Water · energy · soil · provision

Making land usable — so that it sustains itself afterwards.

ARENOVA is a systems approach for arid and semi-arid regions. It combines water supply, power generation, vegetation, material cycles, connectivity and provision for the people into a single site concept — with the aim that operations continue once the construction phase is over.

The problem

Why isolated measures fail in dry regions

Irrigate alone and the water is lost to evaporation. Plant alone and the vegetation is lost to drought. Generate power alone and you have power but no consumer. Build all of it but make no provision for the people, and you will find nobody to run the installation.

This is not a technical difficulty but a structural one: the components depend on one another. If one is missing, the rest will not carry. That is why many undertakings end when the funding period ends — not because the technology failed, but because no self-sustaining operation ever came into being.

ARENOVA addresses precisely this point. The approach does not describe a better individual technology but the sequence and the interaction of the components from which a viable site emerges.

The measure of success. An undertaking has succeeded if it is still running five years after the last payment. Anything else is construction work, not development.

Components

Six components that depend on one another

The following description sets out the task each component performs within the whole. The specific interconnection, the design and the processes from which the interaction arises are not the subject of this description — see the notice at the end of the page.

Component 1
Water
Obtaining and treating usable water on site, combined with irrigation that releases the water where the root takes it up — not on the surface, where it evaporates.
Component 2
Energy
Solar generation as the foundation. Generation is managed so that water treatment, irrigation and processing run from the same source — without connection to a grid that in many places does not exist.
Component 3
Soil and vegetation
Drought-tolerant perennial crops with deep root systems. They hold the soil, reduce erosion and at the same time yield a marketable product — the condition for the land to sustain itself.
Component 4
Material cycle
Use of residues and press cake for energy and soil improvement. What arises on the site stays on the site and becomes the input for the next step.
Component 5
Connectivity
Data connection and communication on site. Without them neither control nor evidence is possible, and without evidence an undertaking cannot be financed.
Component 6
Provision for people
Basic medical care and training on site. A place where people are expected to work must offer them more than work — otherwise it stays empty.
Effect

What it amounts to

01

The land sustains itself

Land restoration as a funded project ends when the funding ends. ARENOVA links restoration to a product that can be sold — so that operations continue once nobody is watching any more.

02

Land value follows usability

Dry land without water and without connection has little value. Establish both and value arises — on land nobody previously wanted. That is the economic lever of the approach.

03

Jobs that last

With provision, training and connectivity a place emerges where people stay. Without those elements what emerges is a camp that stands empty after the construction phase.

04

Demonstrable to funders

Effects on water, soil, employment and provision are measured and documented. Development financiers require this — and the measurement chain is needed for operational control in any case.

Implementation

The order in which it is done

The sequence is an order of steps, not a timetable. Duration and scope depend on the site, the legal position and the financing structure.

Stage 1

Site assessment

Water availability, irradiation, soil, accessibility, land rights and the question of who locally is affected. Without settled land rights nothing begins.

Stage 2

Feasibility and structure

Sizing the components to the site, economic assessment, corporate and financing structure, offtake agreements for produce and energy.

Stage 3

Construction and operation

Construction in phases, training of local staff, transition to regular operation and continuous measurement of effects.

On involving the people on site

Undertakings of this kind affect land use and livelihoods. Development financiers require dedicated procedures for this — identification of those affected, participation, treatment of use rights and, where applicable, free, prior and informed consent. These procedures are not an annex but a precondition of financeability, and they are carried forward from the outset.

Roles

Who is responsible for what

Proprietor

IMS New Technologies AG

Proprietor of the brand and the associated know-how, Herisau, Switzerland. It develops the systems approach, supports the site assessment and grants licences.

www.ims-nt.ch

Project company

Implementation on site

Construction and operation are carried out through a company in the respective country, in which the parties hold interests according to the financing structure chosen.

Partners

Technology and research

Individual components are implemented together with suitably qualified partner companies and research institutions. These are independent undertakings; their technologies belong to them.

Contact

Enquiry

Write to us stating the country, the approximate area, the ownership or tenure position and the occasion. We work without a contact form and without a telephone hotline.

Notice on intellectual property

This description sets out ARENOVA at a functional level. The specific interconnection of the components, their design and the processes from whose interaction the overall system emerges are not the subject of this description.

They constitute protected know-how and the subject matter of intended applications for industrial property rights. Disclosure takes place only upon conclusion of a confidentiality agreement and only after the priority date has been secured.

ARENOVA™ is a brand of IMS New Technologies AG. Figures for yields, costs and effects are site-dependent and are quantified only within a feasibility study.