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UK Innovate Review Draft

This document is a working Markdown white paper for partner review. It is intentionally direct and technical. The current goal is not polished proposal prose. The goal is to capture the project logic, the technology basis, the pilot structure, the major unknowns, and the supporting references that can later be absorbed into a broader Innovate UK application.

Executive Summary

This paper sets out the technical and deployment logic for a pilot project currently framed around the SEAFARER concept:

  • Solar-Powered Electric Propulsion for Artisanal Fishing to Enhance Rural and Coastal Economic Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa

The project is aimed at the Union of the Comoros and is intended to test whether an integrated electric marine mobility ecosystem can begin replacing current internal-combustion outboard use in artisanal fishing operations.

The key project idea is not simply to deploy electric motors. It is to test an integrated productive-use energy system made up of:

  • retrofit electric propulsion on existing boats
  • battery systems suitable for commercial-duty operation
  • charging and swap station infrastructure
  • commercial and industrial mini-grid power generation
  • operational data and IoT telemetry
  • a field-learning process that exposes the real gaps between desk assumptions and on-the-ground operating reality

The pilot is therefore a proof-of-concept and learning program. It is not meant to prove that the first deployment is already the final scalable commercial answer. It is meant to identify the correct balance between:

  • power usage
  • energy storage
  • power generation

That balance is central to the OVES off-grid approach. In weak-grid and no-grid environments, productivity depends on getting those three elements right. If they are not balanced, the system either fails operationally or becomes uneconomic.

The proposed pilot should therefore be positioned as the foundation for larger-scale deployment. It will generate practical evidence on technical feasibility, energy demand, charging throughput, battery-swap logic, retrofit requirements, field maintenance, and user operating behavior. That evidence is what later makes a larger deployment technically defensible and commercially investable.

Project Scenario

Ground Reality

The current source material describes a marine livelihood context in the Comoros Islands where artisanal fishing communities depend heavily on fossil-fuel outboard propulsion. Existing kerosene or ICE systems create several linked problems:

  • exposure to volatile fuel prices
  • ongoing operating cost pressure on fishing households
  • local pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
  • practical dependence on fuel distribution rather than local clean-energy infrastructure

The target operating environment is not a leisure-boating environment. It is a livelihood-driven marine use case with real payload, distance, uptime, and maintenance requirements. The project notes currently point to operating routes of roughly:

  • 20 km outbound
  • 20 km return

with meaningful payload and harsh marine operating conditions.

That matters because most commercially visible electric marine systems are designed for recreational, short-range, or high-income contexts. They are not automatically suitable for productive-use fisheries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Why This Is A Pilot

The purpose of the project is proof of concept. The pilot should be framed as an effort to learn under real conditions and discover the gaps in present understanding. Those gaps may include:

  • real route energy demand
  • real payload impact on propulsion performance
  • actual charging and swap throughput requirements
  • real maintenance burden in saltwater conditions
  • user handling behavior
  • local energy availability constraints
  • commercial affordability and collections logic

The intended outcome of the pilot is therefore a foundation for later scale rather than immediate full-market conversion.

Project Objective

The project objective is to test whether a practical electric mobility ecosystem can be established around artisanal marine productivity in the Comoros by combining propulsion technology, battery systems, assured charging energy, and field data collection.

This should be described as an ecosystem objective rather than a product objective.

The pilot is intended to:

  1. retrofit existing boats on the ground rather than wait for ideal new-build vessels
  2. validate the role of electric propulsion in real productive fishing operations
  3. determine the correct balance between power usage, energy storage, and power generation
  4. test whether battery charging and battery swapping can support operational continuity
  5. establish the practical role of commercial and industrial mini-grid systems in enabling reliable marine electrification
  6. collect transparent operational data that reduces uncertainty for later scale-up

Why Existing Solutions Are Not Enough

The source material points to a clear market gap.

Electric marine propulsion products exist, but the currently visible market is dominated by systems configured for:

  • leisure use
  • short-range duty cycles
  • cleaner and more stable energy environments
  • customers able to absorb higher upfront equipment cost

That does not match the target context in the Comoros. The local challenge is not only propulsion. It is reliable productive-use operation in a weak-grid or off-grid environment with constrained user capital and high sensitivity to downtime.

