SOLHO develops off-grid solar-based energy systems to power horticultural projects, boosting the transition towards sustainable food provision. Their SPRHOUT (Solar-PoweRed Horticultural Off-grid UniT) technology uses sun and seawater to generate all the streams required to operate a greenhouse facility. Once deployed in sunbelt regions, SOLHO aims to help regions overcome the current barriers of poor and unreliable energy infrastructures. The SPRHOUT technology deploys completely off-grid GBHPs, offering unparalleled growth potential to the developers of horticultural projects. We spoke with Adriano Desideri, Co-Founder and CEO about his start-up and experience at SET 18. Read more about them here: www.solho.eu/
What motivated you to start the company?
We wanted to put our studies into practice boosting the transition towards sustainable food provision. Our main goal is to disseminate some of the knowledge and results achieved during our studies into the society, to avoid they remain only on paper!
What was the process for coming up with your product/innovation?
We developed the concept behind the technology in 2015 as a side project during our PhD studies. In October 2016, right after his PhD defense, Adriano started a 3-months program at the Yes!Delft incubator in Delft, the Netherlands which helped us identify a beachhead market for our technology. We spent 9 months talking with possible customers and identifying the problems they were facing. In April 2017, we engaged with the first potential customers: the largest global developers of horticultural projects. In particular, three of these companies signed a letter of intent. In June 2017, we joined the Yes!Delft incubator. In October 2017, we joined the EU Climate-KIC program stage I and were selected among the 10 finalists at the Shell NewEnergyChallenge. In November 2017, we were selected among the EUtop50 Millennial Start-ups and were awarded by IEEE. In December 2017, we received funds from two Dutch grants, the STW take-off and the MIT R&D. These allowed us to start the developments of the prototypes meant to proof the concept behind our technology.
What do you love about the sector you work in?
The challenging environment and the continuous push for innovations.
What keeps you up at night?
Being able to maintain a critical judgment in any moment.
How did you find your overall SET experience and what was your favorite part?
The Tech Festival on Monday the 16th was the most interesting day for us.
What do you think your start-up will look like in three years?
In 3 years from now, we plan to have deployed the first commercial facility, and we will be busy setting up an industrial production line for our product.
