مجموعه مستقل برای تولید آب، غذا، برق و نمک برای توسعه پایدار جوامع کوچک در مناطق دور افتاده

The objective of this paper is to present a specific case study example of a pilot autonomous desalination system concept from Egypt that will be implemented in line with the ADIRA project. After a short introduction into ADIRA and the tackled problems a detailed description of the stand alone system complex follows. The pilot system will be installed in a village on the North west coast of Egypt helping a small community to overcome water & energy shortage. The paper will describe the technologies used and expected socio-technical and socio-economic impacts.

Fresh water shortage threatens a large number of the world population and make water potentially a critical matter since it has no viable substitution. According to a recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), estimated 1.1 billion people have no access to safe drinking water and more than 5 million die from water borne diseases each year. Provisions are no better even for the future. This crisis is mainly due to the mismanagement of existing water resources, population growth, and continuous climatic changes. It is, therefore necessary that sincere efforts be made to face the looming water crisis and conserve shrinking water supply amid the rising demand. Mainly the rural population suffers from a shortage of drinking water. Especially in remote areas, the infrastructure for water and energy is poorly developed. Besides the lack of water, the content of total dissolved solids in the water that’s available in these areas is often too high. Therefore it is not suitable for human consumption. In regions without access to the electricity grid, this lack of drinkable water often corresponds with high availability of Renewable Energy (RE) such as solar irradiation and wind speed. Hence it is a good match to use renewable energy as the driving force for water desalination and treatment systems. It is important to mention that using renewable energy sources to feed different systems in these rural areas will help to maintain a clean and healthy environment for the population. In order to gain a wide and profound knowledge of the application of small-scale desalination units powered by renewable energies under real working conditions, it is essential to move out of the laboratories and to study real projects in the field. This is the central approach of ADIRA.

A new conceptual design for autonomous and desalination system (ADS), for the production of water, food, energy and salts, has been proposed. The proposed autonomous and integrated complex presents a new approach to support the sustainable development of small communities in remote areas. The econmical pre-feasibility indicates that the system could be profitable and its pay back period is 5years. The system will be installed in the north coast of Egypt under the EC financed project ADIRA.