Le Salon de la Maison et du Jardin, le plus grand en la matière en République de Maurice, a eu lieu du 25 au 29 avril à Pailles, au Centre  International de Conférences Swami Vivekananda, situé tout juste à 10 minutes de la capitale, Port-Louis. Plus de 120 exposants étaient présents sur les 5 jours de salon et Le Groupe meeco, basé en Suisse, à été lui aussi représenté par son partenaire local Solar-Ernte- Technik LTD (SETL), membre du Groupe Leal, un acteur principal dans la région.

Leader sur l’île dans le domaine de la photovoltaïque, SETL a eu un rôle très actif jusqu’à présent en ce qui concerne les installations de services à grande échelle. Lors de cette dernière édition du « Salon de la Maison et du Jardin », SETL a voulu profiter de l’occasion pour adapter sa stratégie de marché tel que l’explique Deven Maulloo, Directeur Général : « Aujourd’hui notre portefeuille de solutions en énergies renouvelables couvre plus d’options, des solutions d’énergie portable au stockage d’électricité de moyenne envergure, conçues pour des applications résidentielles et commerciales. »  A l’issue du Salon de la Maison et du Jardin, SETL a affirmé que ces nouveautés avaient suscité un grand intérêt parmi les visiteurs.

Pour SETL ainsi que pour le Groupe meeco le point fort du salon a été le lancement global de sun2live^TM, une solution associant photovoltaïque et stockage d’électricité, disponible en deux modèles standard, 6 kW/16 kWh (photovoltaïque/stockage d’électricité) et 12 kW/32 kWh. Ces solutions utilisent des composants photovoltaïques de haute qualité ainsi que la plus avancée des technologies de batteries aux ions lithium de Durion GmbH. Aussi présente au salon et complétant la gamme des produits meeco, était la nouvelle version du sun2go, la solution d’énergie portable fournissant entre 1 et 2 kWh de stockage d’énergie, pouvant être rechargée via le réseau électrique ou grâce à l’utilisation de panneaux solaires pliables.

« Depuis la récente interruption du programme de prime au kWh par CEB, société gérant le réseau électrique local, le stockage d’électricité est devenu un enjeu d’importance nationale sur l’Île Maurice” commente Roland Viard, Responsable de Ventes off-grid chez meeco. “ Malgré la taille réduite du territoire, il existe un énorme potentiel pour les installations combinant l’énergie solaire et le stockage d’électricité », ajoute Viard.

Ci-dessous quelques impressions de la participation au salon.

The largest home and garden trade show in the Republic of Mauritius took place from April 25-29 at the Swami Vivekananda International Conference Centre in Pailles, just 10 minutes away from the capital Port-Louis. Over 120 exhibitors were present during this 5-day trade show and The Swiss-based meeco Group was also present via its local partner Solar-Ernte-Technik LTD (SETL), member of the major regional actor, the Leal Group of companies.

Leading the photovoltaic sector in Mauritius, SETL was actively involved until now in the large utility scale installations. At this year’s “Salon de la Maison et du Jardin”, SETL introduced a change in its market strategy as Deven Maulloo, General Manager of SETL explains: “Today we offer a more comprehensive renewable energy solutions portfolio including small portable to medium energy storage solutions, designed for residential and small commercial applications”. Upon completion of the fair, SETL revealed that a great interest was found in these new solutions.

The highlight of the show for SETL as well as for The meeco Group was the global launch of the new solar photovoltaic and energy storage solutions, sun2live^TM. Two standard models were introduced, the 6 kW/16 kWh (solar PV/energy storage) and respectively the 12kW/32kWh. These solutions use top-tier photovoltaic components along with the latest lithium battery technology such as the lithium ion phosphate systems by Durion GmbH. Completing the product range were also the newly redesigned sun2go portable energy solutions which can now supply 1-2 kWh energy storage, and can be recharged via the grid or using foldable solar modules.

“Since the recent interruption of its Feed-in Tariff program by the local utility CEB, storing renewable energy has become a matter of national importance in Mauritius” says Roland Viard, off-grid Sales Manager for The meeco Group. “There is a huge potential in the installation of combined solar power and energy storage solutions despite the reduced size of the island” adds Viard.

Find below some impressions of our participation at the trade show.

