Water with the help of the sun

1991/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Energia berriztagarriak

In West Africa, if there is a lot, they have sunlight. On the contrary, water and energy are scarce. The project commissioned by five African States (Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Cape Verde) to the German companies Siemens and Bayernw seeks electricity and water from solar rays.

The promoter of this project is the CILSS organization, created by these five states to fight desertification. The cost is 2,000 million pesetas and the money to finance will leave the European Economic Community.

The construction of 410 water pumping centers based on solar rays is expected. In addition, other advantages of solar energy will be offered.

Although the project is one, we should not think about the construction of a large power plant, but in many small power plants. All the plants have monocrystalline silicone modules with a power of 50 W per module. For example, while a cooling system requires 6 modules, a pumping center will need 10 to 80.

Once the project is finished, the different installations will have a total power of 640 kW and the centers will be distributed as follows: 410 for pumping, 89 for cooling, 303 for lighting and 33 for charging batteries.