For this reason, the project should explicitly reject the idea that motor substitution alone is enough. Without assured energy availability and a workable operating model, propulsion electrification will not scale.

Technical Concept

1. Retrofit Electric Propulsion

The first project step should be retrofit of existing boats already in use by the target community. This is important because:

  • it produces real field learning quickly
  • it reflects actual vessel conditions on the ground
  • it prevents the project from becoming a laboratory exercise disconnected from local reality

The current concept is anchored in OVES electric outboard technology, with source notes referencing the EX15 class and related propulsion configurations.

From the technical source material reviewed, the electric outboard class is currently described in the following general terms:

Parameter Current Reference Basis
Power range 8-45 kW class for electric outboard systems
Voltage range Typical medium-voltage DC, 48-96 V
System efficiency Approximately 85 percent or higher
Protection rating IP67
Operating model Direct drive, integrated control, low noise
Typical applications in source docs Small fishing boats, patrol boats, work vessels, general-purpose marine craft

These references are not yet the final project sizing basis, but they support the argument that the technology family is relevant to the target use case.

2. Battery Systems

Battery strategy is central because marine productivity depends on dependable energy availability rather than nominal nameplate motor performance.

The source proposal material currently points to LiFePO4 battery packs around the 96 V class, with 150 Ah referenced in the stronger proposal draft. The broader technical documentation also supports LiFePO4 as the preferred chemistry for commercial-duty vessel applications because of:

  • safety
  • thermal stability
  • long cycle life
  • suitability for repeated use

The technical reference set reviewed describes LiFePO4 in general terms as:

Battery Attribute Reference Range Or Note
Chemistry Lithium Iron Phosphate
Energy density 120-160 Wh/kg
Cycle life 3000+ cycles
Main value commercial-duty lifespan and safety

The pilot should not assume that battery sizing is already final. Instead, it should use the pilot to learn the correct storage basis for productive operation.

3. Charging And Swap Infrastructure

The project should emphasize that marine electric productivity depends on more than a charger connected to shore power.

The working concept is based on:

  • coastal charging points
  • battery-swap or battery-turnaround logic
  • station-level energy management
  • operational throughput sized for productive use rather than casual use

Battery swapping matters because fishing operations are sensitive to downtime. A purely fixed-charging model may not be practical if:

  • charging times are long
  • boats need quick turnaround
  • energy demand varies sharply across routes and seasons
  • community grid electricity is unavailable or unreliable

The pilot is the right vehicle for learning the real operational balance between:

  • fixed charging
  • managed battery inventory
  • swap frequency
  • spare battery ratio
  • site throughput

4. Commercial And Industrial Mini-Grid Power

This is one of the most important concepts in the paper.

Electric boats require electricity. That sounds obvious, but it has major implications for the project. The target communities cannot be assumed to have reliable onshore electricity. In many such environments, shoreline power is:

  • weak
  • intermittent
  • unavailable
  • unsuitable for dependable productive charging demand

For that reason, the project should explicitly position commercial and industrial mini-grid infrastructure as an enabling layer for the mobility system.

The role of the mini-grid is to provide:

  • dependable generation
  • controlled charging behavior
  • predictable battery availability
  • site-level energy management
  • productive-use reliability

The project should therefore be described as a combined mobility-and-energy pilot rather than as a propulsion-only pilot.

5. Balanced Off-Grid Design

The distinctive OVES logic in this project is that productive-use electrification depends on balancing three variables:

  • power usage
  • power storage
  • power generation

This is not just an engineering preference. It is a commercial requirement.

If power generation is undersized, vessel productivity fails. If storage is undersized, daily operations become unstable. If generation and storage are oversized relative to actual productive demand, capital efficiency is lost and economic return weakens.

The pilot should therefore be used to learn:

  • typical route duty cycles
  • daily and weekly charging demand
  • productive-use peaks
  • seasonal behavior
  • idle versus active charging windows
  • real vessel and community energy profiles

The larger-scale deployment can then be sized around real operating evidence rather than optimistic or imported assumptions.

6. Telemetry And IoT Data Acquisition

Data acquisition should be treated as a core project deliverable.

The current project notes already point to telemetry capability such as:

  • location
  • speed
  • current draw
  • voltage
  • time stamp

The paper should go further and describe a practical IoT data layer that, where feasible, captures:

  • propulsion performance
  • battery status and cycle behavior
  • charging throughput
  • swap-station activity
  • generation and storage behavior at the mini-grid level
  • uptime and fault events
  • maintenance interventions

This data matters for two reasons.

