The University of Salamanca and Iberdrola collaborating intensively in Doha on innovative energy projects

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The University of Salamanca, through the BISITE Research Group, continues to collaborate with Iberdrola in Doha as it has been doing since the Iberdrola Middle East Lab was inaugurated in 2018. Further synergies come in the form of six projects which have been launched in line with the expansion of the science and technology park located in Qatar with the aim of becoming a centre of excellence that launches ever more innovative initiatives.

Juan Manuel Corchado, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Salamanca and Director of BISITE, visited Doha a few weeks ago to review the status of the projects - on which part of his team is working in person - and to plan new proposals for 2024. Corchado underscores the AI-BEMS project as the basis of the collaboration, which aims to create an intelligent platform that allows, through various technologies, to optimise energy consumption in buildings and homes, contributing to economic and energy savings.

   (L to R): Sergio Márquez, Juan Manuel Corchado and Imene Mecheter with the project material.

AI-BEMS researchers make use of technologies such as explainable artificial intelligence, the internet of things and machine learning to collect data on energy consumption produced in companies and households and, based on this data, recommend energy efficiency measures, which 'will benefit both the planet and consumers, who will be able to save money', says one of the researchers from the University of Salamanca.

From a technical perspective, the smart platform proposed in the project is based on virtual organisations and designed as a three-tier architecture, capable of ingesting data from various sources and providing tailored consumption patterns. In addition, it is intended to develop a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) framework based on blockchain technology that enables the secure exchange of data between IoT devices, thus guaranteeing the privacy of users and marking the main differences and advantages of the project with respect to other BEMS solutions. The whole process involves an innovative collaboration between people and machines taking into account sociological aspects and human behaviour to produce global societal benefits. The development will be completed in March 2024, although the project as such will end in March 2025.

Another project arising from this collaboration is Edge Power. In this case, BISITE is working closely with Iberdrola Retail to test a set of Edge Nodes and redefine the way energy consumption is managed at the hardware layer. The aim is to optimise energy use, reduce costs and increase the efficiency of electrical systems while minimising environmental impact. To this end, a pilot test is being carried out in Qatar and Spain that not only tests the system, but also lays the foundation for future innovations. 

With significant processing power for advanced data analysis, the Edge Node will manage the intelligence within the home infrastructure. The design is robust and intelligent, capable of both standalone operation and offering a range of cloud connectivity options. The development of the project, which is currently focused on the design of the electronic boards, will be completed in July 2024.