Commercialization of a viable and proven HydroKinetic Turbine that will harness the power of the world's rivers, canals and estuaries in a sustainable, innovative and cost-effective way.

Project Information

HydroKinetic-25

Grant agreement ID: 719009

DOI

10.3030/719009

Project closed

EC signature date 25 February 2016

Start date 1 March 2016

End date 31 August 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

DP DESIGNPRO LIMITED
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HydroKinetic-25 (Commercialization of a viable and proven HydroKinetic Turbine that will harness the power of the world's rivers, canals and estuaries in a sustainable, innovative and cost-effective way.)

Reporting period: 2016-03-01 to 2016-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The SME Instrument Phase 1 project ‘HydroKinetic-25’ ran from 1st March to 1st September 2016 and was led by DP DesignPro Ltd based in Co. Limerick, Ireland. The main goal of the project was to expand on a strategic business plan for commercializing an innovative tidal turbine device. Successfully bringing this device to market would make a viable solution available allowing end users to generate predictable, zero carbon energy from the largely untapped resources of our tides, rivers, canals and estuaries. This could potentially be a large contributor to lowering the world’s harmful CO2 emissions, directly addressing the issue of global warming and the need to move to greener energy sources. Encouraging and supporting the development of devices such as this one is fundamental to achieving our goals regarding renewable, clean energy alternatives.

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

The work performed over the entire project was articulated into 8 key tasks including: a market study, a geographical analysis, optimization of the product, a distribution plan, assessment of risks and barriers, an overview of the proposed manufacturing process, an assessment of the economic viability of the project and continued work and research into regulatory and IP licensing issues. As a result of the Phase 1 project, the company was able to substantially improve the proposed plan and adapt its strategy for the future to a more thought-out scenario. The project’s goals and objectives are now much more focused and a number of key details have been narrowed down.

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)

Thanks to the activities performed over these 6 months, the company achieved a much better understanding of the market with target segments identified and analysed. An in-depth competitor analysis has also been conducted and a strategy for keeping this information up-to-date is now in place. Extensive efforts were put into researching and estimating the market size, growth potential and trends, thus providing DesignPro with a solid foundation for its market approach.

The need to conduct a geographical analysis had been highlighted and the results of this particular task have proven very valuable: a highly focused strategy for conducting a comprehensive geographical study is now ready and exact methodologies and tools that will be used have been selected and justified. For what is a very new market where the exact number of feasible deployment sites is not yet known, having a solid plan on how to progress this work is critical to the next stage in the project’s development.

Significant progress has also been made on the optimization of the product with a 10Kw device being successfully demonstrated for a period of 4 months. Other key elements for the business plan such as distribution, risks and barriers and the economic viability have all been built out in more detail. Overall the project has proved invaluable in supporting the company to determine many critical aspects of the core business idea while also adding significant weight to the project and allowing for a much more focused approach moving into the next stages.

Graphic showing how device can easily be towed out to deployment site

Paul Collins of DesignPro shown with Vincent Mc Cormack from GKinetic Energy Ltd with device