% can be achieved by shifting 3 fields in the current scheduling employed by the irrigation community.
TASK 3.2 More efficient water demand: Precise prediction of irrigation needs
In the first reporting period and for the German demosite, the consortium developed a solution for programming an alternative solar power system to be able to irrigate by night. Turgor pressure changes were measured through an innovative probe. Moreover, the same probe was introduced in small-testing areas in Valencia, Spain. The demonstration of the turgor pressure probe was one of the main results of the project within WP3. In addition, the usefulness of soil water content trends measured with capacitance sensors for scheduling irrigation was demonstrated in Portugal.
In addition, during the second reporting period, the consortium listed a number of crop coefficients to be used for scheduling irrigation in the demo areas. This information was used in WP5 in order to improve the predictions of the irrigation water demand forecasts.
TASK 3.3 Efficient irrigation application models
During the first reporting period, the consortium developed a sectoring model, allowing water irrigation sectors to group together in a way that the sum of the intake flows for a given pressure head drops in areas where pump efficiency is higher. In Germany, the development of a steering strategy was done by means of calculating different irrigation networks, from which, four of them were surveyed and measured in detail. The programming for the steering technology was finalized and energy savings around 20% were achieved. In Spain data collection during the commercial operation of the system showed energy savings of 16%.
During the second reporting period, on the one hand, the consortium developed an algorithm for interpreting soil water content trends for scheduling irrigation. The developed tools allowed for an easy visualization and interpretation of the soil water content temporal trends at different depths.
On the other hand, the consortium used soil moisture probes for the test sites in lower Saxony (Germany), to forecast irrigation demand in connection with WP5. These preliminary activities had promising results, with three experimental fields showing easy to understand, plausible data. The results of the calculations of soil moisture, however, failed to be transferred into proper recommendations for plant growth and for the farmers’ practical situations. In order to ensure good results in the future demonstration activities in WP7, particular attention was paid to improving the irrigation demand forecast and the amount of forecasted testing sites was increased (the results will be discussed in the WP7’s summary).
Last but not least, during the second reporting period, the consortium kept testing the turgor pressure probes in the fields, in order to select the most suitable crops for it to be applied. The measurement of crop water needs acquired by the probes provided about 10-20% savings in water applications. In the end of the project, the sensor was tested in persimmon, citrus, maize and potato crops under different environmental conditions. Advantages and limitations for the use of these technologies were identified and algorithms for the interpretation of sensor outputs were derived.
WP4: Innovation on decision support systems
TASK 4.1: Analysis of energy market regulation
During the first reporting period, the consortium produced a global analysis on the Spanish, Portuguese and German energy markets. This analysis reflected the situation of such market in Europe and involved several interviews with different stakeholders, with the focus on the irrigation end users i.e. irrigators and/or irrigation communities, as the main source of information. Moreover, the consortium presented relevant regulatory proposals for regulatory changes and non-regulatory proposals in order to help irrigators to reduce their energy costs. Such proposals were presented and discussed with stakeholders at a consortium meeting in September 2016 and at a parallel stakeholder event in Ejea de los Caballeros, Spain (see WP9 summary).
The analysis, along with all related framework aspects (e.g. legislation, technical details, economic aspects, etc.) were presented in deliverable 4.1.
TASK 4.2: Operational tools for energy market negotiation
Based on the first version of the analysis done for energy markets, the consortium developed, deployed and published into a service bus (WP6) the first version of the connector in order to exchange data between the energy markets and the decision support system (DSS). Then, the consortium realised the necessity of going from the 1-day ahead electricity horizon to a 5-day in advance scheme, in order to be able to define the most convenient and energy efficient irrigation strategies.
Such determination led to the research of a price prediction service on the market, after which it was deemed necessary to develop an innovative ICT module to provide the needed 5-days ahead forecast to be intergated into the central DSS ICT platform.
The methodology used for the development of the price prediction module was the same for the Spanish Portuguese and German markets. However, the algorithm was first built for the Spanish and Portuguese markets (deeply connected) and then adapted to the more complex German case.
The first stage consisted in a deep research of the power market operation to identify the variables required for the module. Building on the results already developed in the second reporting period, during spring 2016 the consortium completed the research of the Spanish and Portuguese power market and identified the variables needed to elaborate the prediction. For the research of the German market, the task was conducted during summer 2016
Once the market operation was understood and all variables needed were identified, the consortium started to locate further public or private sources to download the data needed. Overall, the main sources of data used during the project were: Red Eléctrica Española, OMIE/OMIP (paid service), Meff Power, METEOSIM SL (project partner) AGORA Energiewende, EEX (paid service), BNetzA and ENTSO-E.
The price prediction module for Spanish and Portuguese markets was fully integrated during late August 2016. Since then, the performance of the prediction module was continuously tested and improvements were introduced until April 2017 to achieve a relative error under 10%.
The price prediction module for the German market was fully integrated during March 2017, while improvements were continuously introduced until April 2017 as part of the software validation process.
Figure 2. “1 day-ahead” for Spanish market in the published WEAM4i Web Portal
Figure 3. “5 day-ahead” for Portuguese market in the WEAM4i Web Portal
Figure 4. “Historical data” for German market in the WEAM4i Web Portal
TASK 4.3: Configure and adapt the strategic management module
In a consortium technical meeting in Lisbon, the partners agreed to prioritize the Portuguese demo site due to some temporary difficulties in retrieving data from the Spanish demo site. The feasibility of the site in Portugal was confirmed for the implementation of the Strategic Management module in early stages of the project. In consequence, a water transport system was designed.
Figure 5. Topological strategic management model for Aboro pilot site
These elements were grouped in a library and configured in the HydrOptim tool during the first reporting period.
The integration of all the HydrOptim components was tested in WP4 using the data retrieved for the Portuguese scenario during the second reporting period. Data was gathered as well from the Spanish demosite.
Figure 6. HydrOptim components schema
TASK 4.4: Development of the demand management module
The completion and testing of the strategic management component went hand by hand with the definition of the demand management model and the conclusions obtained from the implementation of its testing plan. In coordination with WP3, the consortium defined a first proposal for the demand management component.
The consortium also contributed to D4.4 with the description of price prediction module, which was also later updated in D7.2. The overall objective of the realised prediction module is to predict the hourly electricity market price in the five days ahead, including variable such as meteorological data, availability of production technologies, electricity generation, electricity demand and futures markets.
TASK 4.5: DSS modules integration and pilot testing
The first demonstration results of the HydrOptim tool and its performance are depicted in the figures below. In general, the HydrOptim is pumping (blue trend in m3/s water) when the energy cost (red trend €/MW/h) is cheaper, and covering all the water demand set for the 5 days scenario.
Figure 7. Strategic management model elements (Aboro – Bloco 8) in HydrOptim
Figure 8. HydrOptim output for (Aboro – Bloco 8) model and 5 (daily) water demands
Figure 9. HydrOptim output for (Aboro – Bloco 8) model and one (5-daily) water demand
The HydrOptim tool demonstrated that the energy cost optimization process works better with a one total value water demand to cover during 5 days (Figure 9), instead of 5 values to cover each day (Figure 8).
WP5: Innovation on demand forecasting
TASK 5.1 Setup of the energy balance model and mapping services for the test sites.
The system infrastructure necessary to setup the energy balance model, disclose the results and perform different tests was successfully implemented in Test Environments in the first reporting period. Such tests were successfully conducted using different technology approaches such as the meta-data retrieval through API, data retrieval through WMS and data retrieval through API as presented in Figure 10 and proved excellent performance, due to the implemented service-oriented infrastructure, already existing well-developed components and use of existing standards.
Figure 10. Tests executed on the HydroNET WMS and API
In that way, the remote sensing map web services were implemented, tested and ready for operational implementation at the demonstration sites in Portugal and Germany in the end of the first reporting period. During the second reporting period, the services were expanded to include such services for Spain.
TASK 5.2 Weather forecast services for irrigation and energy
Weather forecast requirements were determined in the first reporting period, in terms of forecast length, update frequency, etc. The developed model was then used to run simulations and provide weather forecast for each demo site, an example for Portugal is presented in Figure 11.
Figure 11. Aboro demo site: simulation example for 9/10/2014
In the second reporting period, data was provided for a test run in Spain, Portugal and Germany. The typical length of a (standard) daily mean weather forecast is 5 or 6 days depending on the provider. The weather forecasts were published and stored on a Web Coverage Service (WCS) using Geoserver. A web service protocol was setup to provide weather forecasts for specific grid points. All the meteorological variables were collected by the Demand Forecast Module with a WCS service using the service bus.
TASK 5.3 Blueprinting and prototyping of an irrigation demand planner
In order to provide water demand forecasts, an irrigation planner (further denoted as IP) was required that calculates the required irrigation gift based on crop and soil conditions and the weather forecasts, primarily precipitation. In the first year of WEAM4i, a blueprint and a prototype for this tool was developed.
In the second year of project, adaptations were made to this development in order to accommodate the differences in approach of the demo sites in Portugal and Germany that were tested in a test run in Portugal and Germany.
Among them, a general performance increase was achieved by restructuring the code and moving to a Just-In-Time compiler which compiles the code to the LLVM intermediate representation (IR). The Irrigation Demand Forecast started calculating batch wise at the factory and results are stored in a data storage system on the delivery environment. The Irrigation Demand Forecast was implemented as a service, which can be called by both a SOAP and a JSON interface. The output is thus the Irrigation Forecast: the absolute amount of water in millimetres and volume that needs to be irrigated on a field to raise the soil moisture content in the root zone back to field capacity.
Figure 12. Irrigation demand forecast concept
TASK 5.4 Demand forecast module integration and pilot testing.
The system infrastructure necessary to (i) setup the Demand Forecast Module, (ii) disclose the results and (iii) perform different tests, was successfully implemented in Test Environments at the WATERWATCH site in the first reporting period. Tests were successfully conducted using different technology approaches such as SOAP and JSON and proved excellent performance for the Portugal site, where test data was available.
During the reporting period 2, interfaces were tested individually with a set of fields in the Aboro region of Portugal and in Germany. In the end of this period, the Irrigation Demand Module was fully implemented and tested for the demonstration sites and is ready for operational use in WP 7.
WP6: ICT platform development
TASK 6.1: Deployment of industry based SOA solution
First step of this WP was to define the architecture of the ICT platformThen, the second task was to define the functional analysis of the WEAM4i modules. Each participant defined its module and the data integration by service bus, including the weather module, the demand Forecast module, user data and DSS and the energy market. In consequence, the Service Bus was deployed in a cloud based infrastructure during the second period. The main work carried out for this task consisted of the analysis, design, development and deployment of the integration services.
TASK 6.2. Modules integration and testing
Once the service bus was running, each participant started to exchange data among all modules
The Irrigation Demand Module interface was updated to allow a tighter integration with the internal service bus (interaction with WP5). This exposes more output parameters that were used to improve the irrigation advice handed to the users. For example, in the 2015 season the irrigation advice consisted of an amount of water needed to replenish the soil moisture level up to field capacity. For some crops, like the ones which use drip-irrigation, such an advice is hard to transfer since such a system cannot irrigate a large amount at once. The new output parameters can also show the (daily) decrease in the soil water balance, which is a more suitable parameter to combine with drip irrigated fields, resulting in a more useful irrigation advice.
TASK 6.3. WEB Portal, Mobile and Automatic Dissemination.
In the first period, the consortium developed the ICT architectural design and carried out the ICT functional analysis of the WEAM4i modules. During the second reporting period, the consortium developed and deployed in a cloud based infrastructure the WEB Portal. The key points of the technical design of the web portal are the following:
- Open source and multi-platform solution (implemented in JEE stack).
- Interoperability with several sources of data through an enterprise service bus.
- Built on state-of-the-art technology.
- Compatible with multi devices screen resolution (responsive design features for workstations, notebooks, tablets and smartphones).
The portal’s interface can be seen in Figure 13 and Figure 14.
Figure 13. WEB Portal Login page
Figure 14. WEB Portal. Fields and Crops information
Significant results include the addition of measurement interface to the WEAM4i bus, the full rework of data model and the integration of a configurable Irrigation Policy. In general, significant results comprise the development of the data connectors, following a standard WaterML format. In the end of the second period, almost all remote sensing, weather forecast, energy market and point data services were available and operational in the WEAM4i service bus, ready for the 2016 demonstration season.
