Renewable energy desalination: performance analysis and operating data of existing RES desalination plants

Abstract: During the last decades, several small autonomous brackish or seawater desalination units driven by renewable energy sources (RES) have been developed within EU and non-EU projects around the world. A significant number of these units were designed, developed, and operated by research centers/universities, in collaboration with companies working in the field of RES and desalination, in their own premises (laboratories) in order to investigate the reliability and performance of the technologies matching in small-scale and autonomous operations. Some systems were also developed for the supply of fresh water to remote areas, and particularly to cover the needs of small villages or communities. Few renewable energy desalination units were installed by RES/desalination market stakeholders as already commercially available products. The present work aims at analyzing the story and operation of selected RES desalination units, representative of a larger number of systems operating all around the world at present. The advantages and disadvantages of the technologies matching, problems encountered, and their solutions, costs, units’ performance as well as the progress of market-available RES desalination packages will also be presented.