Solar Energy and Desalination

Dear Colleagues,

Increasing pressure over water bodies and worsening climate conditions are facts that a growing population is and will be facing in the near future. Water scarcity not only negatively affects our health and the planet biodiversity but increases societal inequities and threatens our economic model. Desalination is a substantial and reliable source of fresh water already in many countries and is a growing market globally. However, desalination is also an energy-intensive process contributing greatly to GHG emissions. In fact, the IEA largest predicted energy growth related to water operations is for desalination (IEA, 2016). Hence, desalination will only be a sustainable option if operated with renewable energy.

In this context, solar desalination emerges as an alternative of great interest due to the geographical coincidence of areas that suffer from water stress and have easy access to seawater and high levels of solar irradiation. In this Special Issue, we want to contribute to improve the knowledge on the specific challenges and technoeconomic analysis of the many possible combinations for integrating solar energy (i.e., CSP, PV, CPV, etc.) with desalination processes (i.e., MSF, MED, MD, RO, HDH, FO, Absorption, etc.). We therefore invite papers on innovative technical developments, reviews, case studies, technoeconomic analyses, simulation papers, etc., relevant to solar energy and desalination systems in all their possible combinations.

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Thermal and mechanical desalination technologies (MSF, MED, MD, RO, HDH, FO, Absorption, etc.) and their specific challenges when coupled with solar energy (CSP+D, PV+D, CPV+D)
• Enhancing thermal desalination tecnologies coupled to CSP
• New desalination concepts specific to solar coupling
• The role of the storage and the control strategies
• Solar radiation in coastal environments
• Water consumption in CSP/PV plants and the role of desalination
• KPIs for the deployment of solar desalination