solar desalination

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed a solar desalinator with high water output, via a multi-stage system of evaporators and condensers. It offers cost-effective solar desalination, making solar-produced drinking water cheaper than tap water for the first time.

Scientists in Canada have combined PV power generation with water purification based on capacitive deionization (CDI), which is claimed to have low operational cost, enhanced energy efficiency, and less water rejection than conventional purification techniques. The solar-powered system prototype is able to produce more water than a conventional CDI system on a sunny day.

Bangladesh has introduced tax exemptions to reduce water production costs and promote the use of solar power in 19 coastal districts. This initiative comes in response to grid electricity shortages caused by a decline in coal and fuel imports. The goal is to enhance reliance on solar-powered water desalination in these areas.

State-owned company Sociedad Estatal de Aguas de las Cuencas Mediterráneas (Acuamed) will soon launch tenders for solar-powered desalination projects in Spain.

UK researchers have proposed the use of photovoltaic-thermal energy for desalination purposes, via an approach based on synergistic electro-thermal coupling mechanisms. They have found that some system configurations could offer a lower levelized cost of desalinated water, in addition to higher efficiencies.

TotalEnergies and Veolia will construct a 17 MW solar facility at Veolia’s Sharqiyah Desalination plant in Oman. The PV plant will have an estimated annual production of 30,000 MWh and will be able to cover more than a third of the desalination plant’s daily consumption.

ACWA Power and Emirates Water and Electricity Co. (EWEC) have commissioned the first phase of the Al Taweelah Independent Water Plant in the United Arab Emirates. The facility, which can produce more than 6.4 million cubic meters of water per day, sources some of its power from a nearby solar park.

The futuristic Neom City will be powered exclusively by renewable energy, but a co-optimization approach with the water sector will be crucial for desalination and sustainable water supplies. Saudi scientists have assessed different system configurations and determined that solar-plus-storage would deliver the lowest levelized cost of energy.

US researchers have developed a portable desalination unit that generates clean drinking water without filters or high-pressure pumps. The device is powered exclusively by solar energy and requires just 20 W of power per liter.

A floating, reverse-osmosis-based unit turns seawater into potable drinking water through the power of the sun and waves. Oneka developed the product, which requires no external electricity source and no land.