In every corresponding irrigation season, the operation on each demosite was tested using this methodology of integration.
WP7: Validation in full scale demonstration sites
Demonstration was carried out during two growing seasons, although not all the functionalities were available during the first year of project. Although the technical project coordinator, ADASA, was the general leader of this WP, each demonstration site was assigned to one demonstration leader, responsible for coordinating local partners, stakeholders and resources:
- Aquagri ACE for the Portuguese demonstration site;
- FENACORE for the Spanish demonstration site;
- LWK Niedersachsen, for the German demonstration site.
TASK 7.1 ICT platform deployment and operation
Some ICT information services were already deployed in operation for the Portuguese demosite, during the first reporting period. Following the successful implementation of such system infrastructure for the Demand Forecast Module, the operational implementation for the Portuguese site was executed and the weekly operational processing was started as part of Task 7.1. A total of 911 fields were included in the irrigation demo that started receiving irrigation advice using the WEAM4i service bus.
During the second reporting period, the following ICT infrastructure was deployed operative:
- Service Bus module, in a cloud based structure;
- Geodatabase, containing all geographical layers and their static parameters;
- Energy Market module;
- Weather forecast module;
- Local Sensor and probes’ module;
- Integration module for irrigation systems per demosite;
- Water Demand module;
- WEB Portal
- Mobile app.
Figure 15. Concept schema representing the information services, the bus services and the WEB Portal.
During the final irrigation season, maintenance and monitoring tasks were undertaken while the operation was going on. These included:
- DBMS (Data Base Management System) monitoring and optimization;
- Service Bus monitoring and optimization;
- Software modules monitoring.
In each respective irrigation seasons, the consortium implemented a preliminary analysis for each demosite information to create WEAM4i fields (or virtual fields) grouping some original fields or discarding other originals fields that cannot be included. This process, focused in building WEAM4i fields (“one field, one crop, one hydrant”), created a dictionary of fields that is used across the entire ICT infrastructure.
All this geographical information was accessed via web services during the first irrigation season. The metadata information associated to each WEAM4i field was published on the Geodatabase Server, available to all the ICT components and depicted in the Web Portal to the end user. The deployment of the new codification based in the WEAM4i dictionary, which was designed by the partners at the end of the 2015 season, allowed to build a “smarter” list of WEAM4i fields for the last season.
Furthermore, a verification of the precipitation forecast for the period 1st January 2016 to 31th December 2016 was done at the Portuguese, Spanish and German demo sites.
With regards to the demand forecasting services, the irrigation demand forecasting services were deployed during the 2016 irrigation season for all demo sites in Germany, Portugal and Spain.
Also, the energy price forecast module was developed and deployed along the 2016 irrigation season. The price prediction module for the Spanish and Portuguese markets was fully integrated during August 2016, while improvements were continuously introduced until April 2017 as part of the software validation process. Once the results of the Spanish and Portuguese prediction modules were adjusted to obtain the maximum feasible accuracy, the prediction module was adapted for Germany.
Last but not least, during the last irrigation season a group of farmers in Germany validated the Water Demand Forecast Module using the WEAM4i Mobile App. Based on input given by these farmers, the consortium improved various components of the software (information flow), in particular the user interface of the mobile app.
TASK 7.2 Demonstration sites connectors’ deployment
During the second season of project, the data connectors were deployed in order to retrieve the data from the pilot areas in an automated way. Basically data related to irrigation gifts (from water meters) and point data (soil moisture, weather stations) from local measurement stations. All point data sources were adapted to the standard WaterML format.
In the 2016 season in Portugal, farmers already knew the soil moisture sensor system, its outputs and how to use it to guide their irrigation plans. The main question was related to trust (i.e. believe that the information they received from the system was accurate) and to discipline (i.e. follow the guidance on a daily basis).
In brief, taken as a whole, the 2016 season was a success. The farmers that did follow the given advice reduced significantly the water use without affecting their crops, and maintained the soil moisture consistently within the readily available band. With regards to the local data from weather stations in Portugal, we believe only time and experience with the model will convince the farmers of its reliability.
Regarding the local sensors and probes installed in the Bardenas demosite in Spain, four WSN platforms were deployed, each WSN platform measuring radiation, vapour pressure deficit (DPV), temperature, humidity, conductivity in soil, soil temperature and soil moisture (Figure 16).
Figure 16. Humidity and DPV trends
During the last irrigation season, the ICT technicians monitored the behaviour to ensure the correct measurement and the data was made available for the end users in the WEAM4i Webportal.
TASK 7.3 Demonstration in Portugal site
The demo sites in Portugal located in ABORO and ABROXO were characterized by:
- Size: total for both 17.362 ha of irrigated land;
- Water energy consumption: 0.3404 kWh/m3 (average);
- Energy costs: 0.1 €/KWh (average).
Figure 17. Portugal demo sites of ABORO and ABROXO
The information for these two demo sites was stored in the WEAM4i geodatabase and available in the Webportal as Geodata services.
During the demonstration period, a specific area in the Portuguese demo site was selected, having a fixed energy contract and with availability of water and energy consumptions for 2016. With these two elements, three scenarios were created in HydrOptim, namely:
1. Scenario 1: assuming the same demand management but with indexed contract;
2. Scenario 2: assuming an optimized demand management and current fixed contract;
3. Scenario 3: assuming an optimized demand management but with indexed contract.
The results were, in summary:
- Changing from fixed contract to indexed energy contract without managing water demand is a risk;
- HydrOptim can improve the cost of energy up to 13% without changing the energy contract;
- Better results have been recorded when managing the irrigation shifts within a time window of five days rather than for one dayA must-have requirement for the optimization tool is the Energy price 5-day ahead forecast module.
The accumulated pumped water and the accumulated energy consumption in both scenarios generated with HydrOptim for a whole irrigation season of 2016, were almost the same comparing with the base line (real case). Also, the water was pumped during the lowest cost moments. These results were good indicators to validate the proper functionality of the HydrOptim tool.
With regards to water demand forecasting, the Portuguese demonstration covered the Aboro and Abroxo regions and proved to be challenging. Following the results, it could be concluded that the water demand module can be applied successfully in a drip irrigation setting. The interface need improvement as well as the options to set the replenishment rates, which the users found difficult to work with. This aspect will be further enhanced after WEAM4i project.
TASK 7.4 Demonstration in Spain site
The demosite in Spain was located in Comunidad General de Regantes del Canal de Bardenas (81000 ha). Two pilot areas were selected for demonstration purposes: Monte-Saso (Comunidad V) and Sector XII (Comunidad XII). These are mainly characterized by:
- Size: 1,482 ha of irrigated land;
- Water & energy consumption;
- Monte-Saso (1222 ha):0.21 kWh/m3;
- Sector XII (260 ha): 0.16 kWh/m3;
- Energy costs:;
- Monte-Saso: 0.13 €/kWh.
- Sector XII: 0.09 €/kWh.
The information for these two pilot sites was stored in the WEAM4i geodatabase and available in the Webportal as Geodata services. Also, several visits were undertaken during 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons to gather the technical hydraulic data and the historic time series (2016 season included), with all of this information, the whole Bardenas channel was modelled and parametrized in HydrOptim.
Figure 18. Spain demo sites of CGBARDENAS (Monte Saso and Sector XII).
As a first step, the consortium created the topological model of Monte Saso. This model is a more detailed model compared with the previous model tested for the Portuguese demosite. The Monte Saso model was defined up to 100+ hydrants, including their pumping station and downstream network. The model was introduced and parameterized in the HydrOptim tool.
Figure 19. Monte Saso model in HydrOptim
Last but not least, the consortium started assessing preliminarily scenarios with different energy contracts. Additionally, the topological model for Sector XII has been also configured
During the demonstration activities, the HydrOptim was run and generated different simulated scenarios. These works were relevant to obtain the final results with the DSS applied in a specific area of the Bardenas channel. The baseline was the real situation during the period from 1st April to 2nd October 2016, including a fixed energy price contract and known energy and water consumptions for 2016. Taking this into account, three scenarios were created:
- Scenario 1: assuming same demand management but with indexed contract;
- Scenario 2: assuming optimized demand management and current fixed contract;
- Scenario 3: assuming optimized demand management but with indexed contract.
As a summary of all the scenarios, we can state that:
- Changing from fixed contract to indexed energy contract but keeping current demand practices would be a risk: (13% of losses <> +13% of savings);
- HydrOptim can improve the (€/MWh) KPI to 10-12% without changing energy contract by optimizing demand management;
- With an indexed contract and introducing demand management, up to 20% can be improved.
With regards to demand forecasting, during the 2016 season irrigation demand forecast was provided for the irrigation scheme of a specific area of the Bardenas channel. During the demonstration, it became clear that it is difficult for users to alter their irrigation regime and to follow the actual advice. The focus of the demonstration therefore shifted to the comparison between the actual irrigation regime used during the 2016 season and the regime that would have been used if the demand forecast was followed. By comparing the results, the users had the possibility to analyse the implications of using the module towards the water and energy demand and build confidence in the water demand module.
Two more scenarios were created and run in order to link the WDF module with the DSS (HydrOptim), the purpose was to assess (in numbers) the potential impact of use both modules:
- Scenario 4: Optimized demand management and current fixed contract and Water Demand Forecast (instead of actual irrigation);
- Scenario 5: Optimized demand management but with indexed contract and Water Demand Forecast (instead of actual irrigation).
The water consumption in the Scenarios 4 and 5 (based in WDF module) was less than in the baseline (actual applied irrigation). Comparing the same kind of energy contract, it could be appreciated that the scenarios based in WDF (Scenario 4 vs 2 and Scenario 5 vs 3) had lower accumulated cost (€) but not necessary a better value for the related KPI (Euros/MWh).
Following the results, it could be concluded that the water demand module can be applied successfully in a centre pivot setting and that the use of the module can lead to optimised water management. However the complexity of the system in the case of Bardenas did not allow for much operational changes of the irrigation during the season. Therefore, to link the demand module to a management tool such as HydrOptim is necessary for the module to provide additional operational value.
Last but not least and linked with WP3, genetic algorithms were applied by the consortium in the Spanish demosite. The implementation was developed during 2016 and the results were presented in the WEAM4i general meeting in Ejea de los Caballeros (September 2016). The sectoring model allowed the sectors to group together in a way that the sum of the intake flows for a given pressure head drops in areas where pump efficiency is higher.
Figure 20. Genetic algorithm
The output of the algorithm consists in a recommendation of 4 changes between the current shifts that are now in place (see red arrows in Figure 20):
Figure 21. Proposed modifications in current shifts by Genetic algorithm
With this new modification of shift, energy efficiency would be improved by 4.7% (kWh/m3) for Monte Saso district, just by changing 4 shifts during next irrigation season.
TASK 7.5 Demonstration in Germany site
The demo site in Germany was located in Lower Saxony and represented by LWK Niedersachsen, is characterized by:
- Size: 300.000 ha of irrigated land;
- Water energy consumption (ground water pumps): 0.5 – 0.7 KWh/m3;
- Energy cost: 0.2 €/KWh (average) corresponding to 96 €/ha/year.
The pilot areas were 24 fields belonging to selected farmers, willing to participate in demonstration. The information for these fields was stored in the WEAM4i geodatabase and available in the Webportal as Geodata services.
Figure 22. Selected fields for demonstration in Germany and aerial view of Hamerstorf experimental station
By using the automated hydraulically optimized WEAM4i- steering system from the beginning of the 2015 season, a 10 % reduction of energy use was achieved compared to former years. In regard to the current costs for investment and energy, the amortization periods were estimated in 4-7 years. Besides of other questions concerning crop farming, irrigation experiments have been conducted on the experimental station Hamerstorf since 2006. The site is representative of the irrigated arable farm land in the North-East of Lower Saxony. This site serves for research and demonstration of different agronomical aspects. It is point of interest and meeting for many farmers, students and researchers and serves for publication of the different results.
