The NPower project, a new Horizon Europe initiative tackling the issue of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) excess, was launched on the 29th of January in Cartagena, Spain.
NPower aims to efficiently recover N and P nutrients using circular approaches across key target sectors such as agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, water and waste management, and industry to re-balance nutrient flows and restore ecosystems damaged by nutrient pollution.
The NPower project consortium, consisting of 25 partners from six European countries, will implement innovative solutions to promote a circular economy of nutrients and enhance nutrient sustainability. This will be achieved through the development of regional clusters in Spain, Belgium, Finland, and Ireland, where each cluster will contribute their insights to determine best practices and governance measures. Spain will act as a demonstration hub, developing nutrient recovery technologies and advancing N/P management strategies, while Belgium, Finland, and Ireland will assess the applicability of the solutions for translation to their regions.
Commenting on the initiative, NPower Project Co-ordinator Miguel Ángel Suárez (R&D Engineer at the CETENMA Technology Centre for Energy and Environment, Spain) stated: “Nitrogen and phosphorous are essential nutrients for agriculture, yet their mismanagement leads to significant environmental issues. The EU-funded project NPower aims to rebalance these nutrient flows and reduce emissions by providing innovative solutions tailored to diverse regional challenges. Solutions, such as best practices and governance measures will be identified and co-created working in collaboration with key emitting sectors, as for instance agriculture, in four regional clusters in Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Finland, ensuring solutions are adaptable across Europe’s diverse landscapes. In this sense, Ireland offers crucial insights from an insular perspective, particularly for maritime environments. NPower has a duration of 4 years and €9.5 million budget, gathering 25 partners from 6 different European countries”.
The NPower Irish cluster consists of partners from CircBio at Munster Technological University and BiOrbic at University College Dublin, together with the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF), and will serve as a knowledge hub providing expertise in bioeconomy-related activities such as nutrient recycling, biorefining, and bioenergy. This represents an important opportunity to build on the progress that has been made in Ireland towards a nature positive, climate neutral, and innovative bioeconomy that strives to develop bio-based technologies and products in an effort to create more sustainable supply chains and waste streams, particularly across agri-food, forestry, and marine sectors.
Clodagh Carr, Researcher and Network Manager with CircBio at MTU added: “We are delighted to be part of the NPower consortium, and it has been great to officially meet with our project partners at the launch event in Cartagena, Spain to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and next steps in re-balancing nitrogen and phosphorous flows across Europe. MTU will play a lead role in establishing NPower regional clusters and stakeholder networks, which will be crucial in the execution of activities throughout the project. We are also leading the Irish regional cluster and will work together with our Irish partners to contribute expertise on nutrient management and circular, bio-based practices. In turn, we will evaluate the transferability of NPower solutions to our local communities in Ireland”.
Eoin Syron, Lecturer and Investigator with BiOrbic at UCD added: “Nutrient management is a topical issue in Ireland at the moment, with the term ‘Nitrates Directive’ frequently in the news. Here in UCD we are looking forward to working with the Irish and European partners to evaluate technologies for nutrient recovery and explore policies and practices for effective management”.
Gavin Moroney, European Project Manager with the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation concluded with: “IBF are involved in many meaningful projects in collaboration with our European partners and NPower is particularly relevant to find solutions and opportunities to our own nitrogen and phosphorous emitting sectors. IBF are looking forward to working with our new partners, particularly our Irish network of MTU and UCD, in which we hope to deliver solutions that are applicable in as many European realities as possible, helping restore ecosystems across the EU contributing to a better environment for all”.
With the project officially underway, the multidisciplinary NPower team consisting of researchers, practitioner organisations, and policy representatives are currently working to gather information and build stakeholder networks that will guide activities throughout the project.
For updates on NPower, see https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-npower and for more information visit https://www.npower.es
