ESG / Sustainability Report / 2022 ESG / Sustainability Report / 2022 WQEMS: BRINGING QUALITY WATER TO OUR TABLES IANOS: INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS FOR ISLAND DECARBONIZATION AND SMARTIFICATION (9) (6) (7) (9) Guaranteeing sufficient quantities of potable water to meet the needs of the entire global population Two initial islands and another three islands all over the world with the shared goal of decarbonizing Water is an essential source of life for ecosystems as well as humans. Therefore, guaranteeing sufficient their energy systems and becoming energy independent by the end of 2050. quantities of potable water to meet the needs of the entire global population is a global challenge. Two initial islands and another three islands all over the world with the shared goal of decarbonizing However, despite an enormous investment of resources, in many parts of the EU potable water their energy systems and becoming energy independent by the end of 2050. production reaches only marginally sufficient levels, as drought, disasters and pollution events make it Certain challenges are shared by the majority of European islands, such as: impossible to maintain the required levels. - high dependence on fossil fuels or energy imports from the mainland Digital Sustainability Thanks to the assistance of Copernicus - the European Union’s Earth observation program - for the first - seasonal demand (tourist arrivals at small islands has increased by 30% over the last ten years) time, risk prevention and mitigation activities can count on a good natural lake and artificial reservoir - ever-expanding uncontrollable penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) to replace conventional control frequency. By relying on this support, the WQeMS project provides an array of information on energy production, drastically reducing power grid inertia (especially on smaller islands - isolated water quality, building a high spatial resolution, multi-temporal monitoring framework. WQeMS aims grids). to provide the water sector with an emergency monitoring service regarding the quality of the water All of this makes guaranteeing energy security and resilience more burdensome and costly than it is we drink. It will concentrate its activities on observing the reservoirs used by utilities for the supply of on the mainland. The IANOS project contributes to resolving these challenges by developing a smart drinking water, identifying changes in water quality, any algae blooms, changes in land-water transition virtual power plant (VPP) based on AI and Blockchain. zones, extreme episodes and circumstances emerging from the community. The virtual power plant is focused on the maximum supply and use of flexibility and self-sufficiency Digital Sustainability through the use of distributed renewable energy and storage technologies.IANOS selected the islands Results: Innovation in identifying substances in the water - Resource use optimization - New emergency of Ameland and Terceira to act as “pilot islands”, as both represent common EU challenges, and and standardization procedures - Drinking water monitoring and safety - Risk assessment and another 3 islands - Lampedusa, Bora Bora and Nisyros - to validate the potential replicability of the management. results obtained on the pilot islands. Engineering guides activities relating to the Distributed Energy Transactive Framework within VPP Energy Coalitions, and also provides the Distributed Ledger Technology layer in the VPP platform. Results: Reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels by 379.7 GWh/y - Increase in the use of RES of 83.6 GWh/y - Increase in the accuracy of vRES forecasts >10% - Reduction in energy bills of end users >15%. 82 Engineering © Engineering © 83