NPower Project: A Step Towards Solving Europe’s Nutrient Excess Crisis

The NPower project, a new initiative tackling the issue of nitrogen and phosphorous (N/P) excess, was launched on the 29th of January in Cartagena, Spain. NPower aims to efficiently recover N and P nutrients using circular management approaches across key target sectors (e.g., agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, water management, and industry) to re-balance N/P flows and limit the pollution of air, water, and soil to help restore degraded ecosystems.

Funded by the EU Horizon Europe programme, NPower is redefining how Europe manages nitrogen and phosphorus. While N and P are essential nutrients for agriculture and food production systems, nutrient accumulation in the environment can lead to severe issues such as soil degradation and biodiversity loss.

This will be achieved through the development of regional clusters in Spain, Belgium, Finland, and Ireland. Each cluster will contribute to local best practices and governance measures, ensuring the adaptability of solutions across Europe’s diverse landscapes. Spain will act as a demonstration hub, implementing recovery technologies and advancing N/P management solutions, while Belgium, Finland, and Ireland will provide their bioeconomy expertise to assess the applicability of the solutions demonstrated and developed in Spain.

The NPower Irish cluster, which consists of partners from the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CircBio) at Munster Technological University, the BiOrbic Bioeconomy Research Centre at University College Dublin, and the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF) at the National Bioeconomy Campus, will serve as a knowledge hub with experience 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 that create more sustainable supply chains and waste streams, particularly across agri-food, forestry, and marine sectors.

Commenting on the initiative Miguel Ángel Suárez, NPower Project Co-Ordinator with CETENMA (Technology Centre for Energy and Environment, Spain): “Nitrogen and phosphorus 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.”

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”.

For more information on NPower, visit https://circbio.ie/projects/eu-international/npower/.