Bill Gates backed hydropanel startup Source Global, which creates water from air. Now $150 million has already been raised from investors. These panels are needed in many places around the world where many people do not have clean drinking water.

The principle of operation of hydropanels is to absorb water vapor from the air and compress it into a state of aggregation, the concentration of which is 10,000 times higher than in the atmosphere. Under the influence of sunlight, the system turns the molecules into a drinkable liquid, which is collected in an in-panel tank.

Cody Friesen invented panels back in 2014 at Arizona State University’s Irina A. Fulton School of Engineering, where he is an instructor. In 2018, 40 hydropanels were installed in Kenya, where members of the Sambur People’s Foundation faced hazards on a daily basis as they traveled to find water.

“We take sunlight and air, and we can produce perfect drinking water almost anywhere on the planet. In this way, we turn water into a renewable resource,” Friesen said.

For the current year, already in 52 countries and 450 separate projects, the development of Friesen. The company managed to attract Breakthrough, Energy Ventures, Bill Gates, BlackRock, Duke Energy and Lightsmith Group as investors. The startup’s panels cost about $2,000 a piece.