First, it enables technical learning. Second, it provides transparency. Transparency is valuable for:

  • consortium management
  • project review
  • grant reporting
  • later deployment planning
  • future financing and capital formation

The project should therefore state clearly that data is part of the value created by the pilot.

Why The Pilot Structure Matters

Pilot As Learning Instrument

The project should not oversell the pilot as final commercialization. Its value is that it reveals the unknowns.

The pilot should be framed as the vehicle that allows the consortium to learn:

  • what retrofit looks like on actual local boats
  • what energy consumption really looks like in field conditions
  • what charging and swap performance is operationally required
  • what maintenance burden emerges in a marine environment
  • what business model adjustments are needed for local uptake

Pilot As Foundation For Scale

If successful, the pilot will provide a foundation for later large-scale deployment by generating evidence on:

  • technical feasibility
  • deployment architecture
  • energy system sizing
  • operator workflow
  • user economics
  • maintenance and support requirements
  • data-backed performance and reliability

This is exactly the type of intermediate step needed between concept and scale.

Proposed Pilot Structure

The project should be described as an integrated pilot with several parallel work packages.

Work Package 1: Baseline Assessment

  • survey actual boats and propulsion conditions
  • identify retrofit candidates
  • identify route patterns and fishing duty cycles
  • establish baseline fuel use and current operating economics

Work Package 2: Propulsion Retrofit And Field Validation

  • retrofit a limited pilot fleet of existing boats
  • install electric propulsion hardware and battery interfaces
  • validate operating behavior in real conditions

Work Package 3: Battery And Charging Operations

  • deploy charging equipment and battery-handling procedures
  • test charging times, battery usage, and swap logistics
  • identify the practical battery inventory required for continuity

Work Package 4: Mini-Grid Power Layer

  • install or define the generation basis for assured charging energy
  • use commercial and industrial mini-grid logic rather than community-grid assumptions
  • track actual generation, storage, and charging interaction

Work Package 5: Telemetry And Data Layer

  • collect vessel and site data
  • produce transparent operational records
  • use measured performance to refine later deployment assumptions

Work Package 6: Commercial And Operating Model

  • test how users access the system
  • refine the PAYG or leasing logic
  • assess operator responsibilities, local ownership, and service workflow

Larger-Scale Deployment Logic

The project should make clear that the end goal is not a one-off demonstration. The pilot is intended to open a pathway to a broader productive-use electric marine ecosystem.

That scale-up pathway depends on converting pilot findings into a deployable model across:

  • more boats
  • more landing sites
  • more charging or swap locations
  • stronger local operating capability
  • better capital efficiency in generation, storage, and mobility assets

The value of the pilot is that it should allow the consortium to move from assumed design to evidence-based design.

Key Deliverables

The project deliverables should include more than physical equipment.

Physical Deliverables

  • retrofitted pilot vessels
  • electric propulsion units
  • battery packs and charging hardware
  • battery-swap or managed battery-turnaround capability
  • mini-grid or assured power-generation equipment

Knowledge Deliverables

  • measured energy-use profiles
  • measured battery-use profiles
  • charging and swap station operating data
  • route-performance data
  • field maintenance findings
  • real-world retrofit lessons

Transparency Deliverables

  • IoT and telemetry data outputs
  • operational dashboards or logs where practical
  • documented assumptions refined by measured field evidence

Risks, Constraints, And Unknowns

The current concept is promising, but the paper should be honest about the remaining gaps.

Technical Unknowns

  • exact propulsion sizing for local boats is not yet final
  • actual route-energy demand in field conditions still needs validation
  • full battery inventory and swap-ratio logic are not yet settled
  • charger throughput and site-level energy balance still need field proof

Operating Unknowns

  • station siting is not yet final
  • local operator responsibility needs clearer definition
  • maintenance model in saltwater conditions needs validation
  • the full telemetry scope across vessel and site layers is not yet final

Commercial Unknowns

  • PAYG pricing and affordability thresholds need refinement
  • asset ownership and revenue allocation need clearer structure
  • local collections and service operations need field testing

Recommendations

The current recommendation is to continue shaping this as a pilot-scale Innovate UK Energy Catalyst proposal focused on proof of concept, field learning, and scalable system design.

