Solar Desalination Alliance Targets Water Scarcity

Desolenator and Jakson Green team up to deliver solar-powered water to off-grid communities.

23 Dec 2024

In a world where both drought and carbon emissions are on the rise, a curious solution is being floated: use the sun to drink the sea. A new alliance between Desolenator, a clean-tech upstart, and Jakson Green, a renewable energy firm with industrial heft, proposes just that.

The duo’s announcement at the International Desalination and Reuse Association’s World Congress was not merely a handshake. It was a declaration. At stake is access to clean drinking water in regions where neither rain nor reliable infrastructure can be counted on. At the heart of the plan is Desolenator’s solar-powered desalination unit, which boasts neither filters nor chemicals, nor the usual barrage of pumps and membranes. Instead, it relies on sunlight alone to purify seawater or contaminated sources, promising durability in harsh and remote environments.

Jakson Green brings capital, manufacturing capacity, and on-the-ground execution. It will deploy Desolenator’s units across India and other markets where traditional desalination systems have either faltered or never arrived. The approach offers something tantalising: resilience without emissions.

“This partnership tackles two global crises head-on: water insecurity and carbon emissions,” said William Janssen, Desolenator’s boss. That is an ambitious pitch, but it matches the scale of the problem. Over 2bn people live in water-stressed regions, and desalination, long seen as an energy hog, is struggling to keep pace sustainably.

By eliminating the need for consumables and maintenance-heavy parts, the Desolenator system also aims to keep operational costs low. This matters greatly in villages where neither money nor mechanics are in abundant supply.

Still, even sunlight casts shadows. Mass production, quality control, and variable real-world conditions may expose limits. Water quality and reliability must hold up across wildly different climates and coastlines, whether the system proves more than a niche fix remains to be seen.

Nonetheless, the partnership marks a promising twist in the tale of clean water. Desalination, once synonymous with fossil-fuelled megaplants, may soon be reimagined as a decentralised and climate-friendly lifeline. That would be a welcome development in a world thirsty for solutions.