A new smart city under construction in the Saudi Arabian desert is to adopt a technology developed by the UK's Cranfield University which harnesses concentrated solar energy to desalinate sea water.
Credit: Solar Water
The city of Neom will be located in Saudi's northwestern Tabuk region on the Red Sea and is being built from the ground up as a living laboratory. Officials in the country have described it as "the world's most ambitious project". Covering around 26,500 km² (10,230 miles²), Neom is estimated to cost the country's Public Investment Fun at least $500-million (€450-million).
The city has signed an agreement with London-based Solar Water Plc to build the first ever 'solar dome' desalination plant. Solar Water's innovative carbon neutral approach was developed through a Cranfield master's group project and represents the first large-scale use of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology in seawater desalination.
Professor Chris Sansom, Head of the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems at Cranfield, and currently a consultant to Solar Water, said: "Research for this technology began as a group MSc project five years ago and we are delighted to see it now being rolled out at full-scale. The adoption of solar dome desalination in Neom will be a trailblazer for other countries struggling to generate environmentally-safe and sustainable sources of fresh water. The process could be used to produce clean water for a range of uses including farming, reforestation, biotech consumption, or use by high-tech industries that rely on pure clean water for their manufacturing."
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Abdulrahman Al-Fadli, said: "Neom's adoption of this pilot supports Saudi Arabia's sustainability goals, as outlined in the country's National Water Strategy 2030, and is fully aligned with the sustainable development goals set out by the United Nations."
The process developed by Solar Water involved pumping seawater into a hydrological 'solar dome' made of steel and glass. There, it is heated, evaporated and eventually precipitated as fresh water. The tech also reduces the amount of brine created during the water extraction process and prevents damage to marine life as no brine is discharged into the sea.
The heat that accelerates the evaporation of the seawater is harvested from a concentrating solar thermal field of mirrors next to the desalination dome.
David Reavley, CEO of Solar Water, said: "Currently, thousands of desalination plants around the world are heavily reliant on burning fossil fuels to extract water, poisoning our oceans in the process with excess brine. Our game-changing desalination technology is 100% carbon neutral and entirely sustainable. In Neom we have found a partner who has a strong vision of what a New Future looks like in harmony with nature."
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