Featured in The energy access issue – 07-2020

Solar vs. salty drinking water

A solar array – complete with battery storage and remote monitoring and control capabilities – has been transforming brackish groundwater into fresh drinking water in the village of Beyo Gulan in the Somaliland desert since 2018. The installation was developed by Germany’s Phaesun. Its unique combination of low-maintenance electrodialysis desalination with PV saw it pick up an Outstanding Projects award from The smarter E. Phaesun’s Géraldine Quelle and Florian Martini say they are honored by the plaudits, and are readying the system for series production.

By

Jonathan Gifford

13 Jul 2020

Image: Phaesun

What does the Outstanding Projects award mean for what may seem on the surface to be a pretty small, offgrid PV project?Géraldine Quelle (GQ): I think anything that puts a focus on the topic of water desalination and brackish water, as drinking water is important. And the focus on electrodialysis is good, because not much …

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