Water resources: the issue of the 21st century
Water is called the new gold of the 21st century. Due to climate change, water resources are becoming increasingly volatile. This leads to major uncertainties in sectors whose daily operations rely on the availability of water – such as energy, logistics and tourism. One of the most frequently asked questions raised in these areas is: "How much water is there, and when will it become available?” This question cannot simply be answered by weather models, as water flows on the ground and cannot be measured in the atmosphere by classical weather data.
Start-up MobyGIS has developed a new technology called Waterjade, which is able to predict water resources very accurately - both in terms of snow and river runoff. Unlike other technologies on the market, it follows a physically based modelling approach that integrates multiple data sources such as in-situ stations, numerical weather forecasts and satellite data. This eliminates the need for measurement campaigns, increases accuracy and allows extension to unobserved basins.
MobyGIS offers hydropower companies a service that monitors snow conditions upstream of the production facilities in order to quantify the energy generated in the long term. In addition, the start-up team offers a service for the short-term prediction of inflow to the plants, which is useful for the safety and optimization of power generation.
The Waterjade team
The team of engineers combines knowledge in hydrology, geographic information systems and mathematical modelling. Company founder Matteo Dall’Amico, with more than ten years of international experience in mountain hydrology, recognized the importance of a holistic approach exploiting all sources of data. Little by little, he started to implement these ideas together with Stefano Tasin (CTO). Later, Nicolò and Ruggero joined the team. Together with experts from ERGO and Munich Re, the team would like to discuss possible insurance solutions with Munich Re and ERGO.
Further information is available at: http://www.mobygis.com/wordpress/