What we do –
Water purification - sustainable and resilient

SC sustainable concepts GmbH plans, finances and installs complete systems to supply electricity and save drinking water to rural communities with no access to  centralized infrastructure. Using photovoltaic devices and the inexhaustible power of the sun the electricity generated can now be used to power systems for communication, commerce, heating, cooling and save drinking water. In this way two essentials – energy and water - for a sustainable development of rural communities are provided by our company that can elevate the quality of life to a level comparable or better to the infrastructure found in many big cities in Africa, South America and South East Asia. For the supply of Drinking Water we mainly work with the German Company Autarcon, who developed a novel and robust system driven by solar electricity that purifies contaminated water to make it safe for drinking.

In brief, the Autarcon system pumps water from a well, pond or river, removes solid particles and then passes the filtered water between two metal electrodes where solar electricity generates a small current which in turn produces minute amount of chlorine destroying all harmful bacteria immediately. This process is completely automatic and free of additional additives or chemicals since it relies on its natural content of minerals in the water. It results in high quality drinking water that fulfills the stringent requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO). In operation the chlorine content is permanently monitored and automatically adjusted to the quality of the incoming water. The Autarcon system is also capable of removing dissolved iron an manganese from the incoming water. These impurities usually colour the water brown and result in an unpleasant taste not acceptable to consumers. Having passed through the 

system the water is perfectly clean and tastes good. Depending on the quality of the incomming water, the system can produce 10.000 - 20.000 l of safe drinking water per day and does not need any external power grid since it runs on clean and sustainable solar electricity. In a sunny environment the system can purify enough safe drinking water per day for a community with serveral thousand people. In most rural communities in the developing regions around the world where we find no safe drinking water there is also no access to electricity. This applies to peri-urban areas as well, where the infrastructure of centrilized water- and electricity supply no longer functions and customers have to rely on autonomous systems. SC sustainable concepts therefore plans and installs not only systems for safe 

drinking water but rather designs and implements Solar Electricity Systems that can power an entire village to bring light, communication, safe medicine and commerce to the inhabitants. Based on SC`s excellent know-how and access to a large network of reliable component supplier the company purchases high quality components such as modules and electronics to design and install a well-tailored and robust system with long lifetime and low cost/kWh when compared to the commonly employed diesel generator.The size of the system varies according to the needs and the financial capability of the villagers and it may vary from a few hundred watts to tens of kW. Independent of the application SC sustainable concept’s long experience and access to a large number of experts with many years of experience insures installation of the highest quality, longest lifetime and high economic value.

Financing Drinking Water and Electricity

To find wide-spread acceptance in the rural areas and to become financially successful the water disinfection system need to be built on a sustainable business plan. Therefore SC and Autarcon have developed a payment system where the beneficiaries of the community pay a small but competitive price for the available services. The system uses a payment card purchased on the premise. If the payment card is empty it is reloaded. Revenues are used to subsequently gain ownership of the system. SC and the newly founded company PVWater International Ltd. in Nigeria are working with private investors and funding agencies to come up with the initial price of the system. It is expected that based on a daily production of 10000 l clean drinking water as well as revenue from the sales of electricity the system should have a pay-back time of less than 2 years. From that time on the system can be owned to the community.

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