Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WATLY (An autonomous and mobile water treatment plant powered by solar energy)
Berichtszeitraum: 2015-02-01 bis 2015-04-30
Water and energy are highly interdependent and are both crucial to human well-being and sustainable socio-economic development. In 2014, 768 million people worldwide still did not have access to a safe source of drink-ing water, and more than 1.3 billion lacked access to electricity. We developed the Watly® unit with the goal of providing a solution for fast, simple and efficient non-potable water treatment and energy supply in developing and/or remote regions. Scale-up beyond our current prototypes and industrialization of the production process to be able to fulfill most of our target customers’ requirements were the key to growth and expansion of our company based on this ground-breaking solution to a rising demand. Our main objectives for the phase 1 action were to complete a feasibility study and in case of a positive outcome, to update our business plan accordingly and pave the way for construction of the first demonstrator and future industrialization of WATLY.
We have taken advantage of the phase 1 action to fully assess the technological feasibility, evaluate the market trends and determine the business potential of WATLY. The needs of different segments of end users and cus-tomers have been taken into account, which has led us to revise the concept presented in the phase 1 proposal in terms of final scale and features of the final system to be pursued. The risks involved in the different techno-logical areas involved, have been fully assessed and measures have been defined to minimize the potential risks derived from the use of cutting-edge technologies. We have fully assessed our operational capacity to complete the envisaged project and have secured external expertise where needed for the next phase. Based on market assessment results we have foreseen the sales for the different segments and developed a production plan that will allow us to cope with the expected demand. A roadmap for commercialization has been elaborated, includ-ing the development of an innovative business model that will allow us to reach all target segments, based on defining a strategy adapted to their needs.
The results of the feasibility study undertaken during the phase 1 action have endorsed our purpose to pursue the further development of the concept, following the revision of the specifications and update of the business model. WATLY was conceived as a response to the global drinking water, electricity and connectivity demands generated by growing worldwide population and the rising purchasing power of developing countries. The final WATLY concept is a scalable-multi-utility hub that will deliver fresh water, off-grid electricity based on solar pow-er and connectivity. It can either be used locally as a standalone unit to provide energy and water to a small community or eventually be turned into a power station of hundreds of kW by connecting multiple units, thus having a high potential to contribute to the development of specific areas through providing high quality decen-tralized services in a cost-efficient and sustainable way.