Tras realizar un minucioso estudio de mercado, el presidente de meeco América Latina S.A., Dr. Oliver Jann y su equipo, constataron que existe un enorme potencial de mercado para productos móviles de bombeo de agua utilizando la energía solar. Durante los últimos seis meses, un equipo de expertos en fotovoltaica y bombeo de agua ha trabajado en el desarrollo de un sistema de bombeo móvil sobre remolque para responder a estas necesidades.

El concepto en el que se basa el sistema del sun2flow es bastante sencillo: combinar las tecnologías más avanzadas y fiables de la fotovoltaica y del bombeo de agua. La integración de ambos componentes y tecnologías en un mismo dispositivo móvil hacen que este producto sea tan especial.

Dr. Oliver Jann comenta: “Las necesidades finales del cliente han sido en todo momento nuestra prioridad indiscutible durante el desarrollo del producto sun2flow. El usuario típico es el agricultor que necesita bombear agua sea para el riego de los cultivos, el consumo de agua para los animales o para transvasar grandes cantidades de agua a los depósitos.

Normalmente encontramos esta situación en zonas muy remotas, por lo que el dispositivo ha sido diseñado para un transporte pesado, para el uso diario y para soportar cargas adicionales. Además, el sun2flow se combina fácilmente con componentes adicionales para suministrar electricidad off-grid, ofrecer almacenamiento de energía y alumbrado público, entre otras aplicaciones.

El sun2flow permite el bombeo de agua en zonas remotas, sin necesidad de utilizar generadores diesel. El proceso de desarrollo dirigido por meeco América Latina cuenta con el apoyo de Everest Ingeniería SRL (empresa de ingeniería local) que promociona las reconocidas bombas de aguas “GRUNDFOS”. El resultado es una estación de bombeo móvil, todo -en -uno, que bombea hasta 19 metros cúbicos de agua por hora. El ingeniero y Gerente de Everest Ingeniería SRL, Jorge Roa, explica que su empresa está apostando por estos equipos de bombeo solares GRUNDFOS, que ya son ampliamente utilizados en la región (Uruguay, Brasil, Argentina) con excelentes resultados en aplicaciones de bombeo de agua potable,  agua para ganado,  el transvase desde reservas de agua a depósitos, sistemas de riego en canales abiertos y otras aplicaciones en lugares remotos, siendo una excelente alternativa con respecto a los equipos a combustión y con rápida recuperación de la inversión.” Acerca de su asociación estratégica con meeco, Roa añade: “ Nos beneficiamos de la tecnología de diseño de meeco, de sus capacidades de ingeniería y contratación y de su experiencia en instalaciones. Si además utilizamos esta solución flexible de bombeo de agua, en este caso con la  SQFlex de Grundfos, en las zonas más alejadas y sin acceso a la red, todos saldremos ganando.”

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.”

]]> http://www.meeco.net/blog/2012/04/25/sun2flow-the-new-mobile-water-pumping-solution-by-meeco/feed/ 0 http://www.meeco.net/blog/2012/04/16/the-meeco-group-refines-its-brand-identity-strategy/ http://www.meeco.net/blog/2012/04/16/the-meeco-group-refines-its-brand-identity-strategy/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:06:24 +0000 Konstantin Wolf http://www.meeco.net/blog/?p=1268 Former SunCarrier Services subsidiaries in Spain, Italy and Greece will be named meeco

In line with its continuous global business activity expansion process, the Board of Directors of The meeco Group has decided to rename its country subsidiaries in Alicante (Spain), Milan (Italy) and Athens (Greece). The adopted renaming strategy chosen is a local one, and as such, SunCarrier Services Spain, Italy and Greece will be respectively renamed meeco España, Italia and Hellas.

Jo Hanns Dieter Trutschler, Sales Director of The meeco Group explains: “Our group has been actively pursuing a diversification of its business activities over the last 3 years and as a consequence, large PV projects are no longer a key focus. We felt that now the right moment in time has come to reflect the expanded business path in how we present ourselves to clients and stakeholders, which is why we chose to review our strategic brand identity orientation. The meeco Group of today and tomorrow offers much more than just SunCarrier installations and projects. meeco is active in many markets around the globe with products and solutions from its sun2go, sun2water, sun2grow and sun2com line and works closely with project developers, businesses, governments, technology providers and EPC contractors to structure, finance and commission highly bankable renewable energy projects.”

“By providing the optimal set of services and solutions for each project, we minimize the investment required and maximize return on investment for clients and stakeholders. This goes way beyond SunCarrier and our former main partner, a+f GmbH. The SunCarrier technology will remain nevertheless an important part of meeco’s products but it will be complemented with a wide range of other top-tier renewable energy technologies.”