Another relevant experiment included the demonstration of the Yara Water-Sensor (see WP3 for a further description).
The Irrigation Demand services were deployed and validated for Germany. Based on feedback from Germany on several runs done in hind cast at the end of season 2015, two new input parameters were introduced to give the end-users more control of the irrigation forecast.
Following the 2015 season, the German demonstration was continued using the changes in the model that allow for adjustment toward the soil moisture level to be reached during irrigation. While advice was produced for both seasons, the farmers did in fact not implement it. The reason for not following the advice in 2016 is because extensive rainfall would cause irrigation not to be required. This did cause the crops to drop below the stress threshold thus that could have been prevented by providing irrigation as advised end of June.
Following the results, it can be concluded that the water demand module can be applied successfully in a spray gun setting as such can provide advice to the farmers. More supervision and an adaptation to an easier interface might lead to better understanding of the farmers of the technology and thus improved uptake.
Moreover, the extant irrigation networks by using automated pump or well control were deployed and tested. By initially using the automated hydraulically optimized WEAM4i- steering system, 10 – 30 % reduction of energy use was achieved in the year 2015 when compared to previous seasons. These results were be confirmed in the irrigation season 2016 as the following figures will show.
Figure 23. Graphic summary / specific energy consumption Jiggel 2016
Figure 24. Graphic summary / specific energy consumption Dalldorf-Meußließen 2016
It was further detected that in the past, during a large percentage of the operation time, the systems were running at only partial loads. In brief, pumping capabilities of the pilots’ wells were not required at full capacity. In these cases, the innovative steering system produced the optimum decrease in energy consumption. Also, one of the main aims in this reporting period was the demonstration of the power system for each system. The integration of such power system in both systems was on the most significant results of this task.
Last but not least, the consortium developed two detailed Excel-VBA models for the calculations of the profitability of water storage facilities. Both models cover all cash flows over the entire lifetime of the project from the investment costs based on the technical planning to the operation and maintenance costs as well as electricity costs and water costs during the operations period. These Excel models will be used in the future to assist during the process for a potential implementation of the percolation site in Niedersachsen, Germany.
Potential Impact:
WP8: Exploitation and market uptake
TASK 8.1. Impacts assessment
As a first step, the consortium defined the relevant KPI (Key Performance Indicators). During the whole project, the resulting data was recorded and compared with these KPI in order to measure the benefits of the WEAM4i solutions.
Once delivered the KPI definition, the next step was to retrieve the historical data from de demosites according with each KPI defined. The type of data retrieved comprised:
- Historical data: existing data, before the first irrigation season,
- First irrigation season data: resulting data, once the first irrigation season was finished.
The benefits of the WEAM4i solutions were demonstrated, since the KPI monitoring identified that the solutions offer optimization, both in costs and resource consumption in the frame of the irrigation process. Table 1 and Table 2 provide results for the first irrigation season and the last one, per demosite;
Table 1. KPIs monitored for each demo site (first irrigation season)
Table 2. KPIs monitored for each demo site (last irrigation season)
TASK 8.2. Market analysis
During the project, there have been several meetings with the Water Policies’ Advisory Board (WPAB) and several WEAM4i presentations to the irrigation sector members in order to evaluate the market sense, i.e. the perception of the potential customers with the objectives of the WEAM4i project. Such meetings have highlighted the concern of the irrigation sector with energy costs and water scarcity, and how this situation could be an opportunity to offer a SMART solution in order to minimize these problems. A list of the conducted meetings is presented in Section 4.2 of the present report.
Moreover, a market study was conducted in order to reach the next goals:
- Market definition;
- Legislative / Regulatory context;
- Identification of customer requirements and main concerns;
- Potential market size for uptake;
- Market segmentation per customers / areas / countries;
- National barriers and competition identification;
- Identification of key customers and stakeholders;
- Development status of the irrigation infrastructures and existence of operational ICT management systems.
This market study was a joint effort with irrigation associations in the target markets. This report was carried out through a questionnaire designed and sent to several irrigators and irrigator communities.
TASK 8.3 Pre-commercial and exploitation activities
The partners worked with the information retrieved using the questionnaires (task 8.2) and made several interviews with irrigators communities and farmers during the project. The objective was to evaluate the “feeling” of the irrigators with the WEAM4i solutions and make a market plan for all the developments to be carried out during WEAM4i.
WEAM4i business model outline
In the following, a summary of each of the products and services developed in WEAM4i project is introduced.
- HydrOptim (main developer: ADASA)
HydrOptim is a key decision support tool for the optimization of the operation of hydraulic systems, whose market driver is the growing concern about energy efficiency, energy cost and operational costs minimization in the water sector. In brief, there are 2 basic approaches for the business model, according to the HydrOptim operation mode:
• Off-line mode: optimisation consultancy services and/or Information as a Service (IaaS) for scenario simulation based on HydrOptim simulations;
• On-line mode: case-by-case project approach. HydrOptim will be a licensed Software Product only when deployed in operational mode in client facilities.
- Energy price forecasting tool (main developer: CREARA)
The overall objective of this service is to predict the hourly electricity market price five days ahead for the Spanish, Portuguese and German electricity markets. The module updates on a daily basis and generates electricity price forecast hourly values for the next 120 hours (with UTC timestamps). The electricity price prediction module uses as inputs historical data relative to market pool prices, electricity generation by technology and electricity demand, etc. Furthermore, the module uses weather forecast data to forecast electricity generation of renewable energy technologies.
- Solar and hydraulic pivots (main developer: LGRain GmbH)
To simplify the integration of low-pressure systems in existing high-pressure systems, two alternative power supplies for low-pressure irrigation were developed and installed during WEAM4i: a solar power system and a hydraulic power system for irrigation. These systems have a promising future in the German irrigation market.
- Short-term weather forecasting for Agricultural Sector (main developer: METEOSIM SL)
METEOSIM SL has developed a comprehensive methodology to adapt meteorological models to each geographical area, by striving for the optimal physical configuration, improving the physiographic databases (uses of land, topography, etc.), and integrating observational data. These aspects have a significant impact on the modelling results.
- Irrigation WEB Portal
This development is comprised of different tools and several partners have worked on their corresponding solutions to generate it. By assembling these, a multifunctional tool arises that could be oriented both as information and software as a service. Several data integration and customization services are foreseen for the deployment of the Irrigation Web-portal, especially if the point data sources are not provided in the standard WML format. Below, each partner’s contribution is described.
Table 3. Irrigation WEB Portal: partners’ contribution
Figure 25. WEAM4i platform concept schema
Water storage facilities’ economic feasibility calculator (Main developers: ECLAREON, Ingenieurbüro Schulz, LWK Niedersachsen)
An Excel tool has been developed that allows to calculate and optimize the economic feasibility of water storage facilities. The focus is on the economic analysis of such investments considering the investment and operation costs as well as the revenue generation and financing aspects. The tool will enable engineers to optimize the sizing of the water storage capacity and pumping capacity to improve the economic feasibility for different storage pumping and irrigation scenarios. Farmers and irrigation communities will be able to reduce the operations costs by optimizing the storage pumping based on lower electricity prices during off-peak times.
The tool will be offered via consulting assignments during the planning and operations phase of water storage projects. The involved partners are Ingenieurbüro Schulz, LWK Niedersachsen and ECLAREON.
- Yara Water-Sensor (main developer: Yara ZIM)
Based mainly on the results achieved in WEAM4i project’s trials, the following crop and geographical segmentation for the water sensor can be performed.
• Firstly, the leaf probe is currently calibrated for olives and citrus. Work is ongoing for calibrations of additional crops such as pome fruits, stone fruits (incl. almonds) and grapes;
• Secondly, based on market size of the identified crops the following focus countries are chosen for the water sensor: Spain, Portugal, US, Brazil, South-Africa and Australia.
TASK 8.4: Resource mobilisation strategy
During WEAM4i, several programmes and calls/topics at the national, cross-border and European level have been identified. This comprises H2020 (and future FP9), LIFE (for the developments with a positive environmental impact), Interreg (with emphasis in resource efficiency and low-carbon approaches with a deep cross-border profile) and national/regional schemes.
All partners have learned from WEAM4i’s experience and are in contact with their national authorities in order to leverage on public funding for their innovative initiatives. As a result, national funds and programmes have been identified:
- Exploring synergies with JPI 2016 joint project. Continuity of WEAM4i with other projects through sharing the results through creating a new project using the results of WEAM4i. (http://www.waterjpi.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=440&Itemid=1008);
- RIS3CAT WATER;
- ERANET MED. The main aim of the project is to enhance Euro-Mediterranean co-ownership through innovation and competitive research in the societal challenges of the region;
- Explore synergies with Mediterranean Eco-operation Program (MEP);
- PRIMA Initiative as an immediate follow-up to the informal Competitiveness Council of Nicosia in 2012, a group of Member States joined by Mediterranean Partnering Countries (MPC’s) launched an initiative, named Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), aiming at establishing a long-term structured partnership in research and innovation in the Mediterranean area in line with the principles of co-ownership, mutual interest and shared benefits and building on the multiple bilateral and multilateral research and innovation activities in the region.
WP9: Dissemination
TASK 9.1 Elaboration of the Strategic Dissemination Plan (SDP)
Defined in the first reporting period and constantly updated, WEAM4i dissemination actions aimed to communicate project activities, technology and results to a wide audience, which focused on irrigation community and water utilities, European Union and funding organizations, policy makers such as governmental authorities, industries operating or/and managing water, and energy projects including the companies working on the ICT sector, RTD as well as medias and general public.
For the whole project period, the consortium followed up and reported all dissemination activities on the EC Participant Portal and WEAM4i internal dissemination list as well as provided the needed support and suggested channels (events, magazines, etc.) for the partners. Specific publications, events and dissemination actions can be found in section 4.2.
TASK 9.2 Project website and web-based tools
- WEAM4i website
The first version of the website (www.weam4i.eu) was delivered in M7. The website has the purpose of disseminating information about the project objectives as well as the involved partners, expected outcomes, demonstration, innovation, dissemination activities and other relevant information related to the project. It is also linked to the private shared area where only consortium members can login to share the projects’ documents.
Figure 26. WEAM4i website homepage
During the first period, the intensive communication activities made the website reach 7,000 visitors, although mostly based in Spain, France, Germany, Portugal and the members states present in the consortium. During the second reporting period, the website was visited by more than 13,900 visitors. The visits of the website came not only from Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, and Netherlands, where WEAM4i partners are located, but also from the US, Russia, China, Brazil and Japan.
Finally, as can be seen in the statistics table (Figure 27), during the third period, the website was viewed by 11,429 visitors. The users came mainly from Spain, France, Germany and Portugal, where some WEAM4i partners are located. However, there were also visitors from UK, US, Italy Russia and Algeria. It can be drawn as a conclusion that the partners successfully created awareness not only in European countries but also in countries in which the potential WEAM4i customers are located, with emphasis in the Mediterranean area.
Figure 27. WEAM4i Google Analytics (May 1st 2016- April 30th 2017)
The overall content of the website is going to be updated in June 2017 by UT SEMIDE and ADASA and it will be online for the three coming years.
- WEAM4i in social networks
• Facebook
A dedicated Facebook page was created for the promotion of WEAM4i project. The link to the page is found on the official website of the project. There is the possibility to share content and pages by email and through social and professional networks as well as to print it, etc. So far, there are 104 likes on Facebook and posts have reached up to 537 persons (average of 150/post).
Figure 28. WEAM4i Facebook page - profile
• LinkedIn
A public page on LinkedIn was created in M20 for the promotion of WEAM4i project. The link to the page is also found on the official website of the project. There are 41 members in this LinkedIn group.
Figure 29. WEAM4i LinkedIn page
TASK 9.3 - Dissemination activities
Under the supervision of UT SEMIDE, WEAM4i partners have been producing communication products and participating in different events and activities for the purpose of disseminating WEAM4i to different stakeholders. For achieving this task, all knowledge generated by the consortium was continuously tracked and qualified. During the project, the following sub-tasks were performed:
Subtask 9.3.1: Creation and diffusion of fact-sheets, leaflets, brochures and posters
Several leaflets in English were prepared by UT SEMIDE with the contributions from all the partners (through providing their logos, and content), and were validated by the project coordinator. The 6-pages leaflets are available in English, but can be translated later to other languages by WEAM4i partners (Spanish, German and Portuguese).
