Translations

SOLVATTEN (sun & water), clean water access from solar energy.

6. Clients and consumers

Access to basic services

Sector Energy / Water

Year 2017

Country Sweden

Transmitter

Context

Drinking water is essential to life, but 1/8th of the world population has no access to it. Each year, 1.6 million people die from diseases related to unclean water and 500 million people need to boil water in order to drink it, using coal, kerosene, or wood, which leads to deforestation.

SOLVATTEN, a Swedish company, was founded in 2013 but truly began in the early 90s, when inventor Petra Wadström and her husband were living in Australia. Petra was struck by the abundance and intensity of natural sunlight, and was convinced it could be used in a social way. She began to work on developing a device that would be able to purify water by using solar energy. Her goal was to develop a simple device, with a high life expectancy, that functioned autonomously as a solution for the lack of clean water across the world.

Objectives

Provide a sustainable solution to clean water access which is affordable through the implementation of local sustainable business models.
Transform the lives of people without access to safe drinking water (Health improvement, time saved spent on cooking and collecting wood, more time towards social or child rearing activities, less health and fuel expenses.
Reduce the fuel expenses, save the local forests and protect the environment

APPROACH

Solvatten is based in Sweeden, which is where the products are manufactured. The project is not to make yet another technological solution but to make a humanitarian product that simply upgrades the care for its beneficiaries: The idea is to create an economically viable system for distributing the products; to be affordable, but not free.

The product works as an individual Solvatten water treatment station. It is presented in the form of a jerry can with 2 compartments connected by a central hinge which is exposed to the sun. Each unit can hold 10 liters and it is very user-friendly:

Combining filtration, pasteurization (absorption or infared radiation by the black hull on the outside), and UV debacterization (sunlight passes through the inner shells, a transparent polymer) for drinkable water (duration of the process between 2 and 6 hours, can provide up to 30 liters/day)
Does not require any specific maintenance, electricity, chemicals, or replacement parts.
Indicates when water is clean and decontaminated
Easy to use, by anyone, and can be carried by a child.

Can also be used as a solar kettle for hot water for cooking or washing up.

To promote the use of this innovative technology with its target audience, Solvatten set up, in parallel, training programs to create referents who then can explain the use of the product to Solvatten beneficiaries.

The products are distributed in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

Turnover 45 k€Productivity: 5220 units distributed up to mid-2011 Awards: 1) Sweden's 100 most influential environmentalists – Miljöaktuellt - Petra Wadström – 2014, 2) Sweden's top 100 women - Expressen newspaper - Petra Wadström – 2014, 3) The Polhem Prize - Sveriges Ingenjörer - Petra Wadström/Solvatten – 2013

Benefits

Creation of jobs
Environmental protections implemented
Time spent collecting/purifying water reduced
Less health problems for Solvatten users