Low cost solar absorption cooling

Project Information

LCSAC

Grant agreement ID: 697910

DOI

10.3030/697910

Project closed

EC signature date 10 September 2015

Start date 1 October 2015

End date 31 March 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SOLAR POLAR LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LCSAC (Low cost solar absorption cooling)

Reporting period: 2015-10-01 to 2016-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Solar Polar Limited is developing a highly innovative, modular, low cost solar absorption cooling system, which can provide cooling with no use of electricity, zero running costs and zero carbon emissions, and which has been designed to provide solar cooling at the lowest possible cost per watt. By making solar cooling simple and affordable, Solar Polar’s innovative technology has the potential to transform the provision of air-conditioning and cooling worldwide.

The research identifying that globally there are currently over 120 million air-conditioning units installed each year. Demand for cooling is increasing strongly in many parts of the world and is widely expected to continue to grow as income levels rise, the shift to urban living continues and climate change leads to increasing temperatures.

Governments, the air-conditioning industry, owners and occupiers of buildings and developers of low carbon buildings, however, face a significant problem – whilst demand for cooling is increasing, currently available technology consumes significant amounts of electricity. Growing demand for cooling is therefore set to increase electricity demand very significantly, placing major strains on the electricity infastructure of many cities and increasing carbon emissions substantially.
SME Instument phase one has help Solar Polar develop a testing program to prepare a phase two application to launch the Solar Polar’s technology in Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Malta and the UK. In parallel with this project we intend to work with collaborative partners in India, Mexico and the US to undertake similar performance verification testing, awareness raising, demonstration and training activities.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Within the project we:
• Undertook detailed market research was undertaken into the air-conditioning markets in Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Malta
• Undertook higher level market research was also undertaken for the air-conditioning markets in India and the US.
• Identified potential collaborative partners, making contact and engaging in discussions regarding collaboration and strategic demonstration plans.
• Benchmarked our system relative to current and emerging cooling technologies – to include comparative cost benefit analysis and modelling of electricity and carbon benefits in different operating environments/climates.
• Developed a detailed demonstration strategy to be formulated based on discussions with potential collaborative partners (see above), including developing pilot trial methodology, with the aim of maximising market awareness and acceptance.
• Developed a detailed and costed work-plan to undertake the optimisation of the performance of our system for different geographic locations.
• Meet with test houses (e.g. Fraunhofer) to establish appropriate testing and certification programmes, together with costings for such.
• Formulated a detailed manufacturing plan
• Prepared a feasibility study report and updated business plan, reflecting the results from the Phase 1 project.

The project has reaffirmed to the management of Solar Polar the very substantial commercial opportunity that our solar cooling system represents. Our detailed calculations indicate that we will be able to achieve our goal of developing a system that can provide solar cooling at the lowest possible cost worldwide and at a sufficiently low cost to make possible a transformation of the global air-conditioning market.

We therefore very much intend to continue, indeed to accelerate, the development and commercialisation of our system.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected impact

The project has confirmed that Solar Polar’s innovative solar cooling system will provide solar cooling at a lower cost per watt than any other technology worldwide.
Accordingly our technology represents a significant step beyond the state of the art and has the potential to transform the global air-conditioning market, reducing the costs of air-conditioning, providing cooling in locations where there is no reliable electric grid and substantially reducing the carbon emissions attributable to cooling.

In addition our technology has the potential to provide cooling for food and crop storage in remote locations of the developing world that don’t have access to mains electricity, so reducing food wastage which can be as high as 50% thereby improving the livelihoods of poor rural communities.

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