1500 copies were sent to different partners in order to be used in various events. The figures below show both sides of the brochure (3 pages for each):
Figure 30. WEAM4i brochure - front side
Figure 31. WEAM4i brochure - Back side
Moreover, a brochure of 4 pages was prepared in Spanish in order to be firstly used at the XIII Spanish Irrigators Communities Congress (12-15 May 2014, Huelva-Spain): link here
This congress was organized by FENACORE, and other partners participated (METEOSIM SL and HISPATEC). Its content is based on the project presentation, done in Spanish “Folleto”. 800 of brochures were produced for this event.
Figure 32. WEAM4i Brochure (b) - Front page
Furthermore, METEOSIM SL prepared a 2-page factsheet in M6. Some factsheets were printed and used at the World Water Week, organized by SIWI on August 31-September 5, 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden (link here) attended by WATERWATCH. The factsheets are found in the internal shared area portal and could be used in different events.
Figure 33. WEAM4i Factsheet
Also, roll ups /posters are good means to present the project during the events. ADASA prepared two roll ups which were used in different events.
Figure 34. WEAM4i Roll up
During the first reporting period, WEAM4i consortium members reached more than 27,500 people to disseminate the project through different events as well as printed & online media (see section 4.2 for further detail). Figure 35 shows the type of audience targeted by WEAM4i members. Industry (irrigation, water & energy), policy makers and scientific community were the most relevant targets that received information regarding WEAM4i project, as they have been engaged with it directly and indirectly.
Figure 35. Type of targeted audience (WEAM4i)
During the second reporting period, 2000 updated copies of the WEAM4i brochure were sent to different partners in order to be used in various events.
Also, two new posters were created in the second period, targeting the German market.
Figure 36. WEAM4i poster at Agritechnica 2015 (1)
Figure 37. WEAM4i poster at Agritechnica 2015 (2)
Moreover, a 4-page factsheet was created during the second period of the project. The printing and design of the factsheet took place during the third period.
Last but not least, during the third period of the project, the following printed materials were produced:
- WEAM4i policy brief brochure by UT SEMIDE and ADASA;
- WEAM4i Factsheet in English by UT SEMIDE and ADASA and translated to Portuguese by FENAREG which have been disseminated during conferences and exhibitions;
- WEAM4i Poster by METEOSIM SL and UT SEMIDE;
- Different public presentations.
Figure 38. WEAM4i policy brief brochure (page 1)
Figure 39. WEAM4i Factsheet (pages 3 & 4)
Subtask 9.3.2. Articles in specialized press and case studies
WEAM4i has been disseminated in different newsletters by WEAM4i consortium through different media forms (printed and online). However, articles and press releases were not published during the second period of the project. The partners preferred to wait for the technical solutions to be validated and demonstrated in the pilot sites. Therefore, an internal ‘call of papers’ was announced to publish an article for each Work Package during the last period of the project. The following specific items were produced:
- 5 press releases were published on WEAM4i project covering WEAM4i public conference ‘El regadio de CG BARDENAS de Aragon y Navarra en la Cuenca del Ebro’;
- One article was published by CSIC entitled: ‘Evaluating the usefulness of continuous leaf turgor pressure measurements for the assessment of Persimmon tree water status’ on Irrigation Science magazine (Open Access), October 4th, 2016;
- Other articles are planned to be published by ADASA on the ‘Optimal Management of Water and Energy in Irrigation Systems: Application to the CG BARDENAS Canal’ after the project’s finalisation. Also one general article by UT SEMIDE as well as the results of the project by ADASA are planned to be published.
- WEAM4i was also disseminated through different newsletters, e.g. EMWIS Flash (UT SEMIDE) and Boletín Intercuencas (FEMACORE).
Finally, regarding the case studies, 8 case studies were produced by the different partners:
Resource efficiency at local level:
- High pressure system optimization (GPS approach), (Schulz + von der Ohe) – Energy Efficiency
- Alternative power systems for low pressure irrigation systems, (LGRain GmbH)- Cost Efficiency
- Leaf sensors, (Yara International) – Crop per drop
Decision Support Tools:
- HydrOptim, (ADASA) – Cost efficiency, multi-objective scenarios simulation, season planning
Information services and ICT Platform:
- Weather forecast, (METEOSIM SL) – Information service
- Crop water demand forecast, (WATERWATCH) – Information service: Crop per drop
- Energy price forecast, (CREARA) – Information service: Cost efficiency
- WEAM4i ICT platform, (HISPATEC, HR, ADASA) – Integrated information services and applications
Subtask 9.3.3. Conferences and Seminars, Congress, Fairs and Exhibitions
Partners were active in participating in different events ever since the beginning of the project to promote WEAM4i. Section 4.2 gives an exhaustive list of events the partners participated to, during the project period.
Figure 40. WEAM4i (HISPATEC & CSIC) at Fruit Attraction Exhibition
Figure 41. WEAM4i stand at FENACORE Workshop 2016
Figure 42. WEAM4i at the JPI Water Conference 2016, Rome (CISC)
Figure 43. WEAM4i Project at AgroGlobal Conference 2016, Valada do Ribatejo (FENAREG)
Subtask 9.3.4 Multimedia content
Two videos were created for the dissemination of the project. One was published by METEOSIM SL, and available in four languages (ES, CA, EN and PT) in M25. The second video was produced in M30 by UT SEMIDE on the innovative aspects and results and available in 3 languages (EN, FR and ES). The videos were also disseminated through different websites and social media.
Subtask 9.3.5 Networking with EIP on Water Action Groups and with other European projects in water efficiency
This subtask went in parallel with subtasks 9.3.3. Since the beginning of the project partners have been attending to events organized by the EIP for dissemination and networking. WEAM4i was also registered on the online marketplace of the European Innovation Platform (EIP) by ADASA in M13. In addition, WEAM4i was presented at WssTP H2020 Brokerage & WGs Event in Brussels in M25 which was a good opportunity for networking with many European stakeholders and other innovation projects managers.
TASK 9.4 - Contribution to EU standards and regulations
Deliverable 9.5 ‘Policy brief publication in Water Knowledge Portal’ was publicly published in M40. It presents the policy challenges and recommendations focusing on three topics ‘Energy Efficient Irrigation,’ ‘Integrated management of WaterEnergy-Food (WEF) nexus’ and ‘The need of standardization’. The policy brief includes concrete recommendations and actions, in particular related to legal as well as non-regulatory barriers identified with a synthesis of WEAM4i project relevant to the local and regional policies.. Furthermore, a brochure of the summary was also prepared.
Regarding standardisation, WEAM4i project has adopted WaterML 2.0 (Open Geospatial Consortium, OGC 2007) for the irrigation water metering. WaterML 2.0 is a standard information model for the representation of water observations data, with the intent of allowing the exchange of such data sets across information systems . Additionally, WEAM4i project has adapted the WaterML format for other field measurements such as soil moisture probes (soil humidity at different depths). A broad adoption of WaterML 2.0 as interoperability standard in the irrigation sector would facilitate the integration with decision support systems and reporting applications, generating added value information and enhancing the decision making.
TASK 9.5 - Project final Workshop
On April 6th 2017, WEAM4i Final Workshop was held in Barcelona to present the results of the project and its success case studies as well as to make synergies with the different projects and initiatives working on the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. The event was organised by METEOSIM SL, ADASA and UT SEMIDE with the support of the rest of partners.
During the event, the achievements of WEAM4i smart tools which lead to better efficiency in irrigation – of both Water and Energy – were illustrated by the WEAM4i consortium. The tools were demonstrated in different sites in Spain, Portugal and Germany. The event was joined by around 60 different stakeholders from the irrigation communities as well as water and energy sectors across Europe.
Figure 44. Audience during WEAM4i Final Workshop
List of Websites:
http://weam4i.eu/
WEAM4i project was conceived as an initiative to help the irrigation communities and end users to optimise their utilisation of resources. The realisation of this idea depended on successfully integrating the water and energy nexus into a solution that combined new technologies, demand and forecasting services. In order to prove the replicability of such solution, the consortium was built having in mind three distinctive demonstration areas, namely Spain, Portugal and Germany. Each of these areas had distinctive water & energy markets, technical approaches and socio-economic aspects that were treated at the same level of importance in specific work packages within the project.
Therefore, the main concept to be developed during the project was the water demand-side management according to the available energy offer, ensuring a solution that could be implemented in different situations present in Europe. In order to do so, the following developments were targeted in WEAM4i’s Description of Work and achieved during the project’s period:
- A water demand forecast, and an energy price forecast:
o A weather forecast was introduced into the water demand forecast module and into the energy price forecast module;
o A water demand forecast module was developed and contributed to the irrigation forecast service of WEAM4i;
- Instruments for aggregating the energy demand and Decision Support System (DSS) tools for managing water demand:
o The consortium’s work in the frame of DSS module, IT platform (field and crop data management), data presentation in WEB Server and the roll out in the demosites contributed to the irrigation decision in order to optimize the costs and the resources’ consumption, focused on the irrigation process;
o The energy experts among the partners demonstrated an energy costs forecast in Spain, Portugal and Germany, contributing to the DSS module
- Innovative techniques for resource efficiency at local irrigation systems:
o Local sensors and probes tested contributed to the data management system demonstration;
o The consortium’s work in the frame of the irrigation machinery in Germany contributed to the optimization of the irrigation process that can be replicated in central Europe;
- Last but not least, an ICT platform to support the information and the underlying applications: in this task, a service bus, local sensors and probes tested in Spain, Portugal and Germany and a new IT platform contributed to carry out the data management in the whole irrigation system. A newly developed mobile app was designed to provide the farmers with a straightforward way to have information available.
Thanks to the extensive research efforts and the demonstration activities carried out, several tools and services have been developed and will be exploited in the near future, namely:
- HydrOptim: decision support tool developed by ADASA;
- Energy price forecasting tool developed by CREARA;
- New solar and hydraulic pivots, developed by LGRain GmbH;
- Development of control systems for irrigation networks to reduce the energy consumption by Ingenieurbüro Schulz
- Short-term weather forecasting for agricultural Sector, developed by METEOSIM SL;
- Irrigation WEB Portal (ADASA), including HISPATEC’s service bus, WATERWATCH’s crop water demand forecast tool and HR’s mobile app;
- Water storage facilities’ economic feasibility calculator developed by ECLAREON;
- Yara Water-sensor developed by Yara ZIM Plant Technology
Dissemination of results has been particularly important in WEAM4i. A good proof of it are the 2 publications issued during the project and the extensive number of conferences, workshops and exhibitions both organised and attended to (over 60). Leaflets, brochures, roll ups and posters have been issued in several languages in order to maximise the project’s audience. This along with the relevant presence of the project in the social media, made the project reached an average of 10,000 website visitors per year, over 500 followers in Facebook and over 40 new contacts in LinkedIn.
With regards to the socio-economic impact, the major challenge came from gaining the trust of the farmer and the irrigation communities, so they could follow WEAM4i’s advice and thus allow the consortium to fully demonstrate the project’s concept. The consortium invested significant efforts into reaching the irrigators and the irrigation communities, including several meetings, surveying and field work. One of the key aspects if WEAM4i’s approach is to succeed in the future, is to generate trust in the end user and to be able to show them the potential benefits in a straightforward, concise way.
Project Context and Objectives:
The agriculture sector is accountable for around 30% of the total water consumption in Europe, but reaches up to 70% of total water consumption in several European southern countries. In the past recent years, most of the efforts have been focused on water efficiency improvement. Furthermore, these water efficiency efforts have been carried out without taking care of energy aspects, resulting in a significant increase in energy consumption, both per irrigated surface and per volume unit of water, due to the fact that many traditional irrigation areas have been transformed into pressurized irrigation, and the increasing use of groundwater from deep soil layers.
In parallel, we are living a fast increase in terms of energy prices all across Europe, due to many different factors, and impacting on the main energy sources. Moreover, renewable energy sources (mainly wind and solar), are quickly growing in Europe and generating some new challenges and imbalances in electrical net management, as well as making more difficult the match between offer and demand.
