Entech is leading the C-3POe consortium, which aims to supply electricity and water to remote islands and coastal sites

Entech is announcing the launch of the C3POe project,
which aims to develop a range of plug and play products for sustainable electricity and water supplies based on renewable marine resources. These products are intended for coastal or island communities of 100 to 1,000 people who lack access to water and electricity. This project brings together a consortium, led by Entech, in which the main partners are H2X ECOSYSTEMS (hydrogen), SLCE
Watermakers (desalination) and Université Bretagne Sud (research). It is funded by the European Union (ERDF), the Brittany Region, the Lorient agglomeration and Rennes Métropole as part of the call for projects “Collaborative innovation at the crossroads of sectors”, supported by the competitiveness clusters.

For Christopher Franquet, Entech’s Chairman and founder: “The C-3POe project is a response to the major issues surrounding access to energy and water, which are key factors for development globally, including in Europe. The effective combination of technologies linked to renewable energies can ensure sustainable supplies of water and electricity for the communities concerned, which estimates indicate will represent more than one third of the world’s population by 2030″.

 

C-3POe project objective

The C-3POe project’s objective is to address the issue of supplies for islands and coastal areas that have a shortage of water and electricity, but have access to seawater, renewable marine energies and the sun. The markets targeted are the European islands, including the islands off the coast of Brittany, as well as the islands in the West Indies, the Indian Ocean and Polynesia, and the coastal areas of Africa and the Middle East.

The products designed by the consortium are microgrids with integrated desalination and electrolysis units and batteries. The water produced by the desalination will be able to supply residents with drinking water and be transformed into hydrogen, through the electrolyser, to store energy over the medium term, supplementing the batteries. The systems, which will be fully independent and sustainable, will need to be easy to integrate (containerised solutions) in order to adapt to local resources and requirements for water and electricity. They will need to be easy to operate by the communities over the long term, thanks in particular to assistance, management and diagnostics software.

The project’s business model is therefore based primarily on selling equipment. The first sales are
expected within the next one to three years. The potential over the longer term is estimated at more than €10m of annual revenues for the consortium, with Entech’s share representing around 40%.