New drinking water solution launched at ADB as first customer in PH market
A hydropanel that only needs sunlight and air to make potable water is now available in the Philippines.
On Thursday, Green Heat Corporation launched the technology called SOURCE Hydropanel™, with Asian Development Bank (ADB) as their first customer for it.
Developed by a United Statesbased company Zero Mass Water, Inc. (ZMW), SOURCE combines thermodynamics, material science, and controls technology to produce water from air and is powered by the sun.
It is self-sufficient, making water in even very remote locations, independent of infrastructure.
Each Hydropanel extracts water vapor from the air into an adsorbent material. The water vapor is then converted into liquid water that is pure like distilled. After flowing into the reservoir, the water is mineralized and stored before dispensing.
SOURCE Hydropanels can be installed in schools, hotels, resorts, and communities that don't have access yet to clean drinking water.
In an interview, ZMW chief executive officer Cody Friesen said each SOURCE Hydropanel produces an average of 3 to 5 liters of drinking water per day and can be built in arrays designed to meet the consumption needs of the location.
Friesen said that on a capital expenditure basis, an installation of eight panels, say per school, would cost around US$17,000, or more than
to build.
This, as each panel cost to US$2,000 to set up, while the installation fee stands at US$1,000.
Each panel will produce drinking water that will only costs 8 to 10 cents a liter — lower than the average cost of bottled water in the Philippines that ranges about to per liter.
As for its next prospective customer, the company said Philippine National Electrification Administration (NEA) is also planning to deploy this technology to eight electric cooperatives located in far-flung areas across the country.
These cooperatives are Pangasinan Electric Coop., First Bukidnon Electric Corp., Agusan del Sur Electric Corp., Davao del Sur Electric Corp., Bohol II Electric Corp., Samar II Electric Corp., Davao del Norte Electric Corp., and Misamis Occidental Electric Corp.
"The deployment of climate-proof drinking water through the SOURCE Hydropanels wil help address the water supply problems in rural and off-grid areas, especially in small islands in the Philippines which lack access to both reliable drinking water and electricity," said ADB Energy Sector Group Chief Yongping Zhai.
Friesen said they are also now in partnership with Ayala Group for the installation of the SOURCE panels in the Vertis North complex.
In its 2016 study entitled “Asian Water Development Outlook 2016,” ADB forecasts a shortage of drinking water in the Philippines within the next ten years if conservation and management efforts do not improve.
Exactly six years ago, Propmech Corp., the parent company of Green Heat Corp, inaugurated the largest roof-mounted solar power installation in the country within the ADB office in Ortigas.