Water scarcity is probably the biggest challenge of the 21st century. Nowadays and according to the United Nations, it affects more than 40 percent of the global population, and at the current consumption rate, by 2025, almost two-thirds of the population will face water shortages. Climatic change and trends on increasing population will worsen the situation. Although water resources vary widely across Europe, one third of European countries have relatively low availability of water, which is especially dramatic for Southern Europe but is also affecting other northern countries, such as Belgium, Denmark and UK.
Seawater is an extremely valuable water source. Indeed, some countries heavily rely on water desalination, such as Saudi Arabia or Israel. Despite the major technical advances, conventional water desalination techniques are extremely energy demanding processes. The large amount of energy required for seawater desalination only serves to reinforce the problem. On one hand, greenhouse gases released contribute to climate change and, on the other, the generation of energy itself is a water consuming process.
We are Rainmaker, a Dutch company focused on sustainable and decentralised technologies to produce clean water. We have developed, water to water, W2W-Wind and Solar, an innovative technology conceived to confront water crisis by providing a medium-scale system for water desalination, fully powered by renewable energies. With a single unit of W2W, we can provide enough water for 800 people. Water is locally produced and with no need of transportation.
During the SME-Instrument phase 1 execution, we have evaluated the resources required to bring W2W to market, as well as assessed the opportunities and barriers that will come to the path.
