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EUROSWAC is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, total budget of €3,515,877.84, including ERDF fund of €2,295,250.24
AIMS: EUROSWAC aims at designing and validating an innovative, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly solution for cooling production, using English Channel’s seawater (widely available renewable energy source) as refrigerant, exploiting temperature difference between cold ocean water and external air temperature.
MOTIVATION: While the need for cooling in large coastal cities is increasing at UK-FR levels (due to climate change crease), cooling is still mainly produced through chillers, a technology using large amounts of electricity generated partially by fossil fuels, slowing down the ability to meet Channel Area (CA) energy-climate objectives. EUROSWAC demonstrates the ability of using the Channel seawater for free cooling, adapting an existing technology used in tropical areas to the low depth and temperate climate of CA.
PARTNERSHIP: Building on complementary expertise of 11 UK-FR partners from the academic and industrial fields and on the analysis of Channel’s unique features, EUROSWAC aims to develop and test in real life conditions a SWAC prototype at the Brixham laboratory and National Lobster Hatchery in UK. This shallow-water based SWAC system will be the first to support enhancing aquaculture food-stock, which will represent major benefits in regards to CO2 emissions, lifespan and costs compared to existing solutions.
THE NATIONAL LOBSTER HATCHERY’S INVOLVEMENT: As a marine conservation charity, environmental sustainability is always at the forefront of how we operate. EUROSWAC fits in perfectly with what we are striving to achieve – a more energy efficient and sustainable way of conducting our operations.
Since the NLH was established in the year 2000, general aquaculture technology has changed very little. To control temperature on our lobster rearing system we use chiller units that heat and cool the water as necessary. The disadvantage of these units is that they can have high energy demands, particularly in the summer months when we need to keep the systems cool for the lobsters. By trialing a specifically design SWAC system, the NLH is hoping to demonstrate how temperature regulation of land-based aquaculture systems (such as our demonstration site in Newlyn) can become more efficient by using the natural cooling capabilities of seawater.
For more information on the project and its results please click here: https://euroswac.fr/
