The facilities of the Canary Islands Institute of Technology (ITC) in Pozo Izquierdo welcomed the visit of Prof. Hicham Fenniri, Head of the International Water Research Institute, Prof. Abdessamad Belgada, Assistant Professor in Advanced Desalination and Water Treatment Technologies at IWRI, Dr. Lamia Housni, Director of Business Development, OCP Green Water and Dr. Fatima Ezzahra Akhrif, Project Control Manager of the Desalination Program at OGW.
As the Canary Islands public universities (ULPGC and ULL) and the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) had recently signed an agreement for launching their first joint call for proposals in science and innovation, Dr. Pedro Cabrera, Associate Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was also invited to attend the meeting and introduce the Renewable Energy Systems Group (GRRES) he coordinates at ULPGC.
After the presentation of the corresponding institutions, the delegation toured the facilities accompanied by Gonzalo Piernavieja, R&D Director of ITC; Baltasar Peñate, Head of the Water Department; and technical staff involved in the ITC- DESAL+ Living Lab installations. During the visit, different avenues of collaboration between the entities were explored.
A specific session on Water Reuse and Desalination for Agriculture in Gran Canaria was made, followed by a roundtable discussion on different desalination challenges, focusing on energy efficiency, RES integration and brine valorisation topics. Although the entities remained open to exploring other areas of mutual interest, the highest interest in structuring a collaboration was specifically focused on the deployment of desalination units for agricultural use.
This session was supported by the ITC project called IDIWATER, committed to improving the industrial water sector and its connection with other markets, increasing R&D, knowledge transfer, training, and the development of smart technology. The project is 85% co-financed by the European Union under the Interreg MAC 2021–2027 programme.
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