The main concept to be developed in WEAM4i is the water demand-side management according to available energy offer. In line with it, the main objectives for the project were:
- Develop an innovative water & energy smart grid for irrigation: introducing demand-side management and matching with available energy offer, thanks to the water storage capability and the ‘near-almost elastic’ demand from users;
- Demonstrate innovative techniques for resource efficiency at local level: for saving water, for improving the m3/kwh ratio and for the minimisation of the operational cost of water supply infrastructures;
- Develop an innovative integration approach: an ICT/cloud platform based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
In order to reach these objectives, WEAM4i put together 17 partners during 42 months, across three demonstration areas in Europe, namely in Germany, Spain and Portugal. The consortium showed to be highly multidisciplinary, comprising experts in irrigation, ICT, dissemination and water and energy related technologies. RTOs, large companies, irrigation communities and SMEs were involved in this initiative that amounted up to 5 million Euros of European contribution.
Project Results:
WP2: System requirements and technical specifications
This work package ended in month 4 of the project, and its main objective was to retrieve the initial list of requirements and technical specifications from all partners as well as specific requirements from stakeholders, targeted markets.
TASK 2.1 Initial system requirements and technical specifications
Starting at the project’s Kick-Off Meeting held in Barcelona, this task focused on initiating a brainstorming among all partners, raising challenges, risks and interrelationships among the requirements. This collaborative task put in place a Jira-based collaboration tool that was used in order to keep requirements status up to date. In parallel, a questionnaire was delivered to each WP leader in order to retrieve requirements.
TASK 2.2 Classification in modules and development roadmap
This task was mainly developed internally in ADASA, and it was focused on organizing the list of requirements gathered in the previous task in modules and component, i.e. the overall functionality of WEAM4i modules were split into components, reducing the components complexity and thus making analysis and the linkage of requirements/needs easier.
All the modules, components, requirements and their relationships were introduced in the JIRA tool. Finally, an initial proposal of roadmap was established with the goal of delivering the outcomes during the 2 crop seasons in a progressive way.
Figure 1: Collaborative JIRA Tool
TASK 2.3 Requirements, modules and roadmap publication
This task was focused on discussing the outputs of requirements, modules and roadmap among all partners in detail. As a result, a fully agreed report was published (D2.2 “Initial requirements and roadmap publication”).
WP3: Innovation on resource efficiency at local level
This work package officially ended in M24 and was extended till M36. Its main objective was to identify the more appropriate irrigation strategies and technologies to improve water and energy use efficiency at the farm and irrigation sector level and to describe the availability and requirements of data that can be used in the form of map (management) services as input for the demand forecasting application and ICT platform development.
TASK 3.1 Energy saving tasks
For the German site, Ingenieurbüro Schulz finished the initial work for improving the energy use efficiency, showing that potential energy efficiency gain can be carried out when an initial benchmarking study was carried out for the existing irrigation pipeline and pumping network, using modelling tools. Innovative tests were carried out with a mobile hose reel gun with several pumping units, from which water flow demands were being retrieved in real-time.
In the second reporting period, the consortium conducted studies in the German area, to enlighten why certain irrigation technologies were favoured over other choices, in order to allow optimised demonstration activities in WP7. Following this study, WEAM4i’s linear irrigation strategy was adapted to the German specific case, in order to find a suitable, cost-effective solution. The two identified solutions were:
1) The Installation of a solar-powered unit;
2) The development, installation and testing of a hydraulic power system.
These two systems were demonstrated in the end of the project and showed to be very promising for their future commercialisation.
Moreover, in order to improve the energy use efficiency of the irrigation networks in Germany, the consortium applied two steering strategies, namely a static pump system and a system with frequency controlled pumps. The obtained results showed in the end of the project that energy efficiency could be improved using the innovative pump steering systems developed by Von der Ohe. For instance, in the network Dalldorf – Meußließen, 12% energy savings were achieved through such pump strategy, using a GPS attachment.
Last but not least, using Genetic Algorithms (GA), the consortium developed a sectoring model to allow the grouping of sectors together in a way that the sum of the intake flows for a given pressure-head drops in areas where pumping efficiency is higher. In the third reporting period, the GA was applied to the Spanish WEAM4i demo site within the Bardenas irrigation community. The theoretical analysis showed that energy savings of 4.7% can be achieved by shifting 3 fields in the current scheduling employed by the irrigation community.
TASK 3.2 More efficient water demand: Precise prediction of irrigation needs
In the first reporting period and for the German demosite, the consortium developed a solution for programming an alternative solar power system to be able to irrigate by night. Turgor pressure changes were measured through an innovative probe. Moreover, the same probe was introduced in small-testing areas in Valencia, Spain. The demonstration of the turgor pressure probe was one of the main results of the project within WP3. In addition, the usefulness of soil water content trends measured with capacitance sensors for scheduling irrigation was demonstrated in Portugal.
In addition, during the second reporting period, the consortium listed a number of crop coefficients to be used for scheduling irrigation in the demo areas. This information was used in WP5 in order to improve the predictions of the irrigation water demand forecasts.
TASK 3.3 Efficient irrigation application models
During the first reporting period, the consortium developed a sectoring model, allowing water irrigation sectors to group together in a way that the sum of the intake flows for a given pressure head drops in areas where pump efficiency is higher. In Germany, the development of a steering strategy was done by means of calculating different irrigation networks, from which, four of them were surveyed and measured in detail. The programming for the steering technology was finalized and energy savings around 20% were achieved. In Spain data collection during the commercial operation of the system showed energy savings of 16%.
During the second reporting period, on the one hand, the consortium developed an algorithm for interpreting soil water content trends for scheduling irrigation. The developed tools allowed for an easy visualization and interpretation of the soil water content temporal trends at different depths.
On the other hand, the consortium used soil moisture probes for the test sites in lower Saxony (Germany), to forecast irrigation demand in connection with WP5. These preliminary activities had promising results, with three experimental fields showing easy to understand, plausible data. The results of the calculations of soil moisture, however, failed to be transferred into proper recommendations for plant growth and for the farmers’ practical situations. In order to ensure good results in the future demonstration activities in WP7, particular attention was paid to improving the irrigation demand forecast and the amount of forecasted testing sites was increased (the results will be discussed in the WP7’s summary).
Last but not least, during the second reporting period, the consortium kept testing the turgor pressure probes in the fields, in order to select the most suitable crops for it to be applied. The measurement of crop water needs acquired by the probes provided about 10-20% savings in water applications. In the end of the project, the sensor was tested in persimmon, citrus, maize and potato crops under different environmental conditions. Advantages and limitations for the use of these technologies were identified and algorithms for the interpretation of sensor outputs were derived.
WP4: Innovation on decision support systems
TASK 4.1: Analysis of energy market regulation
During the first reporting period, the consortium produced a global analysis on the Spanish, Portuguese and German energy markets. This analysis reflected the situation of such market in Europe and involved several interviews with different stakeholders, with the focus on the irrigation end users i.e. irrigators and/or irrigation communities, as the main source of information. Moreover, the consortium presented relevant regulatory proposals for regulatory changes and non-regulatory proposals in order to help irrigators to reduce their energy costs. Such proposals were presented and discussed with stakeholders at a consortium meeting in September 2016 and at a parallel stakeholder event in Ejea de los Caballeros, Spain (see WP9 summary).
The analysis, along with all related framework aspects (e.g. legislation, technical details, economic aspects, etc.) were presented in deliverable 4.1.
TASK 4.2: Operational tools for energy market negotiation
Based on the first version of the analysis done for energy markets, the consortium developed, deployed and published into a service bus (WP6) the first version of the connector in order to exchange data between the energy markets and the decision support system (DSS). Then, the consortium realised the necessity of going from the 1-day ahead electricity horizon to a 5-day in advance scheme, in order to be able to define the most convenient and energy efficient irrigation strategies.
Such determination led to the research of a price prediction service on the market, after which it was deemed necessary to develop an innovative ICT module to provide the needed 5-days ahead forecast to be intergated into the central DSS ICT platform.
The methodology used for the development of the price prediction module was the same for the Spanish Portuguese and German markets. However, the algorithm was first built for the Spanish and Portuguese markets (deeply connected) and then adapted to the more complex German case.
The first stage consisted in a deep research of the power market operation to identify the variables required for the module. Building on the results already developed in the second reporting period, during spring 2016 the consortium completed the research of the Spanish and Portuguese power market and identified the variables needed to elaborate the prediction. For the research of the German market, the task was conducted during summer 2016
Once the market operation was understood and all variables needed were identified, the consortium started to locate further public or private sources to download the data needed. Overall, the main sources of data used during the project were: Red Eléctrica Española, OMIE/OMIP (paid service), Meff Power, METEOSIM SL (project partner) AGORA Energiewende, EEX (paid service), BNetzA and ENTSO-E.
The price prediction module for Spanish and Portuguese markets was fully integrated during late August 2016. Since then, the performance of the prediction module was continuously tested and improvements were introduced until April 2017 to achieve a relative error under 10%.
The price prediction module for the German market was fully integrated during March 2017, while improvements were continuously introduced until April 2017 as part of the software validation process.
Figure 2. “1 day-ahead” for Spanish market in the published WEAM4i Web Portal
Figure 3. “5 day-ahead” for Portuguese market in the WEAM4i Web Portal
Figure 4. “Historical data” for German market in the WEAM4i Web Portal
TASK 4.3: Configure and adapt the strategic management module
In a consortium technical meeting in Lisbon, the partners agreed to prioritize the Portuguese demo site due to some temporary difficulties in retrieving data from the Spanish demo site. The feasibility of the site in Portugal was confirmed for the implementation of the Strategic Management module in early stages of the project. In consequence, a water transport system was designed.
Figure 5. Topological strategic management model for Aboro pilot site
These elements were grouped in a library and configured in the HydrOptim tool during the first reporting period.
The integration of all the HydrOptim components was tested in WP4 using the data retrieved for the Portuguese scenario during the second reporting period. Data was gathered as well from the Spanish demosite.
Figure 6. HydrOptim components schema
TASK 4.4: Development of the demand management module
The completion and testing of the strategic management component went hand by hand with the definition of the demand management model and the conclusions obtained from the implementation of its testing plan. In coordination with WP3, the consortium defined a first proposal for the demand management component.
The consortium also contributed to D4.4 with the description of price prediction module, which was also later updated in D7.2. The overall objective of the realised prediction module is to predict the hourly electricity market price in the five days ahead, including variable such as meteorological data, availability of production technologies, electricity generation, electricity demand and futures markets.
TASK 4.5: DSS modules integration and pilot testing
The first demonstration results of the HydrOptim tool and its performance are depicted in the figures below. In general, the HydrOptim is pumping (blue trend in m3/s water) when the energy cost (red trend €/MW/h) is cheaper, and covering all the water demand set for the 5 days scenario.
Figure 7. Strategic management model elements (Aboro – Bloco 8) in HydrOptim
Figure 8. HydrOptim output for (Aboro – Bloco 8) model and 5 (daily) water demands
Figure 9. HydrOptim output for (Aboro – Bloco 8) model and one (5-daily) water demand
The HydrOptim tool demonstrated that the energy cost optimization process works better with a one total value water demand to cover during 5 days (Figure 9), instead of 5 values to cover each day (Figure 8).
WP5: Innovation on demand forecasting
TASK 5.1 Setup of the energy balance model and mapping services for the test sites.
The system infrastructure necessary to setup the energy balance model, disclose the results and perform different tests was successfully implemented in Test Environments in the first reporting period. Such tests were successfully conducted using different technology approaches such as the meta-data retrieval through API, data retrieval through WMS and data retrieval through API as presented in Figure 10 and proved excellent performance, due to the implemented service-oriented infrastructure, already existing well-developed components and use of existing standards.
Figure 10. Tests executed on the HydroNET WMS and API
In that way, the remote sensing map web services were implemented, tested and ready for operational implementation at the demonstration sites in Portugal and Germany in the end of the first reporting period. During the second reporting period, the services were expanded to include such services for Spain.
