DEG promotes German environmental technology in Colombia

• Green pilot plant for desalinating seawater
• Supply of drinking water for 250 people

Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG) is co-financing a pilot project by Cologne-based company Membran Filtrationstechnik GmbH (Mft) which aims to supply drinking water in Colombia. The company is putting up some 195,000 euros, which DEG is matching with funds from the “Climate partnerships with the private sector” programme initiated by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).

In Colombia, around two-thirds of the population live in remote areas that are not supplied with adequate drinking water. The pipes in the public water distribution system are frequently in bad shape, causing much of the water simply to seep away. The only alternative that people have is to purchase expensive mineral water.

Mft has now developed an innovative sea water purification plant for a village in the province of La Guajira, a region in the northeast of Colombia which is very dry in spite of being located directly by the sea. The pilot plant aims to produce 10 litres of drinking water a day for the 250 village inhabitants at an affordable price, with the necessary power being provided by the wind and the sun.

As Manuela Marques, Head of Customer Solutions at DEG, explains: “As part of the ‘Climate partnerships with the private sector’ programme, we can help our SME customers to bring their innovative products to developing and emerging-market countries and play our part in protecting the global climate at the same time.”

Frank Jacobs, Commercial Director at Mft, explains: “This project is new ground for us in that it combines a social function with a completely technical new development. Thanks to the use of renewable energies, we can provide drinking water while respecting the environment. Using membrane technology to purify water also means that we can mostly do without chemicals.”

In November, Mft held a workshop for engineers from Colombia with a view to providing local partners with the necessary know-how. The pilot plant will be shipped shortly and further training provided directly on location. The plant can be monitored via a data cloud so that Mft has ongoing access to information about the volume and quality of drinking water being produced. In the case of contamination, the system turns itself off directly.

Mft plans to series-produce the desalination plant by 2018, as the system can be of interest for many locations. Today, the company’s water treatment plants can already be found in more than 100 countries.

Providing financing and expert advice to German companies in developing and emerging-market countries is one of DEG’s main areas of focus. This also includes promoting investments that increase the use of climate-friendly technologies in developing and emerging-market countries or established technologies for reducing greenhouse gases in line with specific conditions in target countries.