Scoping study on the synergies between renewable energy and fresh water production.
IEA-RETD investigated the opportunities for coupling renewable energy systems with fresh water supply systems. The four main conclusions of the scoping study, carried out by Ecofys, are:
- Fresh water production based on desalination technologies provide most options for synergies with renewable energy production.
- Linking desalination to renewable sources is currently not economically viable.
- There is a large potential for small scale (decentralised) desalination plants.
- Current commercially-sized desalination technologies are in need of a constant operation point. Reverse osmosis and thermal membrane technologies might give future synergies as deferrable load.
