Environmental Assessment of the Impacts and Benefits of a Salinity Gradient Energy Pilot Plant

Marin-Coria, Etzaguery; Silva, Rodolfo; Enríquez, Cecilia; Martínez, M. Luisa; Mendoza, Edgar

doi:10.3390/en14113252

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(75 reference statements)

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“…[158] estimated the net energy produced during the operation phase of a 1 MW SGE plant in the Strymon River (Greece). However, neither [155,157] reported the CED or energy intensity of the studied systems, hence their EROI cannot be estimated. Similarly, in [158], only the energy required during operation is reported, while the energy embedded in the construction and decommissioning phases are not taken into account.…”

Section: Salinity Gradientmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Examining the Potential of Marine Renewable Energy: A Net Energy Perspective

et al. 2023

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It is often claimed that marine renewable energy alone could meet the electricity demand of current and future human societies. However, such claims are based on highly uncertain estimations of the global potentials of marine renewable energy sources (including tidal, ocean currents, wave, offshore wind and salinity and thermal gradients), and do not take into account the embedded energy of current technologies. To better understand the effective potential of marine energy, we conducted a literature review of its gross, technical, economic and sustainable potentials, as well as the energy return on investment (EROI), and estimated the net energy potential. We found that all marine technologies could provide a maximum energy surplus of 57,000 TWh/yr. This figure goes down to ∼5000TWh/yr when excluding offshore wind. The previous figures do not include the contribution from ocean currents, for which no reliable estimates of global potentials and EROIs could be obtained. Due to its high upfront costs and environmental impacts and low social acceptance, no additional tidal range capacity expansion is envisioned. Similarly, the combination of a low sustainable potential and the low EROI makes the large-scale exploitation of salinity gradients unlikely with current technologies. Including all technologies, the average EROI of marine energy is ∼20, but excluding offshore wind reduces the average EROI to ∼8. While we did consider sustainability constraints for some marine energy sources, our estimation of marine net energy potential primarily relied on technical factors and did not account for economic and legal constraints. Therefore, the results presented here should be interpreted as an upper bound for the actual net energy contribution of marine energy sources to the global energy mix.

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Section: Salinity Gradientmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Even more recently, ref. [157] published an environmental impact assessment of a hypothetical 50 kW RED plant installed in La Carbonera Lagoon, Yucatán, Mexico. In a modeling exercise (not an LCA), ref.…”

Section: Salinity Gradientmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Potential of Marine Renewable Energy: A Net Energy Perspective

et al. 2023

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“…Composition > 99.5%) solutions were used for all the experiments. The concentrations selected represent synthetic river water (0.0171 M) and synthetic seawater (0.5133 M) [32]. All solutions were prepared using deionized water (Fermont, Mexico.…”

Section: The Red Process Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Data Capture Conditions Effect on Reverse Electrodialysis Process Using a DC Electronic Load

Hernandez-Perez,

Hernández-Nochebuena,

González-Scott

et al. 2023

Energies

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Reverse electrodialysis (RED), an emerging membrane-based technology, harnesses salinity gradient energy for sustainable power generation. Accurate characterization of electrical parameters in RED stacks is crucial to monitoring its performance and exploring possible applications. In this study, a DC electronic load module (DCELM) is implemented in a constant current condition (CC mode) for characterization of lab scale RED process, using a RED prototype in-house designed and manufactured (RU1), at different data capture setups (DCS), on which the total number of steps for data capture (NS) and the number of measurements per step (ρ) are the parameters that were modified to study their effect on obtained electrical parameters in RED. NS of 10, 50, and 100 and ρ of 10 and 20 were used with this purpose. The accuracy of resulting current and voltage steps can be enhanced by increasing NS and ρ values, and according to obtained results, the higher accuracy of resulting output current and voltage steps, with low uncertainty of the average output steps (AOS) inside the operational region of power curve, was obtained using a DCS of NS = 100 and ρ = 20. The developed DCELM is a low-cost alternative to commercial electronic load devices, and the proposed methodology in this study represents an adaptative and optimizable CC mode characterization of RED process. The results obtained in this study suggest that data capture conditions have a direct influence of RED performance, and the accuracy of electrical parameters can be improved by optimizing the DCS parameters, according to the required specifications and the scale of RED prototypes.

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“…In this work, a literature review was carried out to determine the possible impacts on the ecosystems during the construction and operation phases of the OTEC Ecopark. The methodology follows precent by Garduño-Ruiz [75], Marin-Coria et al [76], and Martínez et al [74]. Some recommendations are given about the discharge of mixture-water (from deep waters and at the sea surface), the use of chemical products, and the installation of submarine power cables, considering the Coral Reef National Park and accompanying tourist activities.…”

Section: Socio-environmental Risks Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Assessment of the Financial Feasibility of an OTEC Ecopark: A Case Study at Cozumel Island

Tobal-Cupul

Garduño-Ruiz²,

Gorr-Pozzi

et al. 2022

Sustainability

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The aim of this article is to show how an OTEC Ecopark could provide comprehensive, sustainable, and quality products that satisfy the diverse needs of coastal communities in Mexico. An offshore 60 MW hybrid Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant is proposed, which will provide products that will not only fulfill the water, energy, and food needs of the coastal communities, but also energize the local blue economy. An assessment of the financial feasibility of the plant as well as a comparative analysis against other forms of energy generation was carried out. The methodology section includes a market description, literature review for the technical design, methods for mitigating socio-environmental risks, and an analysis of operational risks. To determine financial feasibility, the CAPEX, OPEX and annual revenue, including the sale of CELs and carbon credits, were evaluated. The Internal Rate of Return suggests that the system would pay for itself in year 5 of the system’s 30-year life. The methodology used for this case study, with site-specific adaptations, can be applied to other coastal communities across the globe.

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Environmental Assessment of the Impacts and Benefits of a Salinity Gradient Energy Pilot Plant

Cited by 9 publications

References 51 publications

Examining the Potential of Marine Renewable Energy: A Net Energy Perspective

Examining the Potential of Marine Renewable Energy: A Net Energy Perspective

Assessment of Data Capture Conditions Effect on Reverse Electrodialysis Process Using a DC Electronic Load

An Assessment of the Financial Feasibility of an OTEC Ecopark: A Case Study at Cozumel Island

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