Concentrating solar power for seawater desalination in the

The paper presents a long-term scenario for the demand of freshwater in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and shows how it may be covered by a better use of the existing renewable water sources and by sea water desalination powered with solar energy. Growth of population and economy, increasing urbanization and industrialization, and the rather limited natural resources of potable water in MENA are leading to serious deficits of freshwater in many parts of MENA. Modern infrastructure for water distribution, enhanced efficiency of use and better water management are to be established as soon as possible. However, even the change to best practice would leave considerable deficits, which are poorly covered by over-exploiting groundwater resources. Increased use of desalted seawater is therefore unavoidable in order to maintain a reasonable level of water supply. The desalination of seawater based on fossil fuels is neither sustainable nor economically feasible in a long-term perspective, as fuels are increasingly becoming expensive and scarce. Concentrating solar power (CSP) offers a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels for large scale seawater desalination. CSP can help to solve the problem, but market introduction must start immediately in order to achieve the necessary freshwater production rates in time.

Seawater desalination based on concentrating solar power offers affordable, sustainable and secure freshwater potentials that are large enough to cope with the growing deficits in the MENA region. In fact, it is difficult to find any viable alternatives to this concept. However, starting with zero installed capacity in 2006, it will take at least 15 years until the CSP production capacities will be large enough to cope with the quickly growing demand of the region. Even at maximum speed of market introduction of this concept and additional full implementation of efficiency measures, the unsustainable exploitation of groundwater cannot be ended before 2030. Even this is very optimistic. However, a change to a sustainable supply is possible at least until 2050 if the necessary measures are decidedly initiated now. Considering the severe consequences of a MENA wide water crisis that has never been faced before, and the long time that is necessary to build a sustainable alternative, the governments of MENA should immediately start to establish the necessary political and technological conditions for efficient water management and for a quick market introduction and expansion of CSP and other renewable energy sources.