There are many opportunities for innovation within the water sector; one new one is the concept of the trial reservoir. It is a unique opportunity to respond to the urgent call for accelerated water and energy-related innovations in the water sector and adjacent industries.
In August 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its assessments highlighting the likelihood of exceeding the critical 1.5°C global warming threshold within the next two decades. This report prioritised the need for immediate change, and the Trial Reservoir initiative responded with action!
Inspired by the industry-wide unease caused by the IPCC report, the Isle Group launched the Climate Change Trial Reservoir in November 2021. The Reservoir accelerates the adoption of innovative technologies and methods by allowing commercial-stage technology companies to deliver full-scale trials with a pre-committed end user at no financial risk.
This unique opportunity has also been extended to broader sustainability challenges by introducing four new reservoir initiatives.
- The Brazil Trial Reservoir
- The Advanced Industrial Trial Reservoir
- The Energy Reservoir
- The Minority-Led US Utilities Trial Reservoir
All Trial Reservoir initiatives follow the same process by providing pools of funding – reservoirs – to support technology companies with loans for a full-scale trial. If the trial is successful, the technology is implemented by a pre-committed end user and the funding is returned to the Reservoir. If the trial is unfortunately unsuccessful despite everyone’s best efforts, the end user is no longer obliged to implement the technology, and there is no need for the loan to be repaid. It is completely written off.
What can be learned from a trial reservoir?
Leveraging new technology offers significant opportunities to transform utilities and water users from carbon-intensive to carbon-neutral (or even positive). However, the water sector’s conservative/risk-averse tendencies mean utilities are “caught in the loop of conducting trial after trial but never quite adopting the technology for their core business.”
The Trial Reservoir – What is it and How to Apply
The Trial Reservoirs are breaking this cycle by applying the technology and the trials’ results to real circumstances.
The most recent Trial Reservoir initiative was launched in late 2023, delivering this unique opportunity to minority US utilities. This launch was inspired by a utility CEOs event in 2023, during which the unique challenges faced by minority-led utilities were revealed. A 2013 survey by the Water Research Foundation indicated that over 95% of US water utility executives are white. This presents a significant imbalance within the industry, resulting in challenges for minority leaders in making their voices heard in the water utility space.
This new Reservoir tackles these challenges by amplifying the voices of minority-led utilities so they can meet their sustainability and environmental justice goals by financially de-risking trials of technologies.
Opportunities arising from a trial reservoir
The Trial Reservoirs are the first of their kind and have already supported 14 trials since their conception, eight of which were successful, and five are ongoing. Due to the generosity and commitment of the Trial Reservo, eight innovative technologies have been implemented by first adopters to mitigate climate change while also hugely contributing to the carbon net-zero journey.
By expanding the Trial Reservoir initiative to multiple sectors, the Trial Reservoirs can magnify the opportunities for innovation. Isle’s CEO Ben Tam presented his urge to accelerate the roll-out of trials in all four Trial Reservoir programmes by stating: “The right direction, wrong pace, it’s going well, but we want to do more (trials) – much more.”
The Trial Reservoir initiatives are making great strides on the journey to innovative adoption while contributing to the carbon net-zero objectives.
None of this would be possible without the support from the sponsors, a huge thank you to all who are involved in this journey, and a final word from Isle Utilities founder Dr. Piers Clark: “I am so thankful to our sponsors and to everyone who has stepped up, the utilities, tech companies, investors, sponsors, people within Isle. Everyone who’s taken that gem of a slightly mad idea and turned it into something truly wonderful.”
For more information, visit https://www.isleutilities.com/
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