By renaming three of its subsidiaries to match the rest of the companies’ naming structure, the Swiss leader in PV-based clean energy makes a step forward into consolidating a global brand identity while still keeping its golden “acting local” rule in markets with strong identities such as Spain, Italy and Greece. The services and solutions offered by The meeco Group in these markets include:

“clear” Advisory Services: strategic consulting, project services and financial advisory

“oursun” Turnkey Solutions: grid connected, off-grid, portable and energy storage solutions

Asset Management: on-going site support for clean energy projects

On March 19th, SunCarrier Services Hellas S.A., a 100 % subsidiary of The meeco Group, connected another rooftop installation in the municipality of Aspropyrgos, Attica (Greece). Situated in the suburbs of Athens, just 20 km Northwest of the capitals’ city center, the location offers one of the best solar irradiation conditions in Southern Europe.

“This 100kW solar photovoltaic installation is now operational and connected to the grid and uses Solar BYD 235Wp polycrystalline modules in association with KACO Powador 39.0 TL3-XL-INT inverters”, explains George Kitoudis, Technical & Operations Manager for The meeco Group in Greece. “The installation is expected to generate at least 135’000 kWh per year, which amounts to yearly savings of approximately 95 tons of CO2 emissions. This rooftop integrated solar installation which is connected to the national electricity grid, benefits from a Feed-in-Tariff of EURO 0.3949 per kWh. This tariff is part of a 20 year policy that not only creates jobs in the installation phase but also during the entire lifetime of the system.”

The meeco Group along with its subsidiary SunCarrier Services Hellas, decided to work with reliable leading local partners, such as Thricon Energy for the completion of the installation, Alumil for the supply of the mounting systems and again Thricon Energy who was in charge of completing the final stage of the license development.

“We are optimistic as far as expansion in the market is concerned as there is a real green energy mentality factor in the country. More PV installations will be added to the Greek grid, in fact the next project will be actually connected within the next weeks”, says George Kitoudis.

Back in September 2010, The meeco Group was selected by the French Farmex Technologies to install two off-grid systems on the island of Grenada, for the National Water and Sewage Authority (Nawasa). Two years after, Farmex technologies whose activities include water pumping, wastewater treatment, irrigation and water re-use, defines it as being a great success story.

Both solar photovoltaic and energy storage installations were provided and installed by The meeco Group on the island of Grenada, which is located in the Southeastern Caribbean Sea. These stand-alone renewable energy systems are since then reliably powering water treatment plants. They are located in the surroundings of Les Avocats and Mamma Cannes, Grenada.

Olivier Bariau, project manager at Farmex in charge of this implementation describes the success of the installations: “A quick calculation, based on the present price of EC$ (East Caribbean Dollar) 15.50 per Gallon of diesel and a consumption of the former generator system of 0.58 Gallon per hour, this would cause costs of EC$ 78,275.00 or EUR 22,000.00 per year, when operating 24 hours a day and all 365 days of the year. With the investment in the two solar installations we were able to save significant operational costs as well as carbon dioxide emissions. One of the plants has even been paid back in just over a year time. The other one will need about 24 months to be fully amortized due to slightly lower solar radiation values”

Evelyne Tueller-Trolliet, the project manager in charge at The meeco Group underlines: “The installations is intended to work for at least ten years. Thus, the initial investment of the client has been repaid in nearly no time and Nawasa can be pleased with saving a lot of money and more importantly, to contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and thus giving a clear contribution to preventing further global warming.”

Dieter Trutschler, Sales Director of The meeco Group adds: “We are truly happy to see that our client is satisfied with the results and the short payback times of the installations. That is precisely what our business is about: matching the economical needs of our clients using environment friendly technology while supporting both the financial success of our clients and strongly contributing to a clean future.”

Find attached some pictures of the respective installations (Photos by Derek Pickell).

100% renewable energy production and storage at Consolidated Contracting Company (CCC) workers camp by meeco

February 2012 will mean the completion of a brand new solar photovoltaic and energy storage installation by The meeco Group located 120 km South West of Abu Dhabi for Consolidated Contracting Company (CCC) – a leading diversified company carrying out construction, engineering, procurement, development and investment activities internationally with emphasis on the Middle East region. CCC was recently selected to construct the new presidential palace in Ras Al-Akhdar, Abu Dhabi.

