Sunlight, seaweed, saltwater and waste are feedstocks for solar-to-crop system in Oman, Emirates; food, energy crops result

In Oman, the Sahara Forest project has launched three demonstration plants that concentrate sunlight to gasify saltwater, using the spray to cool down plants and promote transpiration, as well as irrigation. The project has demonstration facilities in place in the Emirates and Tenerife as well as Oman, and is negotiating for new facilities to be located in Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. The plants use wastewater and sunlight as feedstocks, and nutrients extracted from seaweed.

The facilities can be used to grow energy crops or food, and are touted as a replacement for greenhouses in the Middle East that use groundwater to grow vegetables and are accused of depleting the groundwater stocks to such a low point that the desert is sterilized. Vast greenhouses that use seawater to grow crops could be combined with solar power plants to provide food, fresh water and clean energy in deserts, under an ambitious proposal from a team of architects and engineers.

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