Today 1.3 billion humans (mainly living in Africa, India and Latin America) still lack access to electricity. For these people, the lack of access to energy goes along with marginalization from their nation’s social, political and economic life. As the specific costs for energy (diesel, batteries or even firewood) in those remote regions are often much higher than in industrialized nations, continuous or productive use of energy is hardly affordable. Slow Flow is a perfect solution in these markets. Smart Hydro Power Gmbh’s existing product is a kinetic micro hybrid integrated system composed by a hydro-turbine, a photovoltaic (PV) plant, batteries and energy management system, in order to generate solutions for remote and water-abundant regions by connecting the hydrokinetic potential watercourses to smart grid solutions. The new kinetic turbine, called Slow Flow, which has been subject to the grant, is smaller, less expensive and easier to handle than the existing turbine and is therefore addressing a broader market.
Slow Flow is aimed for two types of markets: i) energy driven markets where rural electrification is the major segment (such as Africa, Latin America, and Asia) and ii) in the leisure European B2C market. Smart Hydro Power have already implemented many projects in Nigeria, Africa, two Latin American countries (Peru and Colombia) and in two Asian countries (India and Indonesia). Smart Hydro Power wants to focus on market segments such as governmental and non-governmental organizations active in emergency aid, as these organizations play a major role in the aforementioned countries.
