Welcome to the home of the EC project RAMseS. 

RAMseS means a Renewable Energy Agricultural Multi-purpose System for Farmers. This a project supported by the European Commission's Framework Six Programme.

The main goal is to develop an integrated all-solar power system, essentially a multi-purpose agricultural vehicle powered by photovoltaics, which will be suitable for Southern Mediterranean countries, since solar irradiation is suitably high there.

  PROJECT SUMMARY

The project aims at a first step towards bypassing all the problems related to the progressively increasing prices of fuels derived from fossil resources. This increase in prices is especially damaging for agriculture. Modern agriculture is heavily dependent on fossil fuels for agricultural vehicles, machines, processors, etc. This goal will be attained by developing an integrated all-solar power system. The innovative element of such a system is the dual use of batteries, which not only provide energy storage, but also power for an all purpose electric vehicle. The envisaged system is especially suitable for Southern Mediterranean countries where the potential for renewable energy is very high in terms of solar irradiation.

This all new system will rely on three main features:

1.   It will be built using standardized parts, most of them easy to find in Southern Mediterranean countries,

2.   It will be easy to assemble and to operate and maintain,

3.   It will be powered exclusively by solar power, thus making its operating costs as low as the batteries operating costs.

In order to produce the best results out of the characteristic of the described system, this project is specifically focused on the development of the system for a specific area of Mediterranean agriculture: greenhouse cultivation, terrace farming, wine farming etc. In the last 15 years, greenhouse cultivation has witnessed a spectacular development, making it a target for aid programs set up by the national governments and international bodies such as FAO. By now, Greenhouses have become large enough that the various activities carried on inside need some kind of mechanical support, primarily transportation of products, fertilizers, etc, as well as spraying and irrigating. Conventional agricultural vehicles can be used for servicing greenhouse cultivations, but the exhaust fumes in a closed space are an unsolvable problem. The proposed RAMseS vehicle would be able to run inside greenhouses without any such problems.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The present proposal aims at developing a fully operational prototype of a power generation and management system consisting in a photovoltaic power generation unit where a battery power storage system will be coupled to an agricultural vehicle propelled by electric motors. The power system is not to be thought necessarily as providing "energy independence" for the farm (although it may be). However, self-sufficiency would mean to pass up an opportunity for the farm to sell electric power to the grid and make a profit. Rather, the idea is to couple the power system with a practical light/medium duty vehicle for agricultural labor and activities under greenhouse and terrace cultivation where the need of a small machine is obligatory. The vehicle would be used for crops transportation, spraying of pesticides, irrigation, crops collection and it can be used also as an all purpose, low speed road vehicle. Full daytime operation would be insured by a battery switching system, fast and simple. The system's performance will be optimal when several PV and vehicle units will be operating within a connected grid. In this case, at any given moment, a number of vehicles will be under charge or operating as storage, whereas others will be in operation as vehicles. The present proposal aims at a prototype to be used as test and "seed" for this larger future system.