Project description
Warming up investors to solar irrigation projects
Crops need sunlight to grow. Water is also essential. Bringing these two resources together can make all the difference for today’s farmers. Enter the solar water pumping system. There are proven solutions using photovoltaic systems, but they are also expensive. The EU-funded SOLARFARM project will provide the technological and financial solutions for photovoltaic irrigation (PVI) projects that allow them to be financed directly by institutional investors, reducing drastically the costs and uncertainty for farmers. The web-based solution is the result of in-house technological developments for PVI and a tailored business model, including a set of standardised contracts, technical specifications and management protocols. SOLARFARM’s solution includes enhanced systems monitoring and reporting to guarantee transparency for investors.
Objective
Photovoltaic systems for irrigation (PVI) can reduce the energy costs of agriculture by more than 75% while saving up to 30% of its water consumption. There are proven PVI technologies available but investments exceeding € 24 bn are required to install the systems on the European farms. Affordable capital can be obtained for PVI projects from institutional investors if they are “packaged” in suitable investment instruments like green bonds. We aim to provide the technological and financial solutions for PVI projects that allow them to be financed directly by institutional investor, reducing drastically the costs and uncertainty for farmers. The web-based solution is the result of in-house technological developments for PVI and a tailored business model including a set of standardized contracts, technical specifications and management protocols as well as the human resources and infrastructure that allow for the creation of pools of PVI ready to attract institutional investors. Importantly, by introducing the necessary standards and tracking the quality and performance of the assets with a specific methodology, we will ensure that the resulting investment instruments are in full compliance with the new requirements of the European Capital Market Union. Furthermore, the use of blockchain-based smart contracts has the potential to drastically reduce the costs and time required to assess and validate collateralized assets, creating a remarkable business opportunity for our companies
Fields of science
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturesustainable agriculture
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigation
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energysolar energyphotovoltaic
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
15220 BERTAMIRANS AMES
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.