Solar Dew Clean Water, trading as SolarDew and based in Wageningen, makes water purification panels that look like solar panels but produce drinking water. Contaminated or salty water is heated by the sun and evaporates through a special membrane, leaving salts, heavy metals, bacteria and viruses behind. The EIC project said the membrane is more than 20 times cheaper than existing ones and that users could save 20 to 40 cents a litre compared with bottled water, according to CORDIS.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,539,106 towards a €2.2 million project from April 2023 to March 2026. The first-period report says the purification bag was redesigned to be 15 times larger, a roll-to-roll production process was developed and pilots were prepared in Chile and Greece, with the aim to "provide 1 million people with clean drinking water by 2030". A 2026 CORDIS results article says demonstration systems were installed in Chile and on Crete. In June 2026 SolarDew raised €800,000, said it had manufactured 150 units and now aims to reach one million people by 2035.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Solar Dew Clean Water B.V., KvK 74748599, Wageningen
- CEO and co-founder
- Alexander van der Kleij
- Product
- SolarDew water stations, about 32 units each
- Investors
- Connect the Drops, Oost NL
- Pilots
- Chile; Crete, with the Technical University of Crete
- EIC project
- SAFEWater-SDCW, 1 Apr 2023 to 31 Mar 2026
- EIC funding
- Blended finance
Where SolarDew Stands Now
The June 2026 round came from Connect the Drops, a Dutch investor in early-stage water start-ups, and Oost NL, the regional development agency for Gelderland and Overijssel, investing for the second time. A station of about 32 units produces about 100 litres of drinking water a day, depending on sunshine. SolarDew said it aimed to install its next commercial projects before the end of 2026, and its website invites people to register for a crowdfunding campaign on Republic Europe. The CORDIS article adds that talks were under way in Kenya and that SolarDew is considering "water as a service".
"The next two years are focused on learning and improving the product in terms of manufacturability, project implementation and ease of use."
Alexander van der Kleij, CEO, SolarDew, in a CORDIS results article, 2026The Technology: Membrane Distillation by Sunlight
The membrane is built into a water purification bag made with packaging-industry techniques, and the system runs on solar heat and gravity alone, without pumps, electricity or chemicals. The CORDIS article says tests also removed arsenic from brackish groundwater. The report lists a connector system and a low-pressure hydraulic design among the project's advances, and a Dutch patent was filed.
What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The project aimed to bring the technology to TRL 8 and prepare commercialisation. It produced a scaled-up design, a production process, pilots and a first production run. The commercial scale needed to reach a million people is far off: 150 units are enough for fewer than five 32-unit stations. CORDIS still lists the project as signed.
- Scaled-up bag and processDelivered15x larger; roll-to-roll.
- Field pilotsDeliveredChile, Crete.
- Industrial productionStarted150 units.
- One million people by 2030MovedNow 2035.
The Money
SolarDew's filings are balance sheets only, which North Data shows only to paying users, so its revenue is not public. Its fundraising since the EIC award has come from a water-sector investor, a regional agency and a planned crowdfunding campaign. No EIC Fund investment has been announced.
What Cannot Be Checked
Questions for the EIC
Whether the EIC Fund's equity offer was taken up, how many stations are in paid use, what water they produce in practice and SolarDew's revenue are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The CORDIS article says nearly 2 billion people lack safe drinking water. SolarDew is a European technology aimed squarely at them, and the EIC grant helped move it into production. The distance between 150 units and a million people shows how much scaling is still needed.
What the project promised
A TRL 8 solar water purifier ready to reach one million people by 2030.
What the record shows
Pilots in Chile and Crete, 150 units made, €800,000 raised and the target moved to 2035.
The Verdict
Working product, very small scale
SolarDew turned its EIC grant into a producible water purifier and real installations. It remains a small company raising modest sums, and its impact goal has already been pushed back five years.
SolarDew and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.
