Voltea Solar Powered Irrigation Wins European Union Business Competition
- Dallas, TX
- August 29, 2025
- Authored by Danielle Francisco
Voltea is proud to congratulate its development partner, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, on winning the top award at the PRIMA2Business Pitching Contest, hosted by PRIMA – the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area.
PRIMA is a flagship EU-funded initiative under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, headquartered in Barcelona and backed by more than €500 million. Bringing together 20 countries – including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan – PRIMA supports high-impact innovations in water sustainability, agriculture, and food systems resilience. Since its inception, it has funded over 1,600 projects, creating a powerful network of research institutions, startups, and public-sector innovators.
The winning project, SmaCuMed (“Smart Irrigation Cube for the Mediterranean”), is a solar-powered, all-in-one irrigation and desalination system designed for precision agriculture in arid regions. Intended for small and mid-sized farms, it integrates renewable energy, sensor-controlled irrigation, and customized groundwater desalination to improve crop yields, conserve water, and eliminate fossil fuel dependence.
Developed by Voltea’s partner at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, SmaCuMed builds on experience gained from successful deployments of Voltea technology in multiple developing countries. Proven in full-scale installations in Morocco, the system’s scalable “plug-and-play” design makes it well-suited to address urgent water challenges in climate-vulnerable regions.
“We’re proud to be working directly with the SmaCuMed team on a number of joint product development and business initiatives, which will be ready for release in the upcoming months,” said Todd Marron, CEO of Voltea.
“This recognition highlights not only the strength of this team and their innovation, but also the value of integrating Voltea’s core technology into scalable agricultural solutions. Together, we’re driving real-world impact — improving crop yields, conserving water and energy, and building sustainable solutions where they’re needed most.”
Voltea remains committed to partnering with innovators like the SmaCuMed team to advance water conservation solutions that deliver lasting value in agriculture and beyond.
About Voltea
Voltea has been delivering electro-desalination water treatment equipment to institutional, commercial and industrial customers for more than 15 years. Voltea’s CapDI© systems remove dissolved salts from water using electricity with less environmental cost than any other available technology. Voltea was named Breakthrough Water Technology Company of the Year at the 2018 Global Water Summit in Paris. Also, the company was recognized as one of the 21 Technology Pioneers 2013 at the World Economic Forum, listed in the 2011 Global Cleantech 100 and won the best new technology award at the 2010 Global Water Summit.
