Solar Desalination System Design for Irrigation/Drinking Water and Electricity Generation in Desert or Arid Areas

Climate change and population growth are likely to be future challenges to obtaining water and growing crops in arid areas. Traditional hand pumps are available but give relatively low flows; they are time consuming and are limited by the depth of wells. In low latitudes, solar energy can be the main renewable energy source for water pumping and desalination. In this project, several ways to get irrigation water, drinking water and electricity have been evaluated in the country of Western Sahara. Solar pumps have been proven to be a reliable economic solution for irrigation, but drinkable water is also required in arid areas where the salinity of water wells can be high. There is an obvious synergy when using photovoltaic solar panels for pumping, desalination, and electricity generation, but the feasibility of a project involving all those uses depends on demand and finance. This paper uses resource, technology, and economic assessments to model scenarios that demonstrate the viability of this triple approach. A Net Present Value of €26,887, and an Internal Rate of Return of 10.41% was found where 7 m3 of water was pumped per day.