A solar-powered reverse osmosis plant! – Truly two birds with one stone.
April 7th 2010 -
Preface: Please note we are not discussing an AquaNation project in this post. We are talking about a project that was brought to our attention by Sriram Sarma Emani, one of our members. This is a very interesting project with certain parallels to the type of solutions we would like to implement in developing nations.
The first solar-powered desalination plant in India
Water – not a problem in isolation
In grasping at an acute problem or an acute set of problems plaguing remote areas with limited access to resources, we are often blinded to the fact that just as resources multiply, the lack of resources can multiply too. A village, a tribe or a region that lacks drinking and potable water is usually also likely to suffer from lack of electricity. This is because water access is not an isolated issue. Usually, a multiplicity of factors, least of which is the unavailability of central infrastructure.
Thus, it was a pleasant shock for me when I saw the title, “The first solar-powered desalination plant”. It made me think how important it is, to smell those pesky “roses”. It is important to exercise some humility at every level and keep those eyes and ears open. Alright, enough with the cliches.
Please watch this brief video presentation on the project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7oVmz_yqVI
Key Points
1. The first thing to note is that the presenters, the Barefoot College of Tilona and “Manthan” a non-profit, do not claim the solution to be a panacea. However, it is important to note, as is claimed in the video that this solution, current, present and implemented is far better than large scale infrastructure plans that the Government hopes to implement. While one would hope that Governments would find it easier to implement such projects, water access is an urgent issue that requires immediate solutions.
2. People are amenable to drinking water that has been desalinated. This lays to rest one of the key myths relating to providing technological solutions to water problems.
3. Given the opportunity to access clean water, people are willing to pay a fair price. It is now a commonly evolving theme that you would respect something that you are charged for, and that you would pay for a service as long as it is fair. This is key for organizations that are trying to keep their fund-raising needs low, and focus on building long term sustainable operation plans.
4. The Government is willing to help. It appears the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in India (the existence of this Ministry was news to me!) helped with this project. Everyone knows that while Governments may lack in providing infrastructure, and this presents an opportunity for socially conscious organizations to jump in, all such organizations could use some help. This can be funding, direct or indirect support and every bit counts.
5. Water issues do not have to be political. When AquaNation originally presented a plan for the Social E-Challenge at Stanford University in 2008, one of the major sticking points for a judge of the contest was that water is a political issue and that we would have multiple challenges implementing our solution.
AquaNation was blind-sided a bit by this assumption or conclusion, as you may see it. The successful technology transfer described in this project demonstrates that the political angle doesn’t always have to be important, or even close by a long haul. Yes, one should not draw major conclusions based on one pilot, but it is at least safe to assume that there is hope. It would be hard for a political regime of any size and influence to argue against a solution that solves urgent problems. In the past, this may have been easily overcome, but with rising populations and awareness levels, problems such as water access have created more urgency than ever before.
Hats-off to a project that has inspired us!
Do you know of a similar project that caters to solve water access problems for remote, rural communities? If so, please let us know!
Come back and join us for further discussions on water problems, their origin, innovative solutions that we have come across through our research and much more on this blog.
Tags: reverse osmosis, solar energy to run a reverse osmosis plant, solutions to water access problems, water
Sriram Sarma Emani Says:
April 7th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
I was truly excited when I came across this video, and am very glad that Srihari took some time to blog about it. The beauty of this find was that during my search for sustainable and self-reliant solutions to drinking water problems at a rural village level, I was frequently encountering the problem of availability of electricity. Being an electrical engineer in the energy industry, I did theorize the utilization of solar / wind powered plants. However it was a pleasant surprise to see one already in implementation. This paves the way for more plants to be built on similar or different technologies.
I would like to share some of my thoughts in this matter
1. Electricity is required for running any plant, especially RO plants. The magnitude of power requirements are known to be lower than comparable systems, hence making solar a feasible solution
2. Most parts of India receive a lot of sun, atleast 8 hours; thus this solution looks promising
3. Involving solar energy for water sterilization can help cash in on the government subsidies and taxes. Renewable energy is growing very fast, and is currently receiving a lot of incentives to mature faster.
4. My estimates based on the rates mentioned in this video as Rs. 10/- per person per month for 3000 people gives about 9k USD per year. I imagine a ROI in about 12-18 years depending on percentage of funding shared by government grants and subsidies.
5. I would like to really emphasize that I believe the political problems in providing water are not as deterrent as imagined. They are tricky, and given to various factors but certainly doable as is seen in this video. In the end, if you are ready with a completely self-reliant, reliable and sustainable solution and have the people convinced, they stand behind you to get it implemented. Importance has to be given in demonstrating the technology and convincing the people of the possible benefits. In this regard, for a pilot project in mind, providing free water for first 3 months might not be a bad idea.
6. I am told there are enough banks and financial institutions which are providing industrial loans especially to new ventures in renewable energy industry. These avenues have to be exploited.
7. The extension to run a solar-powered seawater desalination plant looks feasible at this point.
I would like to make a few key points about approach to problem solving. It is important to first locate a problem, work our way up from there. This means we must understand the geography and demographics of a region, their water problems, and what would be the ideal sustainable solution to that problem. This work was an inspiration, and I hope there will be more to come.
Signing off for now, over and out !
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