Small-Scale Solar-Powered Desalination Plants: A Sustainable Alternative Water-Energy Nexus to Obtain Water for Chile’s Coastal Areas

Lorena Cornejo-Ponce (), Patricia Vilca-Salinas, María Janet Arenas-Herrera, Claudia Moraga-Contreras, Héctor Tapia-Caroca and Stavros Kukulis-Martínez
Additional contact information
Lorena Cornejo-Ponce: Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avda. General Velásquez 1775, Arica 1000007, Chile
Patricia Vilca-Salinas: Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avda. General Velásquez 1775, Arica 1000007, Chile
María Janet Arenas-Herrera: Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avda. General Velásquez 1775, Arica 1000007, Chile
Claudia Moraga-Contreras: Escuela de Derecho, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas, Universidad de Tarapacá, Cardenal Caro # 348, Arica 1010068, Chile
Héctor Tapia-Caroca: Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avda. General Velásquez 1775, Arica 1000007, Chile
Stavros Kukulis-Martínez: Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avda. General Velásquez 1775, Arica 1000007, Chile

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-38

Abstract: The natural potential of Chile—solar energy and 8 km of coastline—make the implementation of small-scale reverse osmosis desalination plants (RODPs) in coastal areas energetically supported with photovoltaic systems (PVs) feasible. This work considers a survey of the plants in Chile. As a demonstration of a RODP, a technical/economic evaluation is carried out, analyzing four possible cases in which different energy configurations are proposed: electric grid, diesel generator, and photovoltaic systems, without or with batteries. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of these plants are presented. The results obtained indicate that there are 39 plants in operation, which produce an average permeate water flow of Qp 1715 m 3 d −1 . Solar Explorer, and Homer Pro software are used for a plant that generates 8 m 3 day −1 of permeate water, resulting in the conclusion that Case 3 is the most economically viable, as it has a useful life of 20 years and will have an annual solar contribution of more than 65%. The levelized cost of water production is 0.56 USDm −3 (RODP/PV) and 0.02 USDkW −1 h −1 was obtained for the LCOE. Finally, this case contributes to the mitigation of climate change.

Keywords: Chilean coastal zone; desalination; Homer Pro; solar photovoltaic energy; water-energy nexus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/9245/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/9245/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:23:p:9245-:d:995275

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().