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Lusa - Business News - Cabo Verde: French group to invest €10M to produce water by condensation

Praia,May.26,2023(Lusa)-French company Heliodon, will invest €10 million in Cabo Verde to produce 2,000 cubic metres of water daily for agriculture using condensation techniques, according to a memorandum of understanding signed on Friday in Praia.
"It is a more economical technology (...) With 2,000 cubic metres of water we are able to irrigate a very significant area, which may come to reduce the cost of water for irrigation," explained the chairwoman of Cabo Verdean state company Água de Rega (AdR), Angela Moreno, after signing the agreement with the French company.
The project provides for the installation of production capacity across the archipelago in three years, but the pilot phase will start in an area still under construction on Santiago island, with an overall investment by Heliodon of around €10 million.
"It comes with its financial resources, it also comes with its equipment, and it forms a partnership with AdR. In this partnership, the company produces water for AdR, we negotiate the water. It's not here to sell water, but to produce it", Ângela Moreno told reporters.
The production of water by condensation from the air has low energy costs, and can reach consumers at cheaper prices, the AdR chairwoman admitted: "This protocol is for the installation of all that technology to obtain water via evaporation, as well as the construction of storage reservoirs, water supply and then the sale of the product.
The head of Heliodon, François Mario Manza, noted that this was "innovative technology," which was debuting in the archipelago and could allow for "large production" of drinking water in Cabo Verde, with installation starting in January next year.
"We hope to start the production phase in February 2024," he said at the signing ceremony of this memorandum of understanding with the Cabo Verdean state company.
AdR was created by the Cabo Verdean government in 2020 to increase the supply of water for agriculture, namely through alternative solutions, in the face of the consecutive droughts affecting the archipelago.
"We accept and are available to test and use any technology that is viable and that promotes more water for agriculture. We are currently running a 35 million euro programme with Hungary that consists of mobilising sea water for agriculture through desalination," recalled the president of AdR.
In Cabo Verde, the project will have a three-year implementation period for full validation, during which time the water produced by condensation will be available for sale.
PVJ/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
Agency : LUSA Date : 2023-05-27 03:57:00
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