Water. Desalination + reuse
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Water. desalination + reuse September 2016 In Site 33 C O M M E N T D R A L E X R I T S C H E L W e launched The Global Clean Water Desalination Alliance at COP21, the United Nations' climate change conference in Paris, December 2015. In the • rst week of existence we already had 100 members. So many industry partners, gov- ernments, and stakeholders immediately wanted to join, it was unbelievable. We met with everyone who signed up, on the phone or in person, and constructed an agenda. Signatories make a goodwill commitment to one or more of our aims. One is to supply desalination plants with clean energy. The second com- mitment is to make desali- nation plants more energy eˆ cient. The third is to work on research and develop- ment, and the fourth com- mitment is to share knowledge across the globe. Certain com- panies have the perfect know- how, and others just don't know, and that's why so many plants see these problems. We are still open to new entrants. We have • nancial institutions on board. The goal is that each participant contributes how they can, to make desalination reduce CO2. We have some very reputed leads on our four work streams, including the National Renew- able Energy Laboratory, US, and the IDA. At the IDA's Reuse and Recycling confer- ence in Nice, France, in September 2016, we are discussing barriers to renewables in desalination. We identi• ed a hurdle: that tenders for desalination plants o' en don't stipulate solar power. Countries' water and energy agencies are typically separate, and a water plant is usually tendered by a water utility, which inserts a value for the cost of electricity that everyone bidding should assume. It's o' en low, the average cost of the grid, and in some countries it's subsidised. There is no incentive for energy eˆ ciency if tenders assume a very low cost for electric- ity. The latest solar-powered plants can gen- erate electricity for less than three cents per kilowatt hour; that's the lowest cost that you can get, natural gas is more expensive, even in a place like Abu Dhabi. As things are, no-one will propose energy eˆ cient equip- ment, which is always a little bit more expensive, because it pays o• only if the electricity price is higher. This is what we want to discuss in Nice. Two days later, we go to Climate Chance: Climate Actors World Summit, in Nantes, France. It's a very international-driven summit to rally non-governmental stake- holders and to align them on climate issues. There we will present the alliance's approach, our plans, and the roadmaps we are going to develop for the various coun- tries, to give them a blueprint for transi- tioning their desalination sector to a more environmentally friendly one. Then the big event for us is COP22, the United Nations' climate change conference in Marrakesh, November 2016. We have secured a slot for a side event there, where we will present the progress of the work streams and the roadmaps. This comple- ments our locally oriented activities in Abu Dhabi with a more internationally oriented alliance. Dr Alexander Ritschel is head of technology at Masdar Clean Energy We identifi ed a hurdle: tenders "Tenders for desal plants o en don't stipulate solar power"