The paper should continue to emphasize:

  • retrofit-first field validation
  • energy availability as a first-order constraint
  • commercial and industrial mini-grid infrastructure as an enabling requirement
  • battery, charging, and swap logic as part of one operating system
  • telemetry and IoT data acquisition as formal deliverables
  • the OVES off-grid principle of balancing usage, storage, and generation for maximum economic return

Appendix A: Selected Technical Reference Points

The technical source set reviewed includes a prebuilt marine propulsion documentation archive and project-specific concept notes. Useful technical reference points already identified include the following.

Topic Current Reference
Electric outboard class 8-45 kW electric outboard system family
Typical voltage range 48-96 V medium-voltage DC
Outboard protection rating IP67
Outboard efficiency approximately 85 percent or higher
LiFePO4 energy density 120-160 Wh/kg
LiFePO4 cycle life 3000+ cycles
Source-noted pilot propulsion reference EX15 class, 15 kW, water-cooled

Appendix B: Available Asset References

The following extracted assets are now locally available for later insertion into a polished version of the paper.

Scenario And Field Assets

  • docs/assets/uk-innovate/comoros-fishers-1.jpeg
  • docs/assets/uk-innovate/comoros-fishers-2.jpeg

Technical Reference Asset

  • docs/assets/uk-innovate/motor-reference.png

Additional Technical Source Assets

The extracted marine propulsion technical archive also includes:

  • system architecture diagram sources in PlantUML format
  • product and internal-structure imagery
  • technical-data image assets
  • general marine propulsion parameter tables

Appendix C: Available Schematic Sources

The current local source set includes these architecture files, which can later be turned into clean project figures:

File Current Use
pure_electric.puml baseline pure electric propulsion architecture
hybrid_system.puml reference hybrid or range-extended architecture
jet_system.puml high-performance reference architecture, less central to this project

At this stage, the most useful next schematic for the paper would be a project-specific figure showing:

  • retrofitted boat
  • propulsion unit
  • battery pack
  • swap or charge station
  • mini-grid generation
  • telemetry and data layer

Appendix D: Source Notes Used For This Draft

This review draft is based on the following currently accessed source materials.

Grant And Scenario Sources

  • MOTOR project 05mar26.docx
  • SEAFARER project description.docx
  • PHOTOS OF THE COMORIAN FISHERMEN N BOATS.docx

Technical Sources

  • marine-electric-propulsion-docs.zip
  • technical-data index from the extracted marine propulsion documentation site
  • PlantUML architecture files from the extracted technical archive

Appendix E: Review Notes

This draft is intentionally early-stage. The most important next improvements are:

  1. convert the current narrative into a more polished partner-facing style
  2. add a project-specific system diagram
  3. add field photos and selected technical images inline where helpful
  4. replace generic technical ranges with final project sizing once confirmed
  5. add a more formal source and evidence table for later proposal use

Appendix G: Official Omnivoltaic Web References

The following official Omnivoltaic pages were identified as relevant web references for the products and systems discussed in this paper.

Marine And E-Mobility Product Hubs

  • Product hub: https://mobility.omnivoltaic.com/products
  • E-mobility portal home: https://mobility.omnivoltaic.com/
  • ovEgo outboard and e-mobility overview article: https://mobility.omnivoltaic.com/pages/ovego-ideas

Outboard And Marine Reference Pages

  • ovEgo electric outboard collection: https://cross-grid.omnivoltaic.com/collections/e-mobility-ovego-electric-outboard-series

Battery, Charging, And Swap References

  • Swappable battery overview: https://mobility.omnivoltaic.com/pages/ovego-charge
  • Swappable battery collection: https://product-datasheets.omnivoltaic.com/collections/ovego%E2%84%A2-series-energy-storage-solutions-swappable-batteries
  • E-Mob-Bat100Ah product page: https://mobility.omnivoltaic.com/products/e-tricyle-battery-72v100ah-3
  • Charger series collection: https://mobility.omnivoltaic.com/collections/this-collection-presents-all-kind-of-chargers
  • Intelligent Battery Swapping Cabinet product page: https://mobility.omnivoltaic.com/products/intelligent-battery-swapping-cabinet
  • Battery swap solution collection: https://www.omnivoltaic.com/collections/intelligent-battery-swapping-cabinet

