Witsand Solar Desalination Plant (WSDP) is a solar powered

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

plant located in the seaside town of Witsand, in

Hessequa Local Municipality Hessequa Municipality (), known before 24 June 2005 as Langeberg Municipality, is a local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is flanked by the lower Breede River to the west ...

, in the

Western Cape Province The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabi ...

, at the mouth of the

Breede River The Breede River (), also known as Breë River, is a river in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Travelling inland north from the city of Cape Town, the river runs in a west to east direction. The surrounding western mountains formed th ...

Overview

The town of Witsand is a tourist attraction, with a low-season population of approximately 300 people. During the tourist high-season, the population swells to over 3,000 people, leading to freshwater scarcity in the town. The plant was co-funded by the Western Cape Government through the drought relief fund, and by the

French Treasury French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

through a fund dedicated to the implementation of innovative

green technologies Environmental technology (or envirotech) is the use of engineering and technological approaches to understand and address issues that affect the environment with the aim of fostering environmental improvement. It involves the application of scien ...

Technology

The WSDP is the first solar powered desalination plant in South Africa. Its new technology applications, allow for the elimination of storage batteries in the design. The technology, OSMOSUN®, was developed by the French Company Mascara Renewable Water and brought to South Africa by their local partner TWS-Turnkey Water Solutions. The plant's new Osmosun technology involves the use of a specialised "intelligent" membrane that is able to continue delivering

reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane, semi-permeable membrane to separate water molecules from other substances. RO applies pressure to overcome osmotic pressure that favors even distribu ...

, even when the sun goes behind a cloud, thus reducing the amount of solar energy delivered. The energy delivered would increase again when the clouds moved away. That ability to "soften" the variability in the energy delivered, preserves the reverse osmosis membrane. At night, when there is no sun, the design allows the plant to switch to conventional grid-electricity and continue working all through the darkness, until the sun rises the next morning.

Construction and cost

The project costed R9 million (US$,000), and has been fully operational since December 20th, 2018. The unit cost of the purified water at this plant is between R7 to R8 (US$0.52 to US$0.60) for every . In comparison, the temporary diesel-fueled desalination plant at Strandfontein, in Cape Town, produces potable water at R35 to R40 (US$2.62 to US$3.00) for every 1,000 liters.

Challenges

Due to the high electrical costs associated with its operation, the plant will only be commissioned during crisis periods and holiday seasons.

References

External links