The Seawater Greenhouse project dates back to 1991 when the concept was first researched and developed by Light Works Ltd. The first pilot project commenced in 1992 with the search for a test site which was eventually found on the Canary Island of Tenerife, once known as the ‘Garden of the Gods’, but now arid and seriously damaged by excessive abstraction of ground water.
A prototype Seawater Greenhouse was assembled in the UK and constructed on the site in Tenerife. The results from this pilot project validated the concept and demonstrated the potential for other arid regions.
The original pilot design has now evolved into a more elegant yet lower cost solution using a light but strong steel structure similar to a multi-span polytunnel. This structure is designed to be cost-effective and suitable for local sourcing. This design has been tested and validated through a second Seawater Greenhouse that was constructed on Al-Aryam Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in 2000. In both cases, crop production in terms of quality and quantity has been outstanding, with the Greenhouse supplying in excess of the water required for irrigation.
These projects have enabled the validation of a thermodynamic simulation model which given appropriate meteorological data, accurately predicts and quantifies how the Seawater Greenhouse will perform in other parts of the world.