Swiss Bluetec Bridge supports three new cleantech projects

The Swiss Bluetec Bridge, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, strives to accelerate sustainable access to water for economically poor people in rural areas and small towns in developing and emerging countries. The organisation provides financial and technical support to Swiss start-ups and small and medium companies (SME) owning innovative technologies and/or processes to adapt their products and services to the specific needs of under- or unserved customers and get ready for the roll-out of their technology with private financial support. Selected projects receive up to 50% of project costs (max. CHF 250,000 per project) in the form of an interest-free loan.

Newly supported projects are:

Sunlight pump – the solar pump for smallholders
Ennos gmbh develops and distributes the sunlight pump, a portable solar water pump for irrigation and domestic water supply in developing countries. Within the next six years, ennos plans to scale up the production and marketing capacity to around 1’000 sunlight pump units per month. The vision of ennos is to supply a high quality product and make it accessible and affordable for smallholder farmers. Beyond that, ennos wants to offer extensive support and after sales services to the customers to guarantee a productive use of the technology for many years. The Swiss-based company ennos gmbh was founded in 2006 as a spin-off of Berne University of Applied Sciences in Biel/Bienne.

Water kiosks for northern Kenya
Rural populations in northern Kenya suffer from acute water scarcity because the environment they live in is semi-arid. Local infrastructure is limited and a pastoralist lifestyle prevails. Water scarcity, poor water quality and opportunity costs (time spent searching for and collecting water, nutritional loss, etc.) lead to frequent water borne diseases. The plan is to investigate and install twelve water treatment systems in the form of water kiosks in partnership with the villagers.
Project Owner is AquaNetto Group GmbH, based in Sierre and founded in 2007. The company develops and markets a flexible, decentralized and modular water treatment solution. Although specialised in ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, AquaNetto products and solutions combine the advantages of UV disinfection with complementary technologies, thereby enhancing the overall level of treatment. It can be provided in stationary or mobile fashion. This modular approach enables a wide range of needs to be met using a relatively small range of components.

Pumpex for more efficient water supply
Despite abundant water sources, access to water remains difficult in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This is mainly due to organisational and infrastructure problems. The project will develop a commercial structure for the sale of a novel high-pressure solar pumping system capable of pumping water from small boreholes. The project aims to develop the market in the DRC through a network of local partners (NGOs, companies, churches, well owners, farmers’ cooperatives and individuals) and demonstration projects. In the short term, the objective is to sell 200 pumps. In the long term, the market in the DRC is estimated at 10,000 pumps per year. The objectives are to reduce water usage and fuel consumption as well as to half the water supply price. Project owner is Swiss Intech, an incubator for renewable solutions incorporated in La Tour-de-Peilz.