A company based in Tullamore, Co Offaly, is to benefit from a €4m EU research grant after receiving top ranking in a list of projects submitted to the European Commission earlier this year.
R&R Mechanical has developed a new system called MACCsol to cool solar power plants. R&R worked on the project with the Stokes Institute at the University of Limerick and submitted the proposal to the Commission earlier this year.
It achieved first place out of 61 EU-wide proposals in its category in an assessment which looked at the projects' scientific value, efficiency and potential economic impact.
The research project being funded by the EU will last for four and a half years and will be based jointly in R&R's offices and the University of Limerick. The aim is to develop the system for sale internationally. Five other companies are partners in the project.
The EU aims to exploit vast solar energy resources in the Mediterranean areas of Europe and North Africa to help meet renewable energy targets. But current air-cooling technology consumers large amounts of power. The MACCsol system is aimed at increasing solar plants' efficiency.