TASK 5.2 Weather forecast services for irrigation and energy
Weather forecast requirements were determined in the first reporting period, in terms of forecast length, update frequency, etc. The developed model was then used to run simulations and provide weather forecast for each demo site, an example for Portugal is presented in Figure 11.
Figure 11. Aboro demo site: simulation example for 9/10/2014
In the second reporting period, data was provided for a test run in Spain, Portugal and Germany. The typical length of a (standard) daily mean weather forecast is 5 or 6 days depending on the provider. The weather forecasts were published and stored on a Web Coverage Service (WCS) using Geoserver. A web service protocol was setup to provide weather forecasts for specific grid points. All the meteorological variables were collected by the Demand Forecast Module with a WCS service using the service bus.
TASK 5.3 Blueprinting and prototyping of an irrigation demand planner
In order to provide water demand forecasts, an irrigation planner (further denoted as IP) was required that calculates the required irrigation gift based on crop and soil conditions and the weather forecasts, primarily precipitation. In the first year of WEAM4i, a blueprint and a prototype for this tool was developed.
In the second year of project, adaptations were made to this development in order to accommodate the differences in approach of the demo sites in Portugal and Germany that were tested in a test run in Portugal and Germany.
Among them, a general performance increase was achieved by restructuring the code and moving to a Just-In-Time compiler which compiles the code to the LLVM intermediate representation (IR). The Irrigation Demand Forecast started calculating batch wise at the factory and results are stored in a data storage system on the delivery environment. The Irrigation Demand Forecast was implemented as a service, which can be called by both a SOAP and a JSON interface. The output is thus the Irrigation Forecast: the absolute amount of water in millimetres and volume that needs to be irrigated on a field to raise the soil moisture content in the root zone back to field capacity.
Figure 12. Irrigation demand forecast concept
TASK 5.4 Demand forecast module integration and pilot testing.
The system infrastructure necessary to (i) setup the Demand Forecast Module, (ii) disclose the results and (iii) perform different tests, was successfully implemented in Test Environments at the WATERWATCH site in the first reporting period. Tests were successfully conducted using different technology approaches such as SOAP and JSON and proved excellent performance for the Portugal site, where test data was available.
During the reporting period 2, interfaces were tested individually with a set of fields in the Aboro region of Portugal and in Germany. In the end of this period, the Irrigation Demand Module was fully implemented and tested for the demonstration sites and is ready for operational use in WP 7.
WP6: ICT platform development
TASK 6.1: Deployment of industry based SOA solution
First step of this WP was to define the architecture of the ICT platformThen, the second task was to define the functional analysis of the WEAM4i modules. Each participant defined its module and the data integration by service bus, including the weather module, the demand Forecast module, user data and DSS and the energy market. In consequence, the Service Bus was deployed in a cloud based infrastructure during the second period. The main work carried out for this task consisted of the analysis, design, development and deployment of the integration services.
TASK 6.2. Modules integration and testing
Once the service bus was running, each participant started to exchange data among all modules
The Irrigation Demand Module interface was updated to allow a tighter integration with the internal service bus (interaction with WP5). This exposes more output parameters that were used to improve the irrigation advice handed to the users. For example, in the 2015 season the irrigation advice consisted of an amount of water needed to replenish the soil moisture level up to field capacity. For some crops, like the ones which use drip-irrigation, such an advice is hard to transfer since such a system cannot irrigate a large amount at once. The new output parameters can also show the (daily) decrease in the soil water balance, which is a more suitable parameter to combine with drip irrigated fields, resulting in a more useful irrigation advice.
TASK 6.3. WEB Portal, Mobile and Automatic Dissemination.
In the first period, the consortium developed the ICT architectural design and carried out the ICT functional analysis of the WEAM4i modules. During the second reporting period, the consortium developed and deployed in a cloud based infrastructure the WEB Portal. The key points of the technical design of the web portal are the following:
- Open source and multi-platform solution (implemented in JEE stack).
- Interoperability with several sources of data through an enterprise service bus.
- Built on state-of-the-art technology.
- Compatible with multi devices screen resolution (responsive design features for workstations, notebooks, tablets and smartphones).
The portal’s interface can be seen in Figure 13 and Figure 14.
Figure 13. WEB Portal Login page
Figure 14. WEB Portal. Fields and Crops information
Significant results include the addition of measurement interface to the WEAM4i bus, the full rework of data model and the integration of a configurable Irrigation Policy. In general, significant results comprise the development of the data connectors, following a standard WaterML format. In the end of the second period, almost all remote sensing, weather forecast, energy market and point data services were available and operational in the WEAM4i service bus, ready for the 2016 demonstration season.
In every corresponding irrigation season, the operation on each demosite was tested using this methodology of integration.
WP7: Validation in full scale demonstration sites
Demonstration was carried out during two growing seasons, although not all the functionalities were available during the first year of project. Although the technical project coordinator, ADASA, was the general leader of this WP, each demonstration site was assigned to one demonstration leader, responsible for coordinating local partners, stakeholders and resources:
- Aquagri ACE for the Portuguese demonstration site;
- FENACORE for the Spanish demonstration site;
- LWK Niedersachsen, for the German demonstration site.
TASK 7.1 ICT platform deployment and operation
Some ICT information services were already deployed in operation for the Portuguese demosite, during the first reporting period. Following the successful implementation of such system infrastructure for the Demand Forecast Module, the operational implementation for the Portuguese site was executed and the weekly operational processing was started as part of Task 7.1. A total of 911 fields were included in the irrigation demo that started receiving irrigation advice using the WEAM4i service bus.
During the second reporting period, the following ICT infrastructure was deployed operative:
- Service Bus module, in a cloud based structure;
- Geodatabase, containing all geographical layers and their static parameters;
- Energy Market module;
- Weather forecast module;
- Local Sensor and probes’ module;
- Integration module for irrigation systems per demosite;
- Water Demand module;
- WEB Portal
- Mobile app.
Figure 15. Concept schema representing the information services, the bus services and the WEB Portal.
During the final irrigation season, maintenance and monitoring tasks were undertaken while the operation was going on. These included:
- DBMS (Data Base Management System) monitoring and optimization;
- Service Bus monitoring and optimization;
- Software modules monitoring.
In each respective irrigation seasons, the consortium implemented a preliminary analysis for each demosite information to create WEAM4i fields (or virtual fields) grouping some original fields or discarding other originals fields that cannot be included. This process, focused in building WEAM4i fields (“one field, one crop, one hydrant”), created a dictionary of fields that is used across the entire ICT infrastructure.
All this geographical information was accessed via web services during the first irrigation season. The metadata information associated to each WEAM4i field was published on the Geodatabase Server, available to all the ICT components and depicted in the Web Portal to the end user. The deployment of the new codification based in the WEAM4i dictionary, which was designed by the partners at the end of the 2015 season, allowed to build a “smarter” list of WEAM4i fields for the last season.
Furthermore, a verification of the precipitation forecast for the period 1st January 2016 to 31th December 2016 was done at the Portuguese, Spanish and German demo sites.
With regards to the demand forecasting services, the irrigation demand forecasting services were deployed during the 2016 irrigation season for all demo sites in Germany, Portugal and Spain.
Also, the energy price forecast module was developed and deployed along the 2016 irrigation season. The price prediction module for the Spanish and Portuguese markets was fully integrated during August 2016, while improvements were continuously introduced until April 2017 as part of the software validation process. Once the results of the Spanish and Portuguese prediction modules were adjusted to obtain the maximum feasible accuracy, the prediction module was adapted for Germany.
Last but not least, during the last irrigation season a group of farmers in Germany validated the Water Demand Forecast Module using the WEAM4i Mobile App. Based on input given by these farmers, the consortium improved various components of the software (information flow), in particular the user interface of the mobile app.
TASK 7.2 Demonstration sites connectors’ deployment
During the second season of project, the data connectors were deployed in order to retrieve the data from the pilot areas in an automated way. Basically data related to irrigation gifts (from water meters) and point data (soil moisture, weather stations) from local measurement stations. All point data sources were adapted to the standard WaterML format.
In the 2016 season in Portugal, farmers already knew the soil moisture sensor system, its outputs and how to use it to guide their irrigation plans. The main question was related to trust (i.e. believe that the information they received from the system was accurate) and to discipline (i.e. follow the guidance on a daily basis).
In brief, taken as a whole, the 2016 season was a success. The farmers that did follow the given advice reduced significantly the water use without affecting their crops, and maintained the soil moisture consistently within the readily available band. With regards to the local data from weather stations in Portugal, we believe only time and experience with the model will convince the farmers of its reliability.
Regarding the local sensors and probes installed in the Bardenas demosite in Spain, four WSN platforms were deployed, each WSN platform measuring radiation, vapour pressure deficit (DPV), temperature, humidity, conductivity in soil, soil temperature and soil moisture (Figure 16).
Figure 16. Humidity and DPV trends
During the last irrigation season, the ICT technicians monitored the behaviour to ensure the correct measurement and the data was made available for the end users in the WEAM4i Webportal.
TASK 7.3 Demonstration in Portugal site
The demo sites in Portugal located in ABORO and ABROXO were characterized by:
- Size: total for both 17.362 ha of irrigated land;
- Water energy consumption: 0.3404 kWh/m3 (average);
- Energy costs: 0.1 €/KWh (average).
Figure 17. Portugal demo sites of ABORO and ABROXO
The information for these two demo sites was stored in the WEAM4i geodatabase and available in the Webportal as Geodata services.
During the demonstration period, a specific area in the Portuguese demo site was selected, having a fixed energy contract and with availability of water and energy consumptions for 2016. With these two elements, three scenarios were created in HydrOptim, namely:
1. Scenario 1: assuming the same demand management but with indexed contract;
2. Scenario 2: assuming an optimized demand management and current fixed contract;
3. Scenario 3: assuming an optimized demand management but with indexed contract.
The results were, in summary:
- Changing from fixed contract to indexed energy contract without managing water demand is a risk;
- HydrOptim can improve the cost of energy up to 13% without changing the energy contract;
- Better results have been recorded when managing the irrigation shifts within a time window of five days rather than for one dayA must-have requirement for the optimization tool is the Energy price 5-day ahead forecast module.
The accumulated pumped water and the accumulated energy consumption in both scenarios generated with HydrOptim for a whole irrigation season of 2016, were almost the same comparing with the base line (real case). Also, the water was pumped during the lowest cost moments. These results were good indicators to validate the proper functionality of the HydrOptim tool.
With regards to water demand forecasting, the Portuguese demonstration covered the Aboro and Abroxo regions and proved to be challenging. Following the results, it could be concluded that the water demand module can be applied successfully in a drip irrigation setting. The interface need improvement as well as the options to set the replenishment rates, which the users found difficult to work with. This aspect will be further enhanced after WEAM4i project.
TASK 7.4 Demonstration in Spain site
The demosite in Spain was located in Comunidad General de Regantes del Canal de Bardenas (81000 ha). Two pilot areas were selected for demonstration purposes: Monte-Saso (Comunidad V) and Sector XII (Comunidad XII). These are mainly characterized by:
- Size: 1,482 ha of irrigated land;
- Water & energy consumption;
- Monte-Saso (1222 ha):0.21 kWh/m3;
- Sector XII (260 ha): 0.16 kWh/m3;
- Energy costs:;
- Monte-Saso: 0.13 €/kWh.
- Sector XII: 0.09 €/kWh.
The information for these two pilot sites was stored in the WEAM4i geodatabase and available in the Webportal as Geodata services. Also, several visits were undertaken during 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons to gather the technical hydraulic data and the historic time series (2016 season included), with all of this information, the whole Bardenas channel was modelled and parametrized in HydrOptim.
Figure 18. Spain demo sites of CGBARDENAS (Monte Saso and Sector XII).
As a first step, the consortium created the topological model of Monte Saso. This model is a more detailed model compared with the previous model tested for the Portuguese demosite. The Monte Saso model was defined up to 100+ hydrants, including their pumping station and downstream network. The model was introduced and parameterized in the HydrOptim tool.
