Why is powering thermal desalination with concentrated solar power expensive? assessing economic feasibility and market commercialization barriers

Alhaj, Mohamed; Al-Ghamdi, Sami G.

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2019.07.046

Cited by 33 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The coupling of CSP to MED and RO desalination systems has been the one with the best technical and economic performance; therefore, it is the one with the greatest technological development, although commercially integrated on a small scale [146]. This is mainly because promoting thermal desalination with CSP is not economically feasible on a large scale, since the costs associated with the production of 1 m 3 of fresh water range between US $0.94 and US $4.31, where cost is mainly affected due to the capital expenditure in the solar field and the operating expense of the desalination plant [151]. Consequently, desalination is a costly process if compared with the USD $0.53 price of 1 m 3 of fresh water when it is produced through a conventional process [69,87].…”

Section: Use Of Renewable Energies In Water Desalinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commercial Thermal Technologies for Desalination of Water from Renewable Energies: A State of the Art Review

Feria-Díaz¹,

López-Méndez²,

Sandoval-Herazo³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Thermal desalination is yet a reliable technology in the treatment of brackish water and seawater; however, its demanding high energy requirements have lagged it compared to other non-thermal technologies such as reverse osmosis. This review provides an outline of the development and trends of the three most commercially used thermal or phase change technologies worldwide: Multi Effect Distillation (MED), Multi Stage Flash (MSF), and Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD). First, state of water stress suffered by regions with little fresh water availability and existing desalination technologies that could become an alternative solution are shown. The most recent studies published for each commercial thermal technology are presented, focusing on optimizing the desalination process, improving efficiencies, and reducing energy demands. Then, an overview of the use of renewable energy and its potential for integration into both commercial and non-commercial desalination systems is shown. Finally, research trends and their orientation towards hybridization of technologies and use of renewable energies as a relevant alternative to the current problems of brackish water desalination are discussed. This reflective and updated review will help researchers to have a detailed state of the art of the subject and to have a starting point for their research, since current advances and trends on thermal desalination are shown.

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Section: Use Of Renewable Energies In Water Desalinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commercial Thermal Technologies for Desalination of Water from Renewable Energies: A State of the Art Review

Feria-Díaz¹,

López-Méndez²,

Sandoval-Herazo³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…PAM Review 2020 7 R represents thermal resistance and is the ratio of the difference between the average surface temperature, + , $$$ and the temperature of the input fluid, 5 (6 , against the applied heat flux, --. An efficient heat sink will provide better heat transfer, resulting in a lower average surface temperature and in turn a lower thermal resistance [19].…”

Section: Liquid-cooled Heat Sinkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Atmospheric water generation has become increasingly popular in the developing world where potable water is scarce and electricity production is limited [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In these climates, Thermoelectric Coolers (TECs) are commonly used as they provide a feasible and sustainable solution to the growing demands of the inhabitants [3][4][5][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increasing the efficiency of a Peltier device by assessing the thermal performance of liquid-cooled microchannel heat sinks

Sharpe

Burhanuddin

Majcan

et al. 2020

PAMR

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Water is, arguably, Earth's most valuable and vital resource. Devices that extract water from the atmosphere have been intensely researched as a means of harvesting potable water in environments where it is otherwise scarce. One such device is a Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC); a device that utilises the Peltier effect to cool a system. TECs are a promising solution for atmospheric water generation (AWG) over their competitors due to their simplicity and refrigeration capabilities. Despite these advantages, TECs are still considered mostly inefficient as they demand relatively high costs and energy consumption. This meta-analysis focuses on optimising the efficiency of small-scale Peltier devices. It explores the means of optimising the liquid cooled heat sink by using a specific flow field microchannel configuration such that less pumping power is required to push the coolant and more energy can be saved. A combination of optimal operating current of the Peltier device and of a novel flow liquid-cooled microchannel heatsink configuration with bifurcated fins using Galinstan as a coolant promises a significant increase in water production per unit of energy consumption for the AWG system.

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“…Despite its high ecological potential, only 1% of desalination water worldwide is produced using RE (Shahzad et al 2017). Market barriers for widespread use are high capital costs and uncertainty over optimal system integration strategies (Alhaj and Al-Ghamdi 2019b). A high proportion of RE in the electricity grid requires a completely different operational management (Olatomiwa et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable-powered desalination as an optimisation pathway for renewable energy systems: the case of Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin

Heihsel

Ali

Kirchherr

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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The ecology in the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia is threatened by water scarcity due to climate change and the over-extraction and over-use of natural water resources. Ensuring environmental flows and sustainable water resources management is urgently needed. Seawater desalination offers high potential to deliver water in virtually unlimited quantity. However, this technology is energyintensive. In order to prevent desalination becoming a driver of greenhouse gases, the operation of seawater desalination with renewables is increasingly being considered. Our study examines the optimisation of the operation of a 100% renewable energy grid by integrating seawater desalination plants and pipelines as a variable load. We use a GIS-based renewable energy load-shifting model and show how both technologies create synergy effects. First, we analyse what quantity of water is missing in the basin in the long run. We determine locations for seawater desalination plants and pipelines to distribute the water into existing storages in the Murray-Darling Basin. Second, we design a pipeline system and calculate the electricity needed to pump the water from the plants to the storages. Third, we use the combined renewable energy load-shifting model. We minimise the total cost of the energy system by shifting energy demand for water production to periods of high renewable energy availability. Our calculations show that in such a system, the unused spilt electricity can be reduced by at least 27 TWh. The electricity system's installed capacity and levelised cost of electricity can be reduced by up to 29%, and 43% respectively. This approach can provide an annual net economic benefit of $22.5 bn. The results illustrate that the expansion of seawater desalination capacity for loadshifting is economically beneficial. Abbreviations GISGeographic information system LCOE Levelised cost of electricity MDB Murray-Darling Basin MDBA Murray-Darling Basin Authority RE Renewable energies RO Reverse osmosis SDL Surface-water diversion limit SWRO Seawater reverse osmosis

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Why is powering thermal desalination with concentrated solar power expensive? assessing economic feasibility and market commercialization barriers

Cited by 33 publications

References 40 publications

Commercial Thermal Technologies for Desalination of Water from Renewable Energies: A State of the Art Review

Commercial Thermal Technologies for Desalination of Water from Renewable Energies: A State of the Art Review

Increasing the efficiency of a Peltier device by assessing the thermal performance of liquid-cooled microchannel heat sinks

Renewable-powered desalination as an optimisation pathway for renewable energy systems: the case of Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin

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