Solar Powered Desalination Plant Australia

Although solar desalination can be dated as far back as the ancient greeks the first modern plant was built in 1872 when charles wilson constructed a small direct plant in las salinas chile which produced water for mine workers in the area 1.

Solar powered desalination plant australia.

Acquasol 1 currently under construction by adelaide based acquasol infrastructure ltd is a concentrated solar power desalination plant located outside port augusta south australia that will create drinking water for the city of 15 000. True solar desalination is when you face the challenge of dealing with a variable source of energy like solar. On a sunny day up to 39 megawatts of energy can be produced enough to power the desalination plant and supply the greenhouse s electricity needs newsscientist explained. In australia many desalination plants are utilizing wind farms to produce enough energy to operate nearby desalination plants.

Citing the recently announced metito plant in saudi arabia reportedly powered by solar pv he noted that when night falls the plant will switch to grid power. A photovoltaic solar array tracks the sun and powers the pumps needed to process the water using the plentiful sunlight available in remote regions of australia not served by the power grid. Solar photo voltaic power is considered a viable option to power a reverse osmosis desalination plant. Impacts solar has partnered with the university of western australia uwa in collaboration with the national centre of excellence in desalination nceda to develop and deliver solar powered med desalination solutions.

For example the kurnell desalination plant with a capacity of producing 250 million liters ml of drinking water per day supplies 15 of sydney s water needs via ro technology and is powered using 100 percent renewable energy from the 140 mw capital wind farm. High energy consumption which in turns drives further greenhouse gas emissions and harmful discharge of hyper saline brine. The farm s solar power is generated by 23 000 mirrors that reflect sunlight towards a 115 meter 377 foot high receiver tower. This is an area where solar power can again come to the rescue.

Examples of solar powered desalination plants. Swro 5000 seawater reverse osmosis desalination system 5000 gpd 18 900 lpd our price. Desalination is a costly energy intensive process that is usually powered by fossil fuel baseload plants although many offset this power with green certificates as in australia. In addition to reaching far flung places that lack access to the energy grid the battery free solar powered desalination unit mitigates two main challenges associated with conventional desalination plants.