SOMALIA – Boreal Light, a Berlin start-up company specializing in renewable energy solution for water treatment facilities has completed the installation of a solar-powered water desalination system in Oog, central Somalia.

The off-grid system powered by integrated photovoltaic solar system is capable of supplying 1.5 m3 of water per hour to the locals through a kiosk.

Other than providing drinking water it will also feed the region’s fishing ponds which have a capacity of holding 20,000 fish.

The village of Oog is characterized as being at the mercy of monsoon driven rains.

Only 52% of the regions’ residents have access to basic water and residents are subject to unscrupulous private water suppliers or forced to travel long distances for surface water.

“The installation in Oog demonstrates the ability of Boreal Light to deliver impactful solutions to remote and extreme environments.”

GreenTec Capital Partners

The new installation is powered by one of the Boreal Light’s innovative Winture Planet Cube water desalination system and will be fed from a borehole water source.

According to GreenTec Capital Partners, one of Boreal Light’s financial partners, the project is being financed by Oxfam and is the third of four planned installations in the region.

“The installation in Oog demonstrates the ability of Boreal Light to deliver impactful solutions to remote and extreme environments.

“The WaterKiosk will provide vitally important hygienic drinking water in addition to a supplemental supply of fish to the villages some 7,000 residents,” said GreenTec Capital Partners.

In Namibia, the country’s institution of higher learning, University of Namibia, inaugurated a water bottling facility, fed by water from the institution’s desalination plant which was commissioned last year.

The bottling unit was constructed with an investment of N$875,000 (over US$53,800), funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering of the United Kingdom (US$32,300) and Unam (US$21,500).

Being a pilot project, the desalination plant is a joint initiative between the University of Namibia and the University of Turku in Finland, and was installed by Solar Water Solutions of Finland.

It is powered by photovoltaic solar energy and has a processing capacity of 3000 litres per hour.

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