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Latin America & Caribbean / Critical infrastructure

Solar Desalination Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations3
System facts20
Sources reviewed10
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

This Baja California Sur record is best described as Yan (Jan) Kunczynski's evolving photovoltaic seawater reverse-osmosis research and commercialization lineage, associated with Sisyan and the La Paz area, rather than a conventional electricity microgrid. The published prototype scale is 1,000–5,000 US gallons per day (about 3.8–18.9 m³/day) of water. No reliable source supports the existing database's 100 kW power rating; it appears to confuse water-production or portfolio figures with electrical capacity. Contemporary reporting describes a progression from battery smoothing to direct solar-only operation, using multiple RO modules that could be dispatched as irradiance changed. Later Baja California Sur research describes a related multimodule PV-RO system with battery-state-of-charge dispatch, showing that configurations differed or continued to evolve. Regional systems attributed to Kunczynski reportedly reached up to 19 m³/day, product TDS below 250 mg/L, specific energy as low as 2.6 kWh/m³, and more than 70,000 solar-powered operating hours, but those portfolio metrics cannot all be assigned to one La Paz unit. Sisyan remains commercially active, while the exact original demonstrator's current location, equipment, and operating status are unverified.

Research status
Historic research/prototype lineage with later regional deployments and an active commercial successor. The exact original La Paz installation's present operation is unverified; it should not be labeled a confirmed 100 kW operational microgrid.
Historical classification
DC
Reported capacity
100 kW
Coordinates
19.36583, -98.95214
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Solar Desalination Microgrid?

3 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Sisyan LLC

Commercial developer of the photovoltaic reverse-osmosis approach [6][7]

Organization

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur

Research partner on later multimodule PV-RO operation and control [10]

Organization

Yan (Jan) Kunczynski

Inventor/researcher and Sisyan founder associated with the Baja California Sur systems [6][7][10]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
100 [1]
Storage
NA [1]
Published water-production range
1,000–5,000 US gallons per day, approximately 3.8–18.9 m³/day, in Kunczynski's original development paper [8]
Electrical rating
Not reliably published for the identified demonstrator. The database's 100 kW figure is unsupported by the located technical and historical sources [8][7][10]
Reported regional performance
Related Baja California Sur systems were reported at up to 19 m³/day, product-water TDS below 250 mg/L, and specific energy as low as 2.6 kWh/m³; these are portfolio/field-system results, not a verified single-site specification [9]
Reported endurance
More than 70,000 entirely solar-powered operating hours over roughly eight years was reported for the regional technology deployment; attribution to the exact La Paz prototype is uncertain [9]
Operating chronology
Reporting in 2014 said the La Paz-area system had run for more than 12 years and evolved from battery smoothing to solar-only operation; 2019 proceedings describe a related Baja California Sur multimodule installation whose dispatch used battery state of charge [7][10]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Solar generation

Model not publicly disclosed

Photovoltaic array sized to drive seawater reverse-osmosis modules; array capacity, module maker, and exact installation date were not reliably disclosed [8][7]

02

Reverse-osmosis trains

Model not publicly disclosed

Multiple relatively small seawater RO modules could be started or stopped to follow available solar power [7][10]

03

Motor drives

Model not publicly disclosed

Sisyan's commercial architecture uses variable-frequency drives accepting DC photovoltaic input and avoids a conventional PV inverter stage; this is a company technology description and not proof of every original prototype component [6]

04

Energy recovery

Model not publicly disclosed

Sisyan describes recovering pressure from the RO brine and applying it mechanically to the high-pressure pump shaft [6][10]

05

Electrical storage

Model not publicly disclosed

Configuration varied by phase/site: the early system reportedly began with batteries and later ran solar-only, while a 2019 related system used a battery bank and state-of-charge-based module control [7][10]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Management

    Microgrid Energy Managements system monitors battery voltage and adjusts variable frequency drives (VFDs) and modules to match available solar generation. [1]

  • Storage

    According to Sisyan LLC , storing desalinated water using available solar energy is energy storage. [1]

  • Generation

    Solar Photovoltaics (PV) [1]

  • System classification

    The plant couples PV directly to a flexible desalination process and uses product-water storage and modular load control. It is a renewable desalination plant or nanogrid-scale process system, not evidence of a community electricity microgrid with islanded distribution. [7][6]

  • Solar-following control

    Instead of forcing one large RO train to run continuously, the system dispatches smaller RO modules as irradiance and available electrical power change. Water production becomes the controllable load. [7][10]

  • Storage strategy

    The architecture can shift storage from electricity to elevated or tanked fresh water, reducing battery dependence. Located sources also show that some implementations retained batteries, so 'batteryless' should be tied to a specific phase rather than generalized. [7][10]

  • Evidence boundary

    Published results mix the original La Paz experiment, later remote-village plants, and Sisyan's commercial design. Ratings and performance are therefore labeled by source scope rather than combined into one synthetic installation. [6][7][9]

  • Current-status gap

    Sisyan's current website confirms an active technology vendor, not that the original early-2000s plant remains installed or operating. No recent site-specific production or maintenance record was located. [6]

Provenance

10 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2020-07-06

  2. [2]
    Sisyan LLC

    renewabledesalination.com · Archived source · captured 2020-07-06

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    http://cleantechnica.com/2015/06/18/using-renewable-energy-for-desalination/

    cleantechnica.com · Archived source · captured 2020-07-06

  5. [5]
  6. [6]
    Renewable Desalination

    Sisyan LLC · Primary source

  7. [7]
  8. [8]
  9. [9]
  10. [10]

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