• • • EDITOR’S CHOICE • • •
VEGA invests in training centre and UK HQ
fter a year-long build, VEGA Controls have opened their own purpose-built training and seminar centre and UK head office at ‘Metior House’, Maresfield, in the heart of Sussex. The facility benefits from almost 10,000 square feet of training and meeting facilities for VEGA customers and stakeholders to use. These include: over 15 working, hands-on equipment and application models of level and pressure technologies, sited in their own networked demonstration area; state of the art Av amenities; full sets of operational training equipment and interconnected desks to help train people to the highest standards. It also boasts a spacious cafe/dining room, with access to an outdoor seating and breakout area adjacent to woodland. Managing director Ray Tregale says, “Along with our exciting new product portfolio, this is our vision and investment for the long term. Purchasing the land and carefully designing the building we need, was not just for now, but for decades to come.” He added “It's a statement of intent and shows our commitment to support product users and engineers across all industries, as well as our staff of course, and to demonstrate our confidence in the future of UK business.”
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The location is around a 40 minute drive from Gatwick airport and 20 minutes from mainline railway stations connecting to London. Ample parking with EV charging is also available. The carbon-neutral building also houses offices and service workshops to provide staff with generous space to work in, to provide support and service for customers. Ray concludes, “When the situation allows, our doors will be open and we will look to encourage visitors for in-person product education and application training, and even for them to use just as a meeting place. It’s available to all our customers and stakeholders with an interest in the UK instrumentation and process automation sectors, as well as others beyond. We can’t wait to see you!”
A breakthrough in solar powered water infrastructure
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Dutch based blended finance manager Climate Fund Managers (CFM) has agreed to co-finance and co-develop the installation of up to 200 desalination units in Kitui County, Kenya. The systems are based on an innovation by Solar Water Solutions, a Finnish water technology company that has solved how to make clean water with solar power, with the lowest energy consumption in the market. The parties now start piloting a project that eventually aims to provide clean water made of brackish ground water for 400 000 Kenyans by 2023. The total
funding opportunity is estimated to be up to USD 15 million. “We are very pleased with the initiative that will bring very clean drinking water to the rural population in Kitui County that needs it most. It is the most exciting project I have been part of in all my career”, says Emmanuel Kisangau, Minister of Water in Kitui County.
The units consist of a container that houses the technology, solar panels, and
a ‘water ATM’ which allows people to buy high-quality water with mobile payments. Tarun Brahma, Head of Investments at Climate Fund Managers states: “This initiative covers a key component of CI2’s investment mandate: supplying safe drinking water with renewable energy to people that currently do not have access. We are excited to partner with Solar Water Solutions and the Kitui Government to develop this opportunity and combine safe drinking water supply with a 100 percent renewable energy solution.” The new technology enables the desalination system to operate without connecting to the grid or using a set of expensive battery bank to store energy. Also, running costs are close to zero thanks to solar power. Antti Pohjola, CEO of Solar Water Solutions: “Through this partnership with CFM and locally with Kitui County and Epicenter Africa, we can together revolutionize access to safe affordable water in rural Kenya. This project marks a breakthrough in solar-powered water infrastructure. It wouldn’t have happened without the four key elements: A sustainable technology that brings down the cost of clean water, access to finance with a leading institutional investor, local partners and a market-based business model.”
44 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • DECEMBER/JANUARY 2021
Recycle2Trade to develop new landfill methane emission monitoring platform
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ecycle2Trade, a leading environmental sector ICT specialist, has signed up to the national SPRINT business support programme. SPRINT funding will enable Recycle2Trade to collaborate with the University of Leicester on a project that will use satellite observations of landfills to detect gas emissions and damage to surrounding vegetation. The SPRINT project will support Recycle2Trade’s development of a
Machine Learning-based data intelligence platform to monitor landfill sites, integrating Internet of Things (IoT) ground detection systems and satellite data from Sentinel-5p and Sentinel-2 missions. This cloud-based solution will provide site operators early warning of emissions, enabling them to take actions to prevent asset damages and therefore reducing the risks for insurance companies. Recycle2Trade Ltd will collaborate with the University of Leicester to
test the feasibility of the Earth Observation component of the platform. The University of Leicester will develop a feasibility study and test approaches for the satellite detection of methane emissions at landfill sites, and for the satellite detection of vegetation health changes in the proximity of landfills due to accidents or mismanagement. The project will involve two research teams from the University of Leicester - the Greenhouse Gas Remote Sensing team within the Earth Observation Science group and the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research.
The project will be funded by a grant from the £5 million SPRINT (SPace
Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme that provides unprecedented access to university space expertise and facilities.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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