Innovation for genuine needs
Tertulia, vol. 58
Hola. This is Barbara, your guide to the latest cultural news from the Spanish-speaking world. I have long been thinking of a series about industrial innovations and leadership in Spain. An article by Antonia Schäfer in the German weekly Die ZEIT has motivated me to finally kick off the series. This first episode is about Arana Water Management, a small company which developed a novel and affordable system that helps farmers reduce water consumption for irrigation.
Adapting agriculture in times of water scarcity
Spain is one of the EU countries most affected by climate change. Some 20% of mainland Spain is already desertified, due to climate change and human responsibility, such as overexploitation of water, particularly groundwater extraction, and 74% is at risk of desertification. At the same time, Spain needs a lot of water for its essential industries: tourism and agriculture. For farmers, it means saving water consumption for irrigation whenever possible. For many years, they have been building water reservoirs to have enough irrigation water for when water supply is scarce. However, higher temperatures lead to more water loss due to higher evaporation. The example of the Segura River basin is impressive:
Under the climatic conditions of southern Europe, irrigation reservoirs lose 1.8 cubic metres of water annually for each square metre of open-air storage surface. This means, for the Segura river basin alone, annual evaporation losses of 60 cubic hectometres, which represents 4% of the water used for agriculture, or the equivalent of 22.5% of the urban demand of the same basin, or 13% of the deficit of the Segura basin. Â (quote: https://arana-wm.com/, translated with DeepL)
Evaporative losses in agricultural water reservoirs in Europe’s most water-stressed regions (Portugal, Spain, Italy) amount to more than 72 million cubic meters during warm months (April to September) accounting for 38% of the total storage capacity. This is the amount of water to fill 28’800 regular Olympic swimming pools, assuming that each requires a volume of 2,500 cubic metres of water. A staggering figure.
This might still be abstract to imagine. If you happen to have a more instructive comparison, please let me know.
How does it work?
Over the last ten years, three engineers from Lorca, a small town in the province of Murcia, have been developing a solution that reduces evaporation losses.
Evapo Control is a modular floating cover system. It consists of individual hollow Polyethylene modules, around 25 cm in diameter, that interlock together to form a compact honeycomb surface cover over the water. The modules float on the water surface and form a barrier that blocks the sunlight. By covering the water surface, the Evapo Control system significantly reduces evaporation losses, with the manufacturer claiming up to 80% reduction in evaporative water loss. Measured in terms of the hours of sunshine in Murcia, the region in which Lorca is located, that's an average of 1,000 litres of water saved per square metre of surface area per year.
The modular design allows the cover to expand or contract to match the reservoir's surface area.
As a positive side effect, the floating modules help to prevent algae growth and unpleasant odour by blocking sunlight penetration. Furthermore, the modules are completely recyclable and have an estimated life span of 15 years. The solution’s low-tech character also helps to keep production costs low so that small farmers can afford the solution. Both installation and maintenance are easy once the measurements are taken. This is a video showing a typical installation:
When deployed the modules self-organize and have been tested for being resistant to winds of more than 80 km/h over a covered area of more than 1 hectare.
If you are interested in the technical details, have a look at the product sheet (in Spanish): https://evapocontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FICHA-TECNICA-EVAPOCONTROL.pdf
Achievements
Evapo Control, thus, prevents direct evaporation losses and algae growth due to sunlight exposure. This also reduces unpleasant odours and improves the overall quality of the water. The solution is economically viable and ecologically sustainable. In comparison, underground reservoirs are expensive to build and difficult to maintain.
According to the article in DIE ZEIT, the modules have been sold in five European countries. They have covered 172 reservoirs so far. Last year, for the first time the company made a profit.
Funding and cooperation
As the engineers told Antonio Schäfer, first they did not want to develop the solution by themselves. They hoped to convince a bigger company to take their prototype to market. However, they did not find one to take over their idea so the engineers did it themselves and founded Arana Water Management. They applied for a grant from the Horizon 2020 program Industrial Leadership - Innovation in SMEs and looked for academic partners to validate their project, like the Polytechnic University of Cartagena. Apart from that, the company also cooperated with Brigaid, another EU-funded project management think tank that aims to bring innovators and end-users together, and Info, the regional development agency of Murcia.
Outlook: Turning evapo control into evapo solar
Arana Water Management is exploring the use of these floating modules to generate energy. Currently, they are assessing the amount and quality of solar energy produced, along with its management system, in real operational settings. The results of these tests will be compared with those from a standard fixed photovoltaic panel system, which is situated in a shed on the same farm. This comparison will determine if incorporating the new function will enhance a farm’s energy self-sufficiency. After all, the company aims to maintain the cost-effectiveness of the new solution evapo solar.
I hope you see that despite all political controversies, engineers and project managers in all areas affected by climate change continue working towards a livable future for all of us. It’s often the small steps that help inspire others. I’ll resume the innovation series over the summer to showcase more interesting projects from Spain.