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.

We will combine existing, mature solar, desalination and biomass technologies in a closed-loop design to simultaneously address supply and demand mismatches/energy storage issues that present a significant barrier to widespread adoption of renewable technologies whilst solving key global energy, water and food resource issues.