Integrated Renewable Energy Systems - Commercialisation of a Novel Solar Powered Pump

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£249,585

Nov. 1, 2022

June 30, 2023

This project aims to productise a high-efficiency solar powered pump prototyped at UEA as part of our collaborative research effort developing novel Integrated Renewable Energy Systems (IRES).

IRES combines solar power, water purification and biofuel technologies in a closed-loop design to resolve key problems of intermittency and storage that prevent renewables from replacing fossil-fuels. In this approach energy surplus to demand is immediately used to produce freshwater from seawater or other contaminated water sources. Freshwater is used to irrigate food and biofuel crops, which supports power generation when demand exceeds solar production. While batteries yield a net loss of useful energy when charging and discharging, irrigated crops absorb sunlight, bringing an additional source of energy into IRES production. This in turn increases water production in the next season. When IRES components are highly efficient, energy gained from crops exceeds the energy used to produce the crop, yielding a net gain in energy. Iteratively reinvesting this energetic return into water production leads to system growth, year-on-year until maximum capacity generation is reached. In this way IRES have the potential to green vast desert regions, producing electricity, food, water and biofuels without the need for battery storage or fossil-fuel back-up. Crop production and IRES biofuel by-products increase soil organic matter, enriching soils and capturing carbon on a globally significant scale.