Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy venture capital fund, together with Duke Energy solar program has invested in Source Global, a startup that produces hydropanels that can generate water from air, CNBC reported.
The startup has already raised $150 million among investors, along with the Gates Fund, investment companies BlackRock and Lightsmith and energy holding Duke Energy solar program.
Source Global CEO Cody Friesen invented the panels in 2014 while teaching at the Arizona State University School of Engineering, and launched a panel manufacturing startup a year later.
In 2018, the first 40 Source hydropanels were installed in Kenya, and they are now in use in 52 countries.
A hydropanel looks like a solar panel, but produces water instead of electricity. It absorbs water vapor from the air and uses solar energy to extract clean water from it. The cost of one panel is $2,000.
“We take sunlight and air and can produce perfect drinking water almost anywhere on the planet,” Friesen told TV channel.
According to the World Health Organization, by 2025, around half of the world’s population will live in areas with water scarcity.