The SMART-MET consortium concludes the installation of 3000 innovative smart water metering solutions in five European sites
Prototypes testing in Zafra (Badajoz, Spain) picture provided by PROMEDIO
The seven public water utilities partners in the EU-funded research project SMART.MET have concluded the installation of 3000 prototypes of two different innovative smart water meters in five different testing sites across Europe.
The objective of the SMART.MET - Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) for Water Smart Metering research and innovation project, funded under Horizon2020 programme, is to drive the development of new innovative solutions to deal with the collection and management of smart metering data, through a joint Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP). The PCP, jointly launched by seven public water utilities partners in the consortium, has been carried out under Italian law and is articulated into three phases: Phase 1 - exploration and design of new solutions (completed in March 2019); Phase 2 development of operational prototypes of selected solutions (completed in March 2020); Phase 3 field testing of the prototypes (in progress).
The SMART.MET consortium announced today that the seven public water utilities participating in the research project have concluded the installation of 600 prototypes in five different testing sites (3000 in total). The prototypes have been provided by the two companies, Telereading (Italy) and Hydroko (Belgium), which have been awarded to execute the last phase of the Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP). The two companies’ prototypes had previously passed a technological test at the laboratories of Eau de Paris (France) and Budapest Waterworks (Hungary), two of the seven public water utilities partners in the consortium.
The installed prototypes will be tested in the following sites, managed by the utilities involved in the project, until the end of September 2021:
- In the region of Sélestat (France) managed by Syndicat des Eaux et de l'Assainissement Alsace-Moselle (SDEA) an authority associating municipalities and inter-municipal cooperation bodies, the Urban Community of Strasbourg, and the Bas-Rhin department,
- In Vicenza (Italy) managed by VIVERACQUA, a consortium of 12 public water Utility companies of the Veneto Region (Italy)
- In Liége and Herstal (Belgium) managed by CILE (Compagnie Intercommunale Liégeoise des Eaux), the second-biggest public operator in Wallonia in charge of the production and distribution of drinking water.
- In Budapest (Hungary), managed by Budapest Waterworks, a public water utility company that is serving 2,3 million customers in the Hungarian capital
- In Zafra (Spain), managed by PROMEDIO, a regional consortium of the provincial government of Badajoz, provides water supply and sanitation services to municipalities in the region.
The public water utilities have informed the residents in the testing sites about the deployment of the prototypes and provided them with a factsheet on the benefits of smart water meters, which is also available online.
Through the field testing, public water utilities will verify to what extent the prototypes’ main features meet the functional and performance requirements defined in the PCP. These innovative solutions are expected to provide a new, more efficient, and less expensive water-smart metering system that will help improve water utilities’ performance and customer service. The innovative smart water meter will allow utilities to decrease their operating costs and better prioritize and plan their investments in infrastructure’s renewal. In particular, utilities will be able to obtain accurate real-time metering data on detection of leaks and/or network damages and to better inform users on their water consumption, which will benefit both the environment (less waste) and end-users (lower bills).
The result of the SMART.MET (PCP for Water Smart Metering) will be presented at the closing conference at the end of this year.
About SMART.MET - Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)
SMART.MET - PCP for Water Smart Metering is a European project funded under the Horizon 2020 research programme and launched in 2017. The SMART.MET project, coordinated by Office International de l’Eau (OIEau), aims at promoting demand-driven research into the development of new innovative smart meter solutions that fully cater to the needs of water utilities.
Smart water metering presents itself as an effective solution to the challenges faced by the majority of European water utilities today, from extreme events induced by climate change to the need to replace ageing infrastructure. Indeed, providing access to accurate data in real-time can help decrease operating costs and prioritise infrastructure investments, while improving the daily management of networks and customer services
The buyers’ group is composed of seven water utilities from five different EU countries which came together in the SMART.MET project to guide the development of new technologies based on open technological platforms for the remote reading of water meters.
Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) concerns the procurement of research and development services. It is a unique instrument to foster competition for the development of high quality and alternative solutions whilst providing an adapted answer to common needs and opening new markets for companies.
Driving the development of new solutions for smart water metering data collection and management.
More information:
Website: http://smart-met.eu
Twitter: @SmartMet_PCP
Email: smart.met@oieau.fr
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 731996.
For more information
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 731996.