Declining Costs Spurring Increased Interest In Desalination

Desalination…it’s been called “a drought-proof water supply.”

 

And, although it historically has been a more expensive way to shore up a municipal water supply, improved technology and a growing demand for water in many drought-plagued areas of the country have spurred more interest in this process for turning sea water and brackish groundwater into drinking water.

 

In fact, half again as many municipal desalination plants were built between 2000 and 2010 as were built in the previous 30 years, according to water sector consultant Mike Mickley. Many local government officials and water experts and managers say they expect the interest in desalination to continue to increase.

 

Part of the renewed interest stems from the fact that the costs of desalinating sea water and groundwater are declining.

 

One of the major expenses associated with desalination plants has always been the amount of energy required to run the plants. However, Tom Pankratz, editor of the Water Desalination Report, says it now takes only a quarter of the electricity to generate drinking water as it did in the 1980s because of more efficient pumps, membranes and energy-recovery devices.

 

One of the newer attempts being explored as a way of lowering energy costs is the use of renewable energy sources to power the plants. In 2013, an energy development firm in Abu Dhabi began preparation for a pilot program. Four companies were to build desalination plants that run on conventional power and then switch them to renewable power. Their efficiency and cost-effectiveness will be measured to help decide which technologies are most effective.

 

The Eastern Municipal Water District in Perris, California, has approved contracts to build solar energy facilities at its five reclamation facilities, including its groundwater desalination facilities. The new solar facilities will provide an average of 30 percent of the energy required to operate each of the five locations.

 

Many countries in arid parts of the world are stepping up their efforts toward the use of desalination plants. Visitors from Egypt were visitors to the Kay Bailey Hutchison desalination plant in El Paso, the world’s largest inland desalination plant. But, most of the plants in the past in these areas have been powered by fossil fuels. Rising costs for those fuels are pushing countries in North Africa and the Middle East to consider renewables like solar and wind power to power what is expected to be a growing number of desalination projects.

 

The World Bank commissioned a study regarding the combining of renewable energy and desalination to help fulfill the water demand in the Middle East and North Africa region. The report noted that not only would this coupling be able to provide a sustainable source of potable water, but the two technologies together would also help reduce the carbon footprint of desalination because of its reliance on fossil fuels.

In Saudi Arabia, the world’s first large-scale, solar-powered desalination plant could become the model for other desalination plants seeking to move away from fossil fuel-driven plants.

 

The Sorek desalination plant in Israel, the largest seawater desalination plant in the world, is using not just technology, but engineering improvements, to lower the cost of plant operations. The size of the pressure pipes used being increased from eight to 16 inches in size means only one-fourth as much pipe and ancillary hardware is necessary, thus cutting costs. One Israeli chemical engineer and desalination expert at the Israel Institute of Technology said the plant is “indeed the cheapest water from seawater desalination produced in the world.”

As costs continue to decline and demand for water continues to increase, desalination will continue to be an attractive alternative for creating a safe, reliable source of potable water.

 

This interest could result in government contracting opportunities to build additional desalination facilities, a trend that our experts at SPI plan to keep a close eye on.