Close-up of water splashing.
Close-up of water splashing.

UWL team selected as finalists for Ofwat’s Water Discovery Challenge

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A team of researchers from the University of West London’s School of Computing and Engineering (SCE), along with its business partner pumping systems specialist Riventa, has been selected as one of 20 finalists in water regulator Ofwat’s Water Discovery Challenge – a £4 million competition to find bold and innovative solutions to problems facing the sector in England and Wales.

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The finalists must now submit more detailed proposals by November 2023, from which ten winners will be chosen to receive awards of up to £450,000 to help them develop their projects over the next year.

The UWL team’s project – ‘Optimising Sustainable Design of Solar PV Systems for Water Pumping Stations: AI-based Package (SolarAI)’ – is led by UWL’s Professor of Smart Infrastructure Kourosh Behzadian and Lecturer in Civil Engineering Dr Atiyeh Ardakanian. They received a grant of £50,000 along with additional practical support, including mentoring by experts from Thames Water and South West Water.

A view of solar panels on top of the University of West London's Ealing site, surrounded by buildings and greenery.

With water companies aiming to reach net zero carbon by 2030 and having a limited budget to spend, they are looking for cost effective technologies to help overcome the challenges they face, Professor Behzadian explains:

Our solution is about creating decision-making support tools for operators when choosing solar photovoltaic systems to power pumping stations. Using a smart artificial intelligence-based platform will help them optimise the efficiency of the system, reduce its cost and accelerate their progress towards net zero.”

Solar panels on top of UWL's Ealing site

Head of UWL’s School of Computing and Engineering Professor Philip Cox adds that he is delighted to see the team’s success in this kind of competition:

I’d like to congratulate them on their impressive progress in the Water Discovery Challenge so far. Finding innovative solutions to problems like those faced by the water sector is exactly the kind of thing we need to be getting to grips with to ensure that we contribute to creating a smarter, more sustainable future.”

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