Buzz Gets Bigger Over Tiny California Solar Desalination Plant
CleanTechnica July 20th, 2015 by Tina Casey
What a difference a month makes. Back in June, the California Farm Bureau Federation reported that local officials were still a bit iffy over the prospects for scaling up a relatively small, demonstration-scale solar desalination plant for the water-starved San Joaquin Valley. We have no idea what changed their minds, but just last week the desalination plant’s developer, WaterFX, announced plans for bouncing the project up to a commercial-scale facility capable of producing 1.6 billion gallons of fresh water per year.
Solar Desalination: That Was Then…
Al-Khafji Solar Desalination plant on the Arabian Gulf coast that will have the
capacity to produce 30,000 cubic meters.
Commercial solar desalination could make a huge difference in California’s ability to maintain a viable agriculture sector under drought conditions. Conventional desalination involves huge amounts of energy, and solar energy provides a low-cost, sustainable way to reclaim otherwise unusable water.
In 2014, we took note when WaterFX cranked up its HydroRevolution solar desalination demonstration facility. The project, built for the Panoche Water and Drainage District, actually kills two birds with one stone. In addition to solar desalination, it involves a cost-effective system for reclaiming the huge quantities of salt generated by conventional desalination systems...snip
Onwards & Upwards For Solar Desalination
Aside from recovering drainage water from agricultural sites, California is also eyeballing the vast potential of solar-powered seawater recovery. The state’s Carlsbad solar-enabled desalination plant, now under construction, will be the largest of its kind in the western hemisphere.
For the record, Saudi Arabia is building the largest solar desalination plant in the world, including a special filtering component to address the jellyfish issue...snip
Complete article: http://cleantechnica.com/2015/07/20/buzz-gets-bigger-tiny-california-solar-desalination-plant/
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World’s Largest Solar Powered Seawater Desalination Plant
Published on Mar 5, 2015
Al Khafji (Saudi Arabia) is the home for what's already referred to as the largest desalination plant fully powered by renewable solar energy.
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