An assessment of energy storage options for large-scale PV-RO desalination in the extended Mediterranean region

Seawater desalination is already a largely adopted option to cope with the scarcity of natural water resources, but the increasing concerns about water availability in the future make it even more attractive. Being a highly energydemanding process, coupling desalination with renewable energy sources is an essential step for the sustainable production of desalinated water at large scales. The implications and the potential to deploy large-scale seawater reverse osmosis (RO) desalination is studied in this work under the hypothesis that all the required energy is provided by photovoltaic (PV) production, with an application to about 6,000 potential desalination plants in the extended Mediterranean region. To manage the high intermittency of PV production, different options to store energy are discussed including on-site batteries and water reservoirs, other than the power grid. Overall, securing desalinated water to 100-200 million people in the region is technically possible. For large-scale water production, however, desalination should be planned as a regional network, rather than in isolation; in this way, other than reduce their impact on the electric grid, they would sustain international cooperation on investments and the pooling of water and energy resources, as a possible win-win and cost-effective strategy to improve their security.

GANORA Daniele;  DORATI Chiara;  HULD Thomas;  UDIAS MOINELO Angel;  PISTOCCHI Alberto; 

2019-11-18

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

JRC116863

2045-2322 (online),   

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-52582-y,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC116863,   

10.1038/s41598-019-52582-y (online),