Figure 19. Monte Saso model in HydrOptim
Last but not least, the consortium started assessing preliminarily scenarios with different energy contracts. Additionally, the topological model for Sector XII has been also configured
During the demonstration activities, the HydrOptim was run and generated different simulated scenarios. These works were relevant to obtain the final results with the DSS applied in a specific area of the Bardenas channel. The baseline was the real situation during the period from 1st April to 2nd October 2016, including a fixed energy price contract and known energy and water consumptions for 2016. Taking this into account, three scenarios were created:
- Scenario 1: assuming same demand management but with indexed contract;
- Scenario 2: assuming optimized demand management and current fixed contract;
- Scenario 3: assuming optimized demand management but with indexed contract.
As a summary of all the scenarios, we can state that:
- Changing from fixed contract to indexed energy contract but keeping current demand practices would be a risk: (13% of losses <> +13% of savings);
- HydrOptim can improve the (€/MWh) KPI to 10-12% without changing energy contract by optimizing demand management;
- With an indexed contract and introducing demand management, up to 20% can be improved.
With regards to demand forecasting, during the 2016 season irrigation demand forecast was provided for the irrigation scheme of a specific area of the Bardenas channel. During the demonstration, it became clear that it is difficult for users to alter their irrigation regime and to follow the actual advice. The focus of the demonstration therefore shifted to the comparison between the actual irrigation regime used during the 2016 season and the regime that would have been used if the demand forecast was followed. By comparing the results, the users had the possibility to analyse the implications of using the module towards the water and energy demand and build confidence in the water demand module.
Two more scenarios were created and run in order to link the WDF module with the DSS (HydrOptim), the purpose was to assess (in numbers) the potential impact of use both modules:
- Scenario 4: Optimized demand management and current fixed contract and Water Demand Forecast (instead of actual irrigation);
- Scenario 5: Optimized demand management but with indexed contract and Water Demand Forecast (instead of actual irrigation).
The water consumption in the Scenarios 4 and 5 (based in WDF module) was less than in the baseline (actual applied irrigation). Comparing the same kind of energy contract, it could be appreciated that the scenarios based in WDF (Scenario 4 vs 2 and Scenario 5 vs 3) had lower accumulated cost (€) but not necessary a better value for the related KPI (Euros/MWh).
Following the results, it could be concluded that the water demand module can be applied successfully in a centre pivot setting and that the use of the module can lead to optimised water management. However the complexity of the system in the case of Bardenas did not allow for much operational changes of the irrigation during the season. Therefore, to link the demand module to a management tool such as HydrOptim is necessary for the module to provide additional operational value.
Last but not least and linked with WP3, genetic algorithms were applied by the consortium in the Spanish demosite. The implementation was developed during 2016 and the results were presented in the WEAM4i general meeting in Ejea de los Caballeros (September 2016). The sectoring model allowed the sectors to group together in a way that the sum of the intake flows for a given pressure head drops in areas where pump efficiency is higher.
Figure 20. Genetic algorithm
The output of the algorithm consists in a recommendation of 4 changes between the current shifts that are now in place (see red arrows in Figure 20):
Figure 21. Proposed modifications in current shifts by Genetic algorithm
With this new modification of shift, energy efficiency would be improved by 4.7% (kWh/m3) for Monte Saso district, just by changing 4 shifts during next irrigation season.
TASK 7.5 Demonstration in Germany site
The demo site in Germany was located in Lower Saxony and represented by LWK Niedersachsen, is characterized by:
- Size: 300.000 ha of irrigated land;
- Water energy consumption (ground water pumps): 0.5 – 0.7 KWh/m3;
- Energy cost: 0.2 €/KWh (average) corresponding to 96 €/ha/year.
The pilot areas were 24 fields belonging to selected farmers, willing to participate in demonstration. The information for these fields was stored in the WEAM4i geodatabase and available in the Webportal as Geodata services.
Figure 22. Selected fields for demonstration in Germany and aerial view of Hamerstorf experimental station
By using the automated hydraulically optimized WEAM4i- steering system from the beginning of the 2015 season, a 10 % reduction of energy use was achieved compared to former years. In regard to the current costs for investment and energy, the amortization periods were estimated in 4-7 years. Besides of other questions concerning crop farming, irrigation experiments have been conducted on the experimental station Hamerstorf since 2006. The site is representative of the irrigated arable farm land in the North-East of Lower Saxony. This site serves for research and demonstration of different agronomical aspects. It is point of interest and meeting for many farmers, students and researchers and serves for publication of the different results.
Another relevant experiment included the demonstration of the Yara Water-Sensor (see WP3 for a further description).
The Irrigation Demand services were deployed and validated for Germany. Based on feedback from Germany on several runs done in hind cast at the end of season 2015, two new input parameters were introduced to give the end-users more control of the irrigation forecast.
Following the 2015 season, the German demonstration was continued using the changes in the model that allow for adjustment toward the soil moisture level to be reached during irrigation. While advice was produced for both seasons, the farmers did in fact not implement it. The reason for not following the advice in 2016 is because extensive rainfall would cause irrigation not to be required. This did cause the crops to drop below the stress threshold thus that could have been prevented by providing irrigation as advised end of June.
Following the results, it can be concluded that the water demand module can be applied successfully in a spray gun setting as such can provide advice to the farmers. More supervision and an adaptation to an easier interface might lead to better understanding of the farmers of the technology and thus improved uptake.
Moreover, the extant irrigation networks by using automated pump or well control were deployed and tested. By initially using the automated hydraulically optimized WEAM4i- steering system, 10 – 30 % reduction of energy use was achieved in the year 2015 when compared to previous seasons. These results were be confirmed in the irrigation season 2016 as the following figures will show.
Figure 23. Graphic summary / specific energy consumption Jiggel 2016
Figure 24. Graphic summary / specific energy consumption Dalldorf-Meußließen 2016
It was further detected that in the past, during a large percentage of the operation time, the systems were running at only partial loads. In brief, pumping capabilities of the pilots’ wells were not required at full capacity. In these cases, the innovative steering system produced the optimum decrease in energy consumption. Also, one of the main aims in this reporting period was the demonstration of the power system for each system. The integration of such power system in both systems was on the most significant results of this task.
Last but not least, the consortium developed two detailed Excel-VBA models for the calculations of the profitability of water storage facilities. Both models cover all cash flows over the entire lifetime of the project from the investment costs based on the technical planning to the operation and maintenance costs as well as electricity costs and water costs during the operations period. These Excel models will be used in the future to assist during the process for a potential implementation of the percolation site in Niedersachsen, Germany.
Potential Impact:
WP8: Exploitation and market uptake
TASK 8.1. Impacts assessment
As a first step, the consortium defined the relevant KPI (Key Performance Indicators). During the whole project, the resulting data was recorded and compared with these KPI in order to measure the benefits of the WEAM4i solutions.
Once delivered the KPI definition, the next step was to retrieve the historical data from de demosites according with each KPI defined. The type of data retrieved comprised:
- Historical data: existing data, before the first irrigation season,
- First irrigation season data: resulting data, once the first irrigation season was finished.
The benefits of the WEAM4i solutions were demonstrated, since the KPI monitoring identified that the solutions offer optimization, both in costs and resource consumption in the frame of the irrigation process. Table 1 and Table 2 provide results for the first irrigation season and the last one, per demosite;
Table 1. KPIs monitored for each demo site (first irrigation season)
Table 2. KPIs monitored for each demo site (last irrigation season)
TASK 8.2. Market analysis
During the project, there have been several meetings with the Water Policies’ Advisory Board (WPAB) and several WEAM4i presentations to the irrigation sector members in order to evaluate the market sense, i.e. the perception of the potential customers with the objectives of the WEAM4i project. Such meetings have highlighted the concern of the irrigation sector with energy costs and water scarcity, and how this situation could be an opportunity to offer a SMART solution in order to minimize these problems. A list of the conducted meetings is presented in Section 4.2 of the present report.
Moreover, a market study was conducted in order to reach the next goals:
- Market definition;
- Legislative / Regulatory context;
- Identification of customer requirements and main concerns;
- Potential market size for uptake;
- Market segmentation per customers / areas / countries;
- National barriers and competition identification;
- Identification of key customers and stakeholders;
- Development status of the irrigation infrastructures and existence of operational ICT management systems.
This market study was a joint effort with irrigation associations in the target markets. This report was carried out through a questionnaire designed and sent to several irrigators and irrigator communities.
TASK 8.3 Pre-commercial and exploitation activities
The partners worked with the information retrieved using the questionnaires (task 8.2) and made several interviews with irrigators communities and farmers during the project. The objective was to evaluate the “feeling” of the irrigators with the WEAM4i solutions and make a market plan for all the developments to be carried out during WEAM4i.
WEAM4i business model outline
In the following, a summary of each of the products and services developed in WEAM4i project is introduced.
- HydrOptim (main developer: ADASA)
HydrOptim is a key decision support tool for the optimization of the operation of hydraulic systems, whose market driver is the growing concern about energy efficiency, energy cost and operational costs minimization in the water sector. In brief, there are 2 basic approaches for the business model, according to the HydrOptim operation mode:
• Off-line mode: optimisation consultancy services and/or Information as a Service (IaaS) for scenario simulation based on HydrOptim simulations;
• On-line mode: case-by-case project approach. HydrOptim will be a licensed Software Product only when deployed in operational mode in client facilities.
- Energy price forecasting tool (main developer: CREARA)
The overall objective of this service is to predict the hourly electricity market price five days ahead for the Spanish, Portuguese and German electricity markets. The module updates on a daily basis and generates electricity price forecast hourly values for the next 120 hours (with UTC timestamps). The electricity price prediction module uses as inputs historical data relative to market pool prices, electricity generation by technology and electricity demand, etc. Furthermore, the module uses weather forecast data to forecast electricity generation of renewable energy technologies.
- Solar and hydraulic pivots (main developer: LGRain GmbH)
To simplify the integration of low-pressure systems in existing high-pressure systems, two alternative power supplies for low-pressure irrigation were developed and installed during WEAM4i: a solar power system and a hydraulic power system for irrigation. These systems have a promising future in the German irrigation market.
- Short-term weather forecasting for Agricultural Sector (main developer: METEOSIM SL)
METEOSIM SL has developed a comprehensive methodology to adapt meteorological models to each geographical area, by striving for the optimal physical configuration, improving the physiographic databases (uses of land, topography, etc.), and integrating observational data. These aspects have a significant impact on the modelling results.
- Irrigation WEB Portal
This development is comprised of different tools and several partners have worked on their corresponding solutions to generate it. By assembling these, a multifunctional tool arises that could be oriented both as information and software as a service. Several data integration and customization services are foreseen for the deployment of the Irrigation Web-portal, especially if the point data sources are not provided in the standard WML format. Below, each partner’s contribution is described.
Table 3. Irrigation WEB Portal: partners’ contribution
Figure 25. WEAM4i platform concept schema
Water storage facilities’ economic feasibility calculator (Main developers: ECLAREON, Ingenieurbüro Schulz, LWK Niedersachsen)
An Excel tool has been developed that allows to calculate and optimize the economic feasibility of water storage facilities. The focus is on the economic analysis of such investments considering the investment and operation costs as well as the revenue generation and financing aspects. The tool will enable engineers to optimize the sizing of the water storage capacity and pumping capacity to improve the economic feasibility for different storage pumping and irrigation scenarios. Farmers and irrigation communities will be able to reduce the operations costs by optimizing the storage pumping based on lower electricity prices during off-peak times.
The tool will be offered via consulting assignments during the planning and operations phase of water storage projects. The involved partners are Ingenieurbüro Schulz, LWK Niedersachsen and ECLAREON.
- Yara Water-Sensor (main developer: Yara ZIM)
Based mainly on the results achieved in WEAM4i project’s trials, the following crop and geographical segmentation for the water sensor can be performed.
• Firstly, the leaf probe is currently calibrated for olives and citrus. Work is ongoing for calibrations of additional crops such as pome fruits, stone fruits (incl. almonds) and grapes;
• Secondly, based on market size of the identified crops the following focus countries are chosen for the water sensor: Spain, Portugal, US, Brazil, South-Africa and Australia.
TASK 8.4: Resource mobilisation strategy
During WEAM4i, several programmes and calls/topics at the national, cross-border and European level have been identified. This comprises H2020 (and future FP9), LIFE (for the developments with a positive environmental impact), Interreg (with emphasis in resource efficiency and low-carbon approaches with a deep cross-border profile) and national/regional schemes.
