Page - 169 - in Clean Water Using Solar and Wind - Outside the Power Grid

Water operations using renewables – some cases 169 and evaporation rates. A growing population and industrialisation will put a lot of pressure on water resources. Several regions are already suffering from excess contaminating factors like salinity, fluoride, iron, arsenic, heavy metals and microbial contaminations of groundwater. The need for sustainable water-supply solutions is urgent. Example 14.7: Village Installation, Rajasthan, India In Kotri, a small village of 300 families in the region of Rajasthan in north-western India, a solar-based RO plant has been put into operation. The plant produces drinking water for more than 1,000 residents from both Kotri and surrounding villages (IRENA, 2015b). Brackish water from a nearby lake is pumped through the RO plant and produces around 600 litres/hour of water for six hours every day. The salinity of the water is reduced sufficiently to make the water drinkable. The RO plant is served by a 2.5 kW power plant. The village is in fact connected to the grid, but the supply is very unreliable with only three hours/day of power most of the time. The solar-powered system guarantees six hours of electric power supply, which gives some surplus power for light, fans and computers. Example 14.8: Village Installation, Andhra Pradesh, India A rural village in India gives a typical example of the application of solar PV to treat water (WEC, 2016, Chapter 8). The SANA organisation (Social Awareness Newer Alternatives) identified a village that had no access to clean drinking water and where the power supply was irregular: the N. Chamavaram village in the state of Andhra Pradesh in south-east India. Energy from the solar PV system has been used to purify contaminated water to WHO drinking-water standard. This is a typical example of decentralised water supply where the raw water intake can be either contaminated well water or used water that is reused. The capacity of this system is 1,800 m3 of water yearly or 5 m3/day. This will supply 1,000 schoolchildren from economically backward homes with five litres of water daily for their families, who live in slums nearby. 14.3.2 Wind power desalination installations The electrical and mechanical power generated by a wind turbine can be used to power desalination plants, in particular RO units. In general, Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book-pdf/520710/wio9781780409443.pdf by IWA Publishing user