German company Boreal Light said this week that it had completed the installation of what it claims is Europe's largest solar desalination system.The system, with a total power of 460 kWp, is located in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine and can produce 125 cubic meters of clean water per hour.

"The project was launched shortly after the Russian attack on Ukraine, when the main drinking water pipeline supplying Mykolaiv was bombed," Boreal Light CEO Hamed Beheshti told PV Magazine. "Mykolaiv faces serious water salinity issues due to its coastline and brackish rivers, so we used a solution originally designed for developing countries."

The system features 560 W monocrystalline photovoltaic modules mounted on fixed racking. The rack is divided into five units, each producing 25 cubic meters of clean water per hour. The water source has a salinity of up to 13,000 ppm, Besheti said, adding that the system is divided into five units for "safety reasons" and "higher" project resilience.

The system does not use any batteries. It does not store energy, but clean water for later use. If the radiation from the sun fluctuates, the system's control mechanism distributes the voltage between the three pumps to maintain a constant pressure in the pressure tubes. The pressure tubes are used as filters in the reverse osmosis purification process in desalination plants.

However, during the day with heavy cloud cover, the machines are switched from the solar grid to a three-phase 480 VAC supply.

The German company says the water costs about €0.22 ($0.23) per cubic meter to produce, and the system has a minimum lifespan of 25 years. Regular maintenance includes replacing desalination components such as membranes and pre-filters every four to five years.

Besheti said that during the two-week installation process, the city was hit by two missile attacks, one of which was near the installation site. Despite these hardships, Besheti said he hopes the project will alleviate the "catastrophic challenges" that war poses to local communities.

Source : www.pv-magazine.com