Water treatment using solar panels is just what the term suggests. It is a type of treatment, or process, used to essentially sterilize water using the natural heating properties found in the sun that are fed through PV panels. In the most rural and undeveloped parts of the world that do not have an adequate infrastructure, solar power water treatment is heavily relied upon to get sanitized water to people that otherwise would not be able to get access to it.
This process is used a little in modernized areas, but not nearly as much as the need simply isn't there. Feed-in tariffs are starting to change this though. Disinfection, distillation, and pasteurization are the 3 most commonly used forms of water treatment using the sun to accomplish these tasks.
These processes have been proven to work quite well over the years and are very basic in nature. But possibly the most attractive aspect to it all is the low solar panels cost that it takes to implement these processes in the areas that need it the most.
Water distillation is another form of treatment that is commonly used. A still is used to trap the water vapors and kill off any impurities there may be in it. This process has been used for thousands of years and was originally used to take the salt out of sea water. It is still used for this purpose today, but there are many more types of impurities that we now know can be eradicating by this process, so the acceptance of it is much more widespread than ever before.
Pasteurization is a very common and much used way to kill pathogens, microbes, and any other substance that is known to carry and breed diseases in liquid. You can achieve this by using what are known as cookers that absorb the suns heat.