Commercial And Industrial Energy System References

  • Works series commercial and industrial collection: https://product-datasheets.omnivoltaic.com/collections/works%E2%84%A2-commercial-industrial
  • Works series small commercial and C&I collection: https://product-datasheets.omnivoltaic.com/collections/works%E2%84%A2-series-c-i-residential-small-commercial-energy-storage
  • CIES-6030 product page: https://product-datasheets.omnivoltaic.com/products/cies-30kw-60kwh

Appendix F: Minimum Proposal Package Example

This appendix records a concrete minimum pilot package that can be used as an example scope for partner review. It is not yet the final engineering specification. It is the current minimum test package for proving the concept in a controlled field setting.

Minimum Test Package

The minimum proposal package should include:

  • 2 x 15 kW electric outboard propulsion units
  • 4 x 100 Ah batteries
  • 1 x CIS6030 commercial and industrial power-generation and charging system
  • daily energy delivery of approximately 30 kWh per day
  • 1 x battery swap station capable of charging 2 batches
  • 1 x small hand-cranked crane for lifting batteries in and out of the boat

This package is intended to support a confined pilot environment in which:

  • two boats are equipped for pilot testing
  • battery handling, charging, and turnaround can be tested in a repeatable way
  • the charging and power-generation layer can be observed under real operating use
  • the same infrastructure can be used to support testing of 2 boats at small pilot scale

Example Interpretation

Under this minimum configuration:

  • the propulsion reference is 2 x 15 kW outboards across two test boats
  • the site-side CIS6030 system is expected to deliver about 30 kWh of energy per day
  • that output is currently interpreted as sufficient to support 4 x 100 Ah batteries
  • the battery swap station should be able to charge 2 batches
  • a small hand-cranked crane is included to support safe battery handling at pilot scale
  • this is intended as the minimum basis for testing two boats under a confined pilot scope

This is useful because it allows the pilot to begin with a modest but meaningful scope rather than waiting for a full-scale station buildout.

Why This Minimum Package Matters

This minimum package gives the project an actionable starting point for learning:

  • actual energy draw of the propulsion unit in local conditions
  • practical runtime from the onboard battery pair
  • charging turnaround time for the battery pool
  • the relationship between productive use, charging demand, and site generation
  • whether the same charging backbone can support more than one boat in a managed pilot

It also supports the OVES design principle that the pilot should be used to learn the right balance between:

  • energy use on the boat
  • stored energy available in the battery pool
  • site-side generation and charging capability

Minimum Package Table

Element Example Minimum Package
Reference propulsion 2 x 15 kW electric outboards
Battery basis 4 x 100 Ah batteries
Daily energy delivery approximately 30 kWh per day
Charging and generation system CIS6030 commercial and industrial site-side power system
Swap infrastructure battery swap station capable of charging 2 batches
Battery handling support small hand-cranked crane
Site battery support scope equivalent to 4 x 100 Ah batteries
Initial test scale 2 boats in a confined pilot environment
Main learning objective validate propulsion, runtime, charging, battery handling, and small-scale operating logic

Schematic For Minimum Test Scope

The following simple schematic is included as a working project diagram for this review draft.

flowchart TD
    A["CIS6030 Commercial / Industrial Power System<br/>~30 kWh/day output"]
    B["Battery Swap Station<br/>Charging 2 batches<br/>4 x 100 Ah batteries"]
    C["Small Hand-Cranked Battery Crane"]
    D["Test Boat A<br/>15 kW outboard"]
    E["Test Boat B<br/>15 kW outboard"]
    F["Data / Telemetry Layer<br/>propulsion load | battery status | charging cycles | uptime"]

    A --> B
    B --> C
    C --> D
    C --> E
    D -. operating data .-> F
    E -. operating data .-> F
    B -. charging and battery data .-> F
    A -. generation data .-> F

Notes On Use

  • This schematic is intentionally simple.
  • It should be treated as a concept diagram for proposal discussion, not yet as a final engineering drawing.
  • In a later revision, this should be converted into a cleaner system figure showing:
  • boat propulsion
  • onboard battery pair
  • site battery pool
  • charging backbone
  • generation source
  • telemetry and data collection layer