The meeco Group’s Latin American subsidiary develops answer to irrigation in remote areas
After conducting a thorough market research, Dr. Oliver Jann, President of meeco América Latina S.A. and his team, determined an enormous market potential solar-powered and mobile water pumping systems. For the last 6 months, a team of photovoltaic and water pumping experts has been working on the development of a trailer based mobile solution to satisfy this need.
The concept behind the sun2flow solution is rather simple: bringing together first class photovoltaics with most advanced and reliable water pumping technology. The integration of both components and technologies in a robust trailer is what makes this product so special. Dr. Oliver Jann, explains: “The final customer needs have been driving this endeavour and have always been the undisputed priority in the sun2flow product development. The typical user is a farmer looking to pump water for animal water supply or irrigation, or to transfer large amounts of water into reservoirs. Usually this situation can be found in very remote areas, which is why the solution had to be designed to endure a heavy transport, daily use, and be able to carry additional loads.” In addition, the sun2flow can be easily combined with extra components to provide off-grid power, energy storage and street lighting among other extended applications.
sun2flow makes solar water pumping in remote areas a reality and excludes diesel generators from the equation. The development process steered by meeco América Latina, involved the local engineering company Everest Ingeniería SRL, representative of the well-known GRUNDFOS pumps. The result is an all-in-one mobile pumping station that pumps up to 19 cubic meters of water per hour. Engineer Jorge Roa, General Manager of Everest Ingeniería SRL, explains that his “company is currently promoting the GRUNDFOS solar water pumping systems, which are already being used in the region (Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina) and have proven to be excellent for potable water pumping, cattle water, transfer from water reservoirs into tanks, irrigation systems in open channels and other remote applications. This solution is a great alternative to fuel-based systems and its payback period is rather short.” On the strategic partnership with meeco, Roa adds: “We benefit from meeco’s solar technologies design, engineering and procurement capabilities as well as the installation expertise. Combine these with the flexible water pumping systems such as the GRUNDFOS SQFlex, that will eventually be installed in remote areas where traditional power supply sources are not available and a win-win situation is the result.”
