Solar-Powered Water Purifying System Designed for Emergency Services
Aproblem after any natural disaster is how to provide safe, fresh water when both the local water system and the local roads are disrupted. The team of Brad Carlson, David Squires and Mike Strizki, doing business as The
Essential Element ( theessentialelement.com), has an answer: a mobile, solar-powered water purifying system.
The Hydra purification plant is 16 feet ( 4. 9 m) long and 7 feet ( 2.1 m) wide,
so it can be hauled in a standard truck-mounted container or dropped in by
helicopter. The onboard 2.88-kilowatt (k W) photovoltaic (PV) array and 300
amp-hour battery pack drive a reverse-osmosis filter to sanitize water or electrolyze it into storable hydrogen and medical-grade oxygen. The gases can run
back through an onboard fuel cell to power water purification through the night.
Connected to an external PV array of up to 25 k W, the system can produce up to
23,000 gallons (87,000 liters) of water daily. The system can also generate up to
35 k W of electric power, in DC or AC modes, to power a medical clinic.
The water is purified to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards
for drinking water.
DAVID Sq UIRES
Utah Law Sparks Solar Development Boom
By SARA BAlDWIN
works facility. Mayor Peter Corroon
has set a goal to install an additional 10
MW of solar, to be dispersed across as
many county-owned facilities as possible. Third-party financing will be critical to achieving this ambitious goal.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints (LDS) has completed construction of three solar powered, LEED-Silver meeting houses (one of which is in
Utah). Third-party financing may entice
LDS to consider solar energy for more of
their facilities, of which there are thousands across the state.
On the residential and commercial front, Utahns will be able to
take advantage of a new solar rebate,
offered through the Utah State Energy Program (SEP; geology.utah.gov/
sep) using ARRA funds. The $2-per-
watt incentive is expected to jumpstart
Utah’s solar market, put people back
to work and make solar more affordable for homeowners and businesses
across the state. The $3 million solar
PV rebate program for homes and
businesses in Salt Lake City launched
at the end of April.
Salt Lake’s Solar America Cit-
ies partnership, known as Solar Salt
Lake, continues to explore financing
options for residential and commer-
cial entities. The primary goal is to
increase Utah’s solar generation to
10 MW by 2015, with an underlying
goal of making solar financially attrac-
tive. The Solar Salt Lake Partnership
is a collaborative effort among Utah
Clean Energy (utahcleanenergy.
org), Salt Lake City ( slcgov.com/
slcgreen), Salt Lake County (green.
slco.org), Kennecott Land (kenne
cottland.com), Ballard Spahr (ball
ardspahr.com), IREC/Keyes & Fox
( irecusa.org and keyesandfox.com),
the Utah State Energy Program and
the Governor’s Office of Economic
Development ( goed.utah.gov). The
partnership works closely with solar/
renewable energy industry groups,
including Smart Energy Coalition,
Solar Nation ( solar-nation.org), Vote
Solar ( votesolar.org), Utah Solar
Energy Association ( utsolar.org) and
Interwest Energy Alliance (interwest.
org), and a strong coalition of busi-
nesses, local governments, schools
and organizations.
