Abu Dhabi's Masdar Plans to Couple Renewables to Power Desalination Plant

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The years from now through 2020 are going to see project convergences in sources of power generation--not so much hybrid, but the coupling of complementary technologies into efficient, purpose-designed units with targeted benefits.

Masdar (Abu Dhabi), which specializes in clean energy, is part of this vision as it plans to build the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) first large-scale desalination plant to be powered by renewable energy.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Masdar's chief executive, told The National, "The aim of the pilot programs is by 2020 to have large-scale, commercially viable water desalination plant powered by renewable energy--whether it is solar, geothermal or other sources, or maybe even a combination."

Speaking at the World Future Energy summit, Al Jaber said that energy-intensive water desalination will continue to play its role, but thought had to be given to innovative ways of utilizing technologies that would allow the harnessing of natural resources.

The company is looking for technology partners for three trial projects to run until the end of 2015, before the construction of the plant begins the following year. Masdar will cover half the investment in the plant, and its partners will cover the other half, but to date no figure has been announced.

There are already 48 companies on the shortlist for the program, and their ideas will be evaluated by a technical committee of Masdar's experts, comprising UAE University, Abu Dhabi's environmental agency, and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority. Another committee is evaluating the commercial aspects of the project.

Technologies with smaller energy footprints will be tested. These could include forward osmosis, which uses a semi-permeable membrane to filter salts and impurities from the water, and low-temperature distillation, which, like current technologies, relies on thermal processes to distill water but requires lower temperatures and less energy.

Leon Awerbuch, co-chair of the International Desalination Association, said that the best sites for solar energy production were inland and desalination was from seawater on the coast. "Coupling is still going to be essential," he said.

The UAE relies on desalination plants for more than 90% of its potable water. In 2011, the UAE produced 2.7 billion liters.

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