This solar photovoltaic and energy storage installation named ‘Sahel’, was initiated by Claude-André Tueller, Middle & Far East Director for The meeco Group, signed at CCC Headquarters in Athens by Dieter Trutschler, Sales Director of the meeco Executive Board and coordinated by Evelyne Tueller, Know-How Middle East Director. The project is composed of unique top-tier components, namely a 33,7 kWp SunCarrier single-axis tracking system, a 18,5 kWp Schletter carport structure and a CellCube 10 kW / 100 kWh Vanadium Redox flow battery. Until now the CCC workers camp was fully powered by diesel generators, common currency in the Middle East given the fuel prices. The ‘Sahel’ project will now supply an entire office building with renewable energy and opens the way to a new way of thinking in the region, CCC’s counterpart for the project Mr. Naim Abu Laila explains.

Completed in mid October, the first part of the project construction was undertaken by the main contractor CCC and led by Michael Georg, Head of Site Implementation at meeco. ‘CCC made it possible to allocate the necessary resources for an efficient project construction while fully respecting safety work regulations. I found a fully cooperative staff on-site and the deployment could not have run better” insists Georg.

Expected to be connected and commissioned at the end of this month, and thanks to extraordinary solar radiation conditions (over 2000 kWh/m2 per year), the 52,2 kWp solar installation is expected to generate a minimum output of 94324 kWh per year. ‘In this production scenario and with this highly engineered solar solution we substantially contribute to offsetting CCC’s carbon footprint, saving the equivalent of 59 tons of CO2 emissions within a year of production’ comments Dieter Trutschler.

MEDIENKONTOR Dresden GmbH starts off the year with a new naming and visual identity project called “Durion”. Since November 2011, the Dresden-based PR agency has put in place a new line of services, namely Visual Identity and Branding along with its new tagline “Making content visible”. The request to create a holistic branding concept came from the Swiss-based, Clean Energy Invest AG. The client wanted to create a brand that would reflect the forward-thinking philosophy of a technology business and at same time produce an identity that is structurally different from the existing energy storage systems in the market.

To answer this need, MEDIENKONTOR first proceeded to the traditional research work and mind mapping in order to identify key concepts and naming leads. The “Durion” brand came from the association of the words “durable” and “lithium ion”. Filipe Webermann, in charge of the Visual Identity services at MEDIENKONTOR, explains: “In order to perpetuate these concepts, a bold and incisive wordmark was created with a strong d-shaped icon, allowing for an easy and instinctive cross-functional media implementation using this squared “flame” and thus generate the desired brand awareness”. Along with the “Durion” wordmark comes the slogan “Storage made smart”, which underlines the cleverness and uninterrupted remote control capabilities of these energy storage solutions. At the core of MEDIENKONTOR’s competencies is content editing combined with visual identity – this combination was fully used in the Durion solutions’ overview brochure as well as the website, both media where it developed the content and designed the layout.

“We had very little time to bring something to life and we were impressed with MEDIENKONTOR’s reaction” says Prof. Dr. Norbert Menke, Managing Director at Clean Energy Invest AG. “Within such a time frame, MEDIENKONTOR worked efficiently with us and managed to produce results that we are truly proud of – a strong and consistent brand identity that has already convinced potential clients to work with us” adds Dr. Menke.

MEDIENKONTOR’s work with Clean Energy Invest AG is not over, as the company plans to develop new sales tools, interactive marketing materials and deploy its first energy storage containers to clients in the next few months.

For further information visit: www.durionenergy.com or www.medienkontor.net

SunCarrier Services Hellas S.A., the fully owned Greek subsidiary of the Swiss-based meeco Group has recently contracted two new roof turnkey PV projects. The projects are located in the municipality of Aspropyrgos, Attica with a nominal capacity of 100 kWp each.

George Kitoudis, Director of SunCarrier Services Hellas S.A. explains: “The projects will utilize 850 units 235Wp modules of BYD, as well as six units KACO Powador 39.0 TL3 inverters. The parks are estimated to yield a total of 280.000 kWh of energy produced per year, which amounts to yearly savings of approximately 180 tons in CO2 emissions.

The construction will be executed by THRICON Energy Co. The connection to the grid is expected by the end of the first quarter 2012

Active in the Greek PV market since late 2008, The meeco Group’s subsidiary has been continuously adding projects to the Group’s portfolio.