Grant of €4m for engineering firm

Tullamore: Engineering group R and R Mechanical is to get a €4m EU research grant to develop a new system of cooling down solar energy plants.

The company worked on the project with the Stokes Institute at the University of Limerick and submitted the proposal to the EU Commission earlier this year. 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 consumes large amounts of power.