Date Published: 18/11/2019
ARCHIVED - Solar panels at Mazarrón desalination plant save costs, save water and protect the environment
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The pioneering clean energy scheme makes irrigation water cheaper for farmers
A pioneering scheme in the Region of Murcia is coming into operation at the “Virgen del Milagro” desalination plant which is run by irrigation farmers in the municipality, where the installation of solar panels to power the desalination process will not only reduce CO2 emissions by an estimated 40,000 tons a year, but will also make desalinated water cheaper for the agricultural concerns the plant serves.
Prior to the first phase of the solar power installation coming into operation on Monday the plant was visited on Sunday by the figure of the Virgen del Milagro, after whom it is named, during the Romería in which she was accompanied by thousands of locals and visitors from the town of Mazarrón to the small church in Bolnuevo, on the coast.
The privately owned desalination plant in Mazarrón is a small one, producing 14 cubic hectometres of usable water per year, but it was a pioneering venture when it was first built 24 years ago (making it one of the first in Spain) and continues to break new ground with the fitting of the solar panels. But the real justification for the 6.9-million-euro investment in solar power is that it also makes sound economic sense: energy bills at the plant will be cut by around 28 per cent (or 1.6 million euros a year), enabling the price at which water is sold to farmers to be reduced from 52 cents per cubic metre to between 32 and 35 cents.
In addition, the solar panels are installed on a floating platform over the reservoir at the plant, protecting it from sunlight and preventing the loss of an estimated 35,000 cubic metres per year to evaporation, as well as deterring the growth of seaweed and other unwanted plant life. Eventually the solar panels will produce 8,000 kilowatts, although the first phase has a capacity of only 1,800.
At a time when the relationship between agriculture and the environment is coming in for close scrutiny on account of the contribution of intensive crop farming to the deterioration in the marine environment of the Mar Menor, this initiative in Mazarrón comes as a timely reminder that agricultural production, profit maximization and ecological cleanliness can certainly be made compatible if sufficient thought, commitment and financial investment are devoted to making it possible.
For more local news, events and other information go to the Mazarrón section of Murcia Today.
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