Deserts aren’t the most favorable of places for irrigation, couple the Sahara sand and seawater and you have an almost impossible task at hand. The team behind the Sahara Forest Project has accomplished this nearly impossible task with the use of renewable energy. The team has designed a 10,000sqm facility in Qatar that will grow vegetables, especially cucumbers, a staple in the Middle East diet.
The fully operational facility in Qatar is built in cooperation with the leading fertilizer companies Yara and Qafco. The facility makes use of concentrated solar power system and uses the heat produced to desalinate seawater and produce distilled water for the plants to grow in the greenhouse and outside in the desert. Waste heat is used to warm the greenhouses during winters and to regenerate the desiccant used for dehumidifying the air.