SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 30 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife, through the Technological and Renewable Energy Institute (ITER), has obtained financing for six projects out of the nine submitted to the call for aid from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience.
These subsidies, of more than 617,700 euros in aid to promote scientific-technical research, come from European Next Generation funds.
The First Vice President and Island Councilor for Innovation, Enrique Arriaga, pointed out that these Government grants “will promote the generation of quality scientific and technological knowledge through the financing of research projects aimed at the challenges of our society.”
Likewise, the counselor explained that the projects financed will be applied both in the scientific field and in technological development and innovation and added that for this ITER will collaborate with universities such as La Laguna, the Valencia Polytechnic or Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as R&D entities such as the Canary Islands Ocean Platform and companies such as Vainsa Infraestructuras SL and the Elittoral consultancy.
Specifically, the six projects approved in this call, in which ITER participates as a partner, are the following: The Olidron project develops a high-precision, low-cost, real-time monitoring system for the state of health of olive crops using drones. This system will make it possible to know if the olive plants analyzed are affected by the Xylella Fastidiosa bacterium or the Verticillium Wilt fungus, the degree of progress of the disease and its spatial location.
On the other hand, the Twin-Dam project will serve to implement a low-cost predictive maintenance system for gravity dams, which will make it possible to diagnose the health of the dam structure in order to predict the maintenance necessary for its optimal operation.
Aero-Twin focuses on the development of an innovative comprehensive monitoring system for wind turbines, to identify and diagnose their defects and ways to repair them. This system will allow a planned and optimized maintenance activity to be carried out, with the consequent cost savings.
The main objective of the Leakwit project is to develop a system that detects and manages gas leaks in hydrogen generators in real time, which are service or storage stations for hydrogen.
As for Perseus, it will develop an autonomous aerial platform that monitors pollution in the ocean. This will have zero emissions thanks to the use of solar energy and will be equipped with different sensors and algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence to determine the exact location of pollutants and predict their evolution.
Finally, Aloecan is part of the line of research on agri-food traceability that the Environment Department of ITER has been developing for the last five years. The purpose of the initiative is to evaluate the use of certain existing organic compounds in aloe plants, as “fingerprints” of this plant grown in the Canary Islands and its derived products. In this way, it will be possible to certify not only the origin of the products, but also the nature of their agricultural environment.
