The Potential for Wind Power Desalination

Abstract

This paper tries to study the potential of the wind power integrated with the desalination technologies, in an attempt to increase the supply of water. Desalination is the process which involves converting the salt water into fresh water. The limitation includes the fact that it requires high amounts of energy. Therefore, it is important to identify different sources of energy, like wind, that can be linked into the systems of the desalination process, in order to produce fresh water in the near future. This paper tries to summarize the desalination process, along with the wind technologies, which includes the trends of growth, costs, and other advancements in the upcoming technologies. It is hoped that the outcomes of this study will help in generating discussions and further research, on the same topic in the future, for the purpose of implementing wind powered desalination in different parts of the world.

Keywords: wind power, desalination, freshwater, renewable energy sources, wind technologies

Introduction

"If we could ever competitively, at a cheap rate, get freshwater from salt water,

that would be in the long-range interest of humanity and would dwarf any other

scientific accomplishments" - President John F. Kennedy, April, 1961(Gleick, 1996)

Water (oxide of hydrogen) is a chemical in the form of a transparent liquid with no color (in a small volume), smell and taste (in normal conditions). The chemical formula for water is: H 2 O. In the solid state, it is in the form of ice or snow, and the in gases, it is in the form of water vapor. Water is essential in creating and sustaining life on Earth, in the chemical structure of living organisms in the formation of climate and weather.

Water is life - a critical substance for the survival of all living organisms on the Earth. If we talk about the need of fresh water for the humans, there are many uses other than the basic physiological need. This other needs of fresh water by the humans include things like, hygiene, sanitation, industry, recreation, agriculture, navigation and energy. Moreover, due to the rapid increase in the population of humans living in the world, the world is also witnessing a shortage of the availability of water, as a result. In accordance with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), “two hundred scientists in 50 countries have identified water shortage as one of the two most worrying problems for the new millennium (the other was climate change)”(UNEP, 2003).

This paper focuses on the importance of increasing the supply of fresh water, to meet the needs of the humans, by employing the potential of the integration of the wind power and the desalination process. Desalination is the process which involves converting the salt water into fresh water. This ability of the desalination process reflects the potential it possesses to alleviate the scarcity of water. However, even this process has its own limitations. The limitation includes the fact that it requires high amounts of energy. Therefore, it is important to identify different sources of energy, like ...