The Innovate UK grant, also known as public funding opportunity offers one of the best options for enabling PowerPath to deliver a fully operational prototype, thereby achieving commercialisation and generating a return on investment on the project for the benefit of local communities in Madagascar.
PowerPath’s outcomes will allow project partner Nanoé Madagascar SARL, a company that develops nanogrids; collective solar systems that deliver power to 4-6 households, to become the dominant player in the Madagascar, East Africa and South African markets.
Consortium partner Technovative Solutions Ltd (TVS), a technology incubator turning innovative ideas into reality in sectors including digital healthcare, manufacturing, renewable energy and disaster resilience, will licence their monitoring system as part of the project, leading to revenue increases for the company.
Meanwhile, the Materials Innovation Centre, comprising strategic partners the University of Leicester and TWI, will benefit from continuing to develop its expertise in renewable technologies, thereby enhancing its reputation for delivering solutions that address environmental and social issues.
PowerPath will also amplify the results of a previous collaborative, grant funded project called IMPHORAA, which focused on swift market penetration of a combined set of proven technologies, i.e., solar PV nanogrids, cooling and water pumping, primarily in rural, off-grid communities in the Philippines and Madagascar. This will be achieved by activities including maximising energy access through the balancing capacity of the interconnector, and energy output through the novel, super-hydrophobic PV panel coating.