All partners have learned from WEAM4i’s experience and are in contact with their national authorities in order to leverage on public funding for their innovative initiatives. As a result, national funds and programmes have been identified:
- Exploring synergies with JPI 2016 joint project. Continuity of WEAM4i with other projects through sharing the results through creating a new project using the results of WEAM4i. (http://www.waterjpi.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=440&Itemid=1008);
- RIS3CAT WATER;
- ERANET MED. The main aim of the project is to enhance Euro-Mediterranean co-ownership through innovation and competitive research in the societal challenges of the region;
- Explore synergies with Mediterranean Eco-operation Program (MEP);
- PRIMA Initiative as an immediate follow-up to the informal Competitiveness Council of Nicosia in 2012, a group of Member States joined by Mediterranean Partnering Countries (MPC’s) launched an initiative, named Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), aiming at establishing a long-term structured partnership in research and innovation in the Mediterranean area in line with the principles of co-ownership, mutual interest and shared benefits and building on the multiple bilateral and multilateral research and innovation activities in the region.
WP9: Dissemination
TASK 9.1 Elaboration of the Strategic Dissemination Plan (SDP)
Defined in the first reporting period and constantly updated, WEAM4i dissemination actions aimed to communicate project activities, technology and results to a wide audience, which focused on irrigation community and water utilities, European Union and funding organizations, policy makers such as governmental authorities, industries operating or/and managing water, and energy projects including the companies working on the ICT sector, RTD as well as medias and general public.
For the whole project period, the consortium followed up and reported all dissemination activities on the EC Participant Portal and WEAM4i internal dissemination list as well as provided the needed support and suggested channels (events, magazines, etc.) for the partners. Specific publications, events and dissemination actions can be found in section 4.2.
TASK 9.2 Project website and web-based tools
- WEAM4i website
The first version of the website (www.weam4i.eu) was delivered in M7. The website has the purpose of disseminating information about the project objectives as well as the involved partners, expected outcomes, demonstration, innovation, dissemination activities and other relevant information related to the project. It is also linked to the private shared area where only consortium members can login to share the projects’ documents.
Figure 26. WEAM4i website homepage
During the first period, the intensive communication activities made the website reach 7,000 visitors, although mostly based in Spain, France, Germany, Portugal and the members states present in the consortium. During the second reporting period, the website was visited by more than 13,900 visitors. The visits of the website came not only from Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, and Netherlands, where WEAM4i partners are located, but also from the US, Russia, China, Brazil and Japan.
Finally, as can be seen in the statistics table (Figure 27), during the third period, the website was viewed by 11,429 visitors. The users came mainly from Spain, France, Germany and Portugal, where some WEAM4i partners are located. However, there were also visitors from UK, US, Italy Russia and Algeria. It can be drawn as a conclusion that the partners successfully created awareness not only in European countries but also in countries in which the potential WEAM4i customers are located, with emphasis in the Mediterranean area.
Figure 27. WEAM4i Google Analytics (May 1st 2016- April 30th 2017)
The overall content of the website is going to be updated in June 2017 by UT SEMIDE and ADASA and it will be online for the three coming years.
- WEAM4i in social networks
A dedicated Facebook page was created for the promotion of WEAM4i project. The link to the page is found on the official website of the project. There is the possibility to share content and pages by email and through social and professional networks as well as to print it, etc. So far, there are 104 likes on Facebook and posts have reached up to 537 persons (average of 150/post).
Figure 28. WEAM4i Facebook page - profile
A public page on LinkedIn was created in M20 for the promotion of WEAM4i project. The link to the page is also found on the official website of the project. There are 41 members in this LinkedIn group.
Figure 29. WEAM4i LinkedIn page
TASK 9.3 - Dissemination activities
Under the supervision of UT SEMIDE, WEAM4i partners have been producing communication products and participating in different events and activities for the purpose of disseminating WEAM4i to different stakeholders. For achieving this task, all knowledge generated by the consortium was continuously tracked and qualified. During the project, the following sub-tasks were performed:
Subtask 9.3.1: Creation and diffusion of fact-sheets, leaflets, brochures and posters
Several leaflets in English were prepared by UT SEMIDE with the contributions from all the partners (through providing their logos, and content), and were validated by the project coordinator. The 6-pages leaflets are available in English, but can be translated later to other languages by WEAM4i partners (Spanish, German and Portuguese).
1500 copies were sent to different partners in order to be used in various events. The figures below show both sides of the brochure (3 pages for each):
Figure 30. WEAM4i brochure - front side
Figure 31. WEAM4i brochure - Back side
Moreover, a brochure of 4 pages was prepared in Spanish in order to be firstly used at the XIII Spanish Irrigators Communities Congress (12-15 May 2014, Huelva-Spain): link here
This congress was organized by FENACORE, and other partners participated (METEOSIM SL and HISPATEC). Its content is based on the project presentation, done in Spanish “Folleto”. 800 of brochures were produced for this event.
Figure 32. WEAM4i Brochure (b) - Front page
Furthermore, METEOSIM SL prepared a 2-page factsheet in M6. Some factsheets were printed and used at the World Water Week, organized by SIWI on August 31-September 5, 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden (link here) attended by WATERWATCH. The factsheets are found in the internal shared area portal and could be used in different events.
Figure 33. WEAM4i Factsheet
Also, roll ups /posters are good means to present the project during the events. ADASA prepared two roll ups which were used in different events.
Figure 34. WEAM4i Roll up
During the first reporting period, WEAM4i consortium members reached more than 27,500 people to disseminate the project through different events as well as printed & online media (see section 4.2 for further detail). Figure 35 shows the type of audience targeted by WEAM4i members. Industry (irrigation, water & energy), policy makers and scientific community were the most relevant targets that received information regarding WEAM4i project, as they have been engaged with it directly and indirectly.
Figure 35. Type of targeted audience (WEAM4i)
During the second reporting period, 2000 updated copies of the WEAM4i brochure were sent to different partners in order to be used in various events.
Also, two new posters were created in the second period, targeting the German market.
Figure 36. WEAM4i poster at Agritechnica 2015 (1)
Figure 37. WEAM4i poster at Agritechnica 2015 (2)
Moreover, a 4-page factsheet was created during the second period of the project. The printing and design of the factsheet took place during the third period.
Last but not least, during the third period of the project, the following printed materials were produced:
- WEAM4i policy brief brochure by UT SEMIDE and ADASA;
- WEAM4i Factsheet in English by UT SEMIDE and ADASA and translated to Portuguese by FENAREG which have been disseminated during conferences and exhibitions;
- WEAM4i Poster by METEOSIM SL and UT SEMIDE;
- Different public presentations.
Figure 38. WEAM4i policy brief brochure (page 1)
Figure 39. WEAM4i Factsheet (pages 3 & 4)
Subtask 9.3.2. Articles in specialized press and case studies
WEAM4i has been disseminated in different newsletters by WEAM4i consortium through different media forms (printed and online). However, articles and press releases were not published during the second period of the project. The partners preferred to wait for the technical solutions to be validated and demonstrated in the pilot sites. Therefore, an internal ‘call of papers’ was announced to publish an article for each Work Package during the last period of the project. The following specific items were produced:
- 5 press releases were published on WEAM4i project covering WEAM4i public conference ‘El regadio de CG BARDENAS de Aragon y Navarra en la Cuenca del Ebro’;
- One article was published by CSIC entitled: ‘Evaluating the usefulness of continuous leaf turgor pressure measurements for the assessment of Persimmon tree water status’ on Irrigation Science magazine (Open Access), October 4th, 2016;
- Other articles are planned to be published by ADASA on the ‘Optimal Management of Water and Energy in Irrigation Systems: Application to the CG BARDENAS Canal’ after the project’s finalisation. Also one general article by UT SEMIDE as well as the results of the project by ADASA are planned to be published.
- WEAM4i was also disseminated through different newsletters, e.g. EMWIS Flash (UT SEMIDE) and Boletín Intercuencas (FEMACORE).
Finally, regarding the case studies, 8 case studies were produced by the different partners:
Resource efficiency at local level:
- High pressure system optimization (GPS approach), (Schulz + von der Ohe) – Energy Efficiency
- Alternative power systems for low pressure irrigation systems, (LGRain GmbH)- Cost Efficiency
- Leaf sensors, (Yara International) – Crop per drop
Decision Support Tools:
- HydrOptim, (ADASA) – Cost efficiency, multi-objective scenarios simulation, season planning
Information services and ICT Platform:
- Weather forecast, (METEOSIM SL) – Information service
- Crop water demand forecast, (WATERWATCH) – Information service: Crop per drop
- Energy price forecast, (CREARA) – Information service: Cost efficiency
- WEAM4i ICT platform, (HISPATEC, HR, ADASA) – Integrated information services and applications
Subtask 9.3.3. Conferences and Seminars, Congress, Fairs and Exhibitions
Partners were active in participating in different events ever since the beginning of the project to promote WEAM4i. Section 4.2 gives an exhaustive list of events the partners participated to, during the project period.
Figure 40. WEAM4i (HISPATEC & CSIC) at Fruit Attraction Exhibition
Figure 41. WEAM4i stand at FENACORE Workshop 2016
Figure 42. WEAM4i at the JPI Water Conference 2016, Rome (CISC)
Figure 43. WEAM4i Project at AgroGlobal Conference 2016, Valada do Ribatejo (FENAREG)
Subtask 9.3.4 Multimedia content
Two videos were created for the dissemination of the project. One was published by METEOSIM SL, and available in four languages (ES, CA, EN and PT) in M25. The second video was produced in M30 by UT SEMIDE on the innovative aspects and results and available in 3 languages (EN, FR and ES). The videos were also disseminated through different websites and social media.
Subtask 9.3.5 Networking with EIP on Water Action Groups and with other European projects in water efficiency
This subtask went in parallel with subtasks 9.3.3. Since the beginning of the project partners have been attending to events organized by the EIP for dissemination and networking. WEAM4i was also registered on the online marketplace of the European Innovation Platform (EIP) by ADASA in M13. In addition, WEAM4i was presented at WssTP H2020 Brokerage & WGs Event in Brussels in M25 which was a good opportunity for networking with many European stakeholders and other innovation projects managers.
TASK 9.4 - Contribution to EU standards and regulations
Deliverable 9.5 ‘Policy brief publication in Water Knowledge Portal’ was publicly published in M40. It presents the policy challenges and recommendations focusing on three topics ‘Energy Efficient Irrigation,’ ‘Integrated management of WaterEnergy-Food (WEF) nexus’ and ‘The need of standardization’. The policy brief includes concrete recommendations and actions, in particular related to legal as well as non-regulatory barriers identified with a synthesis of WEAM4i project relevant to the local and regional policies.. Furthermore, a brochure of the summary was also prepared.
Regarding standardisation, WEAM4i project has adopted WaterML 2.0 (Open Geospatial Consortium, OGC 2007) for the irrigation water metering. WaterML 2.0 is a standard information model for the representation of water observations data, with the intent of allowing the exchange of such data sets across information systems . Additionally, WEAM4i project has adapted the WaterML format for other field measurements such as soil moisture probes (soil humidity at different depths). A broad adoption of WaterML 2.0 as interoperability standard in the irrigation sector would facilitate the integration with decision support systems and reporting applications, generating added value information and enhancing the decision making.
TASK 9.5 - Project final Workshop
On April 6th 2017, WEAM4i Final Workshop was held in Barcelona to present the results of the project and its success case studies as well as to make synergies with the different projects and initiatives working on the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. The event was organised by METEOSIM SL, ADASA and UT SEMIDE with the support of the rest of partners.
During the event, the achievements of WEAM4i smart tools which lead to better efficiency in irrigation – of both Water and Energy – were illustrated by the WEAM4i consortium. The tools were demonstrated in different sites in Spain, Portugal and Germany. The event was joined by around 60 different stakeholders from the irrigation communities as well as water and energy sectors across Europe.
Figure 44. Audience during WEAM4i Final Workshop
List of Websites:
http://weam4i.eu/
