- Nearly a hundred professionals and technicians from the partners of the European project Redawn to improve the energy efficiency of water distribution in networks through the use of microturbines attended this Wednesday in Palma del Río (Córdoba), from Spain, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Ireland, France, Portugal and Italy, to the ‘Energy Day’, to present the project and its pilot plant in Spain.
Specifically, as reported by Feragua, it has been the Irrigation Community of the Genil Left Bank, in Palma del Río, which has hosted the aforementioned ‘Energy Day’, held within the framework of the Redawn project and organized by Feragua and Watef ( Water Efficiency NetWork), from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, and which has served for the launching of the pilot plant in Spain of the project, located in the Cortijo Calonge estate.
This meeting was attended by almost a hundred professionals and technicians from the countries already mentioned and involved in Redawn, who have attended several conferences and have made a visit to the pilot plant in Spain of the project, located on the aforementioned farm, which has the objective of evaluating the economic, social and environmental impact of mini-hydraulic energy in irrigation networks, to reduce energy dependence.
The day has been closed by the president of the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG), Joaquín Páez Landa; the director of Agricultural and Livestock Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, Manuel Gómez Galera; the managing director of the Andalusian Energy Agency, Jorge Juan Jiménez Luna; and the mayors of Palma del Río and Lora del Río (Seville), José Antonio Ruiz Almenara and Antonio Miguel Enamorado Aguilar, respectively.
Redawn is a three-year European innovation project that studies how to improve energy efficiency in the water distribution networks of the Atlantic area, through innovative technology based on the use of microturbines and reverse pumps.
It is endowed with a budget of 2.9 million euros, co-financed by Feder funds through the Interreg Atlantic Area program. Its partners are the Spanish Feragua, Asturian Energy Foundation (FAEN) and the University of Córdoba; from the United Kingdom: Watef, Action Renewables and Nothern Ireland Water; of Portugal: IST Technician Lisbon, Hidropower, Renova, EDA Renovaveis, Electricidade de Madeira and Portuguese Water Partnership; of France: Service Public de l’eau; of Ireland: Trinity College Dublin, and of Italy: Universitá degli Studi di Napoli Federico II.
Through this project the possibilities of mini-hydraulic energy will be evaluated in the water networks of the Atlantic area, including supply networks, industry networks and irrigation networks. To do so, it will have three pilot plants where mini-hydroelectric power generators with medium powers will be installed in the environment of ten kilowatts.
As pointed out in his speech by the Secretary General of Feragua, Pedro Parias, three percent of global energy consumption is associated with the production, distribution and treatment of water, “which is the fourth sector that consumes the most energy and contributes measure to the emission of CO2 “.
Water treatment must be added to the economic cost, “since up to 80 percent of the water cost for water supply is associated with the energy required for its collection, treatment and distribution and, in the case of irrigation, represents on average 30 percent of the farmer’s budget and in some cases exceeding 50 percent. ”
In addition, localized irrigation, which already represents 50 percent of the irrigated area in Spain and 75 percent in Andalusia, manages water more efficiently, but consumes more energy, having doubled its electricity costs since 2008, and ascending in Andalusia the electric bill of irrigation to about 180 million Euros.
These data, together with the forecast of the growth of 33 percent of the world population by 2050 and more than 50 percent of the energy demand (above food or water), make it necessary to promote this type of recovery technology. hydroelectric power in water networks, which in the case of the Cortijo Calonge farm pilot plant will contribute to recovering “around 12 Mwh and generating an environmental saving of more than 9.5 tons of CO2”.
Together with Feragua, responsible for the dissemination of the project in the field of irrigation, the Spanish partners of the project are the FAEN, which will provide the investment in the pilot plant, and the University of Córdoba, which will define the technical requirements and develop the research field, working in coordination with Trinity College Dublin.
It will be, as Pedro Parias has added, a mini-hydraulic energy generation plant for irrigation “completely pioneer in Europe”, whose tender and execution will turn Cordoba, Andalusia and Spain “into the epicenter of a major European innovation project to promote energy saving and improve the environmental impact of irrigation. ”
During the ‘Energy Day’, in addition to the general secretary of Feragua, Miguel Crespo Chacón (Trinity College Dublin) and Juan Antonio Rodríguez Díaz and Jorge García Morillo (University of Córdoba), who presented the pilot plant, and Sara Robles Fernández, from the Department of Energy Infrastructure and Renewable Installations of the Andalusian Energy Agency, who has offered a presentation on the situation of renewable energy in Andalusia.