Desalination treats seawater, brackish water, and contaminated water for use in municipal and industrial water supplies, or to reclaim contaminated water.
The Solar Energy Technologies Office expects to provide funds for 7 to 10 projects which explore early-stage technologies aimed at reducing the cost of desalination through solar thermal energy.
"By integrating solar technology with desalination, we can dramatically lower the cost of creating clean water," said Charlie Gay, Solar Energy Technologies Office director. "Solar desalination can not only be used in creating freshwater from saltwater, but also to clean wastewater from industrial processes."
Electricity costs account for up to half of the operating expenses for desalination operations and require plants to be grid-connected. Solar power, either in the form of electricity or thermal power, has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of desalination, while enabling smaller, more portable systems.
Selected projects will help improve established solar desalination technologies and create low-cost designs for solar thermal collection and storage. The projects will be awarded as cooperative agreements requiring between 20 to 50% cost share, which ensures that federal research dollars are responsibly spent. This represents a total public-private funding of nearly $20 million.
Each project will also need to demonstrate significant improvements over best-in-class, near-commercial systems, produce repeatable results, and include clear, market-driven objectives.
For information: Department of Energy
