Second call for R&I projects in Energy & Water to be launched in March

The second call for projects under the Support Scheme for Research and Innovation Projects in the Fields of Energy and Water will open this coming March. This was announced by Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Sustainable Development, Miriam Dalli during her visit to the Water Services Corporation’s (WSC) laboratories, following the success of the first call. The WSC has recently been awarded a project called Purilma under the first call, in collaboration with the Department of Food, Science, and Nutrition within the University of Malta. Purilma aims to identify innovative technologies that can disinfect Malta’s water while using lower chlorine quantities, to improve the quality of the drinking water that is supplied by WSC. Minister Dalli explained that “Purilma is one of the projects that benefitted from the first round of the scheme. This round was successful and generated huge interest, which is why I am pleased to announce that, through the Energy and Water Agency, we will issue a second call in March.”  Minister Dalli added that scientists and researchers are encouraged to tap into this fund to further build on the work that is being carried out in the R&I sector. Last year’s call saw an investment of €558,000 towards Research and Innovation. In total five projects were supported; PURILMA, WetSoil, SIGMA, ESTELLE, IPCoSy. The projects will be carried out over a two-year period and focus on a range of national priority areas for the sectors of energy and water. WSC’s project Purilma will look at three new disinfection technologies. The University of Malta will also carry out assessments to determine to which extent each technology can disinfect water effectively, abiding by the levels defined by the EU’s Drinking Water Directive. Purilma is part of a series of projects carried out by the Water Services Corporation. The ‘Purilma’ Project is funded by the Energy and Water Agency as part of the National Strategy for Energy and Water Research and Innovation (2021-2030).