Skysource/Skywater Alliance has won the $1.5 million Water Abundance XPrize for developing a system that produces water from air, in any climate. Launched in 2006, the competition has challenged innovators to develop a device that could extract at least 2,000L water a day from the atmosphere (enough for the everyday requirements of around 100 people) through the use of clean energy and at a cost not exceeding $0.02/L.

This year’s winning Wood-to-Energy Deployed Water (WEDEW) system is made up of two parts:

1. Skywater mimics clouds by cooling warm air through condensation in a tank
2. A biomass gassifier vaporizes wood and other organic materials (e.g. coconut shells) to produce power for the system to operate.

XPRIZE founder and executive chairman Dr. Peter H. Diamandis said, “This year’s Visioneering beautifully encapsulates the full life-cycle of an XPRIZE with the awarding of the Water Abundance XPRIZE, which began as a prize concept proposed at a Visioneering just five years earlier by our trustee, Eric Hirshberg. It is testament to the basic premise that Visioneering is the forum where participants’ breakthrough ideas are presented, evaluated, upvoted, funded and then go on to have real-world, transformative impact.”

The prizes were announced at the Visioneering 2018, which is XPRIZE’s annual gathering of innovators and experts to analyse new concepts for future competitions.