WEAM4i Steering Meeting & Demo site visit: Use of Energy and ways of reduction

Group photo @WEAM4i

WEAM4i project organized its 3rd General meeting in Uelzen and Himbergen (Germany) last 15-18 June 2015. The programme included the executive meeting, the general meeting with all partners and also the demo site visit. 

The event was organized by WEAM4i partner: the LWK Niedersachsen (Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony)*. 

The Executive meeting gathered the WPs leaders (Meteosim, ADASA, Hispatec, SEMIDE, LWK, FENACORE, Eleaf, Aquagri and CSIC) to discuss the progress of each work package.

The general meeting gathered all partners and one member of the Advisory board (Dr. Volker Garbe - Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumers Protection Lower-Saxony (Public institution), Germany), and also representatives of Chamber of Agriculture (LWK). It was the occasion to discuss the review of last 6 months activities, and the connections and report to be submitted to the European Commission. It was also an occasion to inform the consortium on the next deliverables and milestones (achievement and progress) for each WP, and also discuss the risks, contingencies and challenges (occurred and expected) for each WP.

It was also the occasion to present the policy Brief to German authorities and Advisory Board, and present an overview on the German energy market, followed by working groups session on the inter-connections between WEAM4i work packages. 

The demo site visit consisted in visiting 8 stations: 1) Irrigation board Meuβlieβen-Dalldorf (high pressure irrigation, groundwater), 2) Elbe-Seitenkanal, Groβ Liedern (water supply, surface water), 3) Porsch Wasser-und Umwelttechnik GmbH, Uelzen (well technology), 4) Irrigation board Hansen (center-pivot irrigation system, combination of low and high pressure), 5) Experimental station Hamerstorf, 6) Vinstedt (Independent low pressure irrigation system), 7) Stöcken reservoir (adaption to water scarcity and EU-WFD), and 8) Wastewater seepage site, Bankewitz (adaption to water scarcity and EU-WFD).

*
The LWK Niedersachsen (Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony) is a public corporation, financed by the farmers of Niedersachsen as well as by the Bundesland Niedersachsen. Having around 2000 employees in several regional offices, the chamber covers most aspects of agriculture (crop-farming and husbandry), private forestry, fishing, horticulture, beekeeping. These activities include: testing of new methods and technologies in own demonstration sites, laboratory testing, dissemination of results, training organization, consultancy services and expert reporting for the public administration, including the EC. The Chamber’s Regional Office at Uelzen is specialized on activities concerning agricultural irrigation, due to its strategic location close to the Northern German irrigation region.

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WEAM4i (Water & Energy Advanced Management for Irrigation) is a European project co-funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Program within ENV-2013-WATER-INNO-DEMO-1 (Challenge 6.3: Improving resource efficiency), with a budget of 7.6 M € over 42 months, and started officially on November 1st, 2013.

The WEAM4i consortium is led by companies Meteosim and Adasa, and is composed of 17 members from different fields – business, research, irrigation communities and public agencies and organizations – from five European countries: Spain, Germany, Portugal, The Netherlands and France.

The project addresses two of the priorities outlined by the European Innovation Partnership on Water, an initiative of the European Commission (DG- Environment): ‘Water- Energy Nexus’ and ‘Decision Support Systems (DSS) and monitoring’.

The aim of the project is to improve the efficiency of water use and reduce the costs of power irrigation systems.  It is planned to develop a smart network for the management of irrigation that will act interactively on the rational use of water and energy.

The results will be tested and evaluated in three regions of the European Union covering a wide range of crops, water resources and energy markets: Aragon (Spain), Lower Saxony (Germany) and Alentejo (Portugal).