A recent Enterprise Ireland water innovation seminar in Dublin, hosted in collaboration with Wet Networks (an Arup and WRc initiative) emphasised the greater need for a demand-led approach to innovation, writes Darragh Cotter, Cleantech Market Advisor based in Enterprise Ireland’s London office.

Delegates also agreed that cooperative efforts towards innovation and implementation are likely to deliver the best results for the sector.

With utility companies in England and Wales facing ever increasing demands from Ofwat, particularly for AMP7 (2020-2025), it is crucial that there is substantial interaction with supply chain innovators. The regulator has identified several key challenges where utilities must focus their efforts, including population growth, environmental protection and resilience.

With a tougher regulatory environment in store and with Ofwat having recognised innovation as one of the guiding principles in PR19, a change to the status quo is required. Utilities will have to display real ambition and rely on innovation to deliver what is needed in the next asset management cycle. However, they must work closely with innovators and the supply chain to deliver real success.

Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government agency that connects the Irish supply chain with international partners, kept this in mind when planning for the recent water innovation seminar.

With Enterprise Ireland acting as the main convener of a national water and wastewater cluster, the organisation worked in partnership with Wet Networks (Arup and WRc) to bring together representatives of UK water utilities and the most innovative Irish companies in the market. UK utilities in attendance included Yorkshire Water, Welsh Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water and South Staffordshire Water.

A demand-led approach to innovation

It was clear from discussions at the seminar that the supply chain is looking to utilities to identify and communicate their unique company and network challenges. Prioritising a demand-led approach is viewed as crucial. The supply chain is seeking assurances that the challenges they focus on or seek to address is a critical one for utilities.

The core challenges discussed during the seminar included efficiency, asset health, leakage and supply, customer experience and resilience. It’s no longer enough for utility companies to simply go to the market place when they want to fix an issue. Clear and consistent communication between all industry stakeholders is imperative to solve challenges in the long term and to help foster innovation.

How to de-risk and incentivise innovation?

Many of the water companies in attendance felt that they have carried too heavily the burden of risk when it came to the adoption of innovation, with costs and regulation having a slowing affect.

Conversely, innovative companies from across the supply chain feel that a certain amount of certainty and buy-in from utility companies is essential to invest sufficiently in R&D and new technologies.

Transparency is also set to be a key facilitator to reducing risk. A consensus emerged from the seminar that in order to achieve a balance between utilities that want to de-risk, and suppliers who can’t afford to keep offering free trials, a more cohesive and collaborative approach is required. At the centre of this approach is a clear communication of the industry’s pain points.

Delegates noted that a reoccurring problem impacting the adoption of innovation is the common prerequisite for water utilities to individually trial and test new technologies. There was broad support amongst the supply chain for utility companies to work more collegiately.

This may, for example, be through the establishment of a common testing centre to enable supply chain innovators to achieve accreditation for deployment across multiple utilities. This would also help water companies to de-risk their adoption and testing of innovation. As noted by Trevor Bishop, Director of Water Resources South East:

“It isn’t always easy for an SME to work directly with a big water company. We need to make sure we can find the right partnerships, so that innovation can be used where it’s appropriate and so that we can share and learn between us.”

Irish innovation in the UK water sector

SwiftComply.were among the Irish innovators who presented at the seminar. The company provided an overview of their software platform solution that connects water companies and food businesses to improve the management of fat, oil and grease (FOG) and reduce in line blockages. Swiftcomply has teamed up with both Yorkshire Water and Anglian Water to reduce the impact of FOG on their water systems.

Attendees also heard from NVP Energy. They have developed a unique Low Temperature Anaerobic Digestion technology. The new technology is an energy positive and carbon neutral process designed to treat low-strength wastewater effluents. It also produces a high-quality biogas by-product that is 100% available for reuse in on-site heat & electricity generation. NVP Energy has recently completed a project for Welsh Water.

Other innovative companies to present included OxyMem, a company that has recently agreed a work-plan with Severn Trent. OxyMem solves OPEX intensive wastewater treatment and makes incremental plant expansion possible using Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) modules.

The OxyMem solution delivers up to 75% energy saving, up to 50% less waste sludge and can be installed within days, with no need to drain tanks or stop processes.

Innovation seminars are an important mechanism for effective communication between water companies and the supply chain. The supply chain needs to know exactly the challenges that water companies face so that they can respond accordingly. Irish innovators stand ready to help.