Solar Power Applications in Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems: a Review with Focus on the Current Status of Iran’s NWW Co.

Iran is located in one of the hot and arid regions of the world, the Middle East. The geo-location imposes specific conditions for water and power supply, simultaneously. Water and wastewater treatment facilities are strategic infrastructures that need to be fed with more renewable power. While having a critical look at PPA contract structure and the way governmental policies has held back private sector from investing in power plants for water and wastewater treatment facilities, this article will review the specific processes that benefit from solar power. Ultimately, the power cost that Iran’s National Water and Wastewater Engineering Co. (NWW) pays, the amount it has invested in solar PV power generation, and the economic savings of such measures in the recent year are reported. The results revealed that only 1652 kw of PV panels are installed by urban water and wastewater organizations, which is capable of producing roughly 0.1 percent of the power demand of its facilities. The challenges section boldens two major issues that addressing them will foster organizations such as NWW to invest in PV power plants for their high-consumption facilities. These challenges can be categorized as a) issues with funding renewable energy projects within NWW, and b) lack of knowledge about the matter by individuals within the organization as well as void of or poor training schedules by the system.