DR JAUAD EL KHARRAZ

The Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) strives to lead renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives and expertise in all Arab states. It promotes the water-energy-food nexus approach and specifically encourages the use of renewable energy for desalination.

As most countries are embarking on an energy transition to achieve net zero emissions, the energy used for desalination stands out as a key outstanding subject for a sustainable future that integrates the water-energy-food nexus. Smart Water Magazine had the opportunity to speak with Dr Jauad El Kharraz, a senior water-energy-climate expert who currently leads the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) as Executive Director. He has served as an advisor and evaluator for several international institutions and was the Director of Research at the Middle East Desalination Research Center in Oman prior to joining the RCREEE. Dr El Kharraz answered our questions about the integration of renewable energies in desalination processes: the current state of affairs and the outlook for the future.

Can you tell us about the RCREEE’s strategies to promote the energy transition in the Middle East and North Africa, as it relates to the water sector?

The Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) is an intergovernmental organization with diplomatic status that aims to enable and increase the adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency practices across pan-Arab countries. RCREEE is the official technical arm institution of both League of Arab States – Energy Department and the Arab Ministerial Council for Electricity (AMCE). RCREEE teams up with governments, international organizations, IFIs and the private sector via several forms of partnerships to initiate and lead clean energy policy dialogues, strategies, and technologies, managing the facilitation of RE investment platforms and capacity development to increase Arab states’ share of tomorrow’s modern energy solutions. Having today 17 Arab countries among its members, RCREEE strives to lead renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives and expertise in all Arab states based on its strategic plan approved by its Board of Trustees. The RCREEE Secretariat has several multidisciplinary teams across Sustainable Energy and Climate Action sub-sectors with multicultural teams diversified across Arab and International professionals. The RCREEE, via its secretariat, is a financially autonomous organization. The main source of finance is generated via comprehensive portfolios of programmes and partnerships via development agreements with DFIs, third-party contracts, and innovative climate-finance programmes. The RCREEE also holds the fiduciary responsibility and all related legal jurisdiction of the canter’s activities. The RCREEE plays a role in providing its member states technical assistance and guidance to develop their national energy transition strategies and policies as well as its action plan. It also provides monitoring tools to assess their progress and produce the Arab Future Energy Index (AFEX) to follow up on the efforts of its member states vis-à-vis renewable energy, energy efficiency and access to energy projects. On the other hand, The RCREEE is promoting the adoption of the water-energy-food nexus approach and partners with regional players and national stakeholders to boost the dialogue between water, energy and agriculture actors, and concretely it encourages the use of renewable energy for desalination. A study has been carried out in favour of the League of Arab States to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy for desali- nation projects in the Arab region, apart from encouraging solar (PV) pumping in agriculture and the use of renewables for wastewater treatment and reuse.

What are the current trends and advancements in the integration of renewable energies in desalination processes and water management in general?

The integration of renewable energy and desalination has been cost-effective at a small scale for a while. Several small units of solar desalination (e.g., PV-RO) exist in rural/coastal and remote areas in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Oman, UAE, Jordan, etc. where the produced desalinated water from brackish water desalination is used for drinking and agricultural purposes with a competitive cost in some cases, while in other cases there is room for improvement, for example, to irrigate high-value crops, to make the combination more cost-effective for consumers or farmers. In general, PV-RO is the most popular combination, but we can also find some projects that are wind-RO or CSP-RO (indirectly such as the case of the Ait Chtouka desalination project in the region of Agadir, Morocco, with initially 175.000 m3 per day desalinated water, half for drinking and half for irrigation), or CSP-thermal desalination hybrids. In addition, we can find stand-alone PV-RO systems with batteries for use at night or when there is no solar radiation, and we can also find systems connected to the grid to keep them operating at night. Indirectly coupled arrangements or PV- and wind- RO are viewed as having higher TRL than directly coupled arrangements. The advantages of PV become decisive for stand-alone configurations and smaller-sized systems (approx. 1000 m3/day). In addition, ground requirements are less than half with better expectations of cost reduction. We can also find a limited use of solar stills which is used for small production of desalinated water.

Can you comment on the main challenges and barriers to the widespread adoption of renewable energy in the desalination sector, and how can they be addressed?

The main challenge of renewable energy desalination is that desalination technologies generally work in steadystate conditions, but renewable energy sources are usually non-stationary. In fact, renewable energy generation needs adjustments for continuous supply (energy storage), and desalination technologies can adapt to variable operations. Some additional challenges are associated with the cost and the environmental impact. As per the cost, for example the cost of desalination from small-size units in Oman (without electricity subsidy = USD 0.65/m3) is 63% more expensive than what farmers are paying in Spain for instance (USD 0.40/m3). One option to reduce the costs of desalination for agriculture is to mix desalinated water with less low-quality groundwater and follow certain irrigation deficit schemes to irrigate high-value crops. As per the environmental impact, we need more and more innovative solutions, but already farmers of the MENA region for example use evaporation ponds or zero liquid discharge techniques to deal with the brine.

In regions heavily dependent on desalination for freshwater supply, how can the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources be managed to ensure continuous and reliable desalination operations? What role do energy storage technologies play in this regard? PV is often combined with RO. As electricity storage is still a challenge, combining power generation and water desalination can also be a cost-effective option for electricity storage when generation exceeds demand. However, we know the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources that we need to manage to ensure continuous and reliable desalination operations (e.g., disruptions can affect for example the RO membranes...), so either we connect the desalination system to the grid to continue the operations or we need to make use of energy storage solutions which need further development to reduce its cost and ensure proper operations. We really need more innovation and investment in R&D in the area of energy storage to come up with satisfactory solutions, this would boost renewable desalination in the upcoming years. Already, we can see in almost all planned desalination projects in the MENA region (e.g., Egypt: 21 desalination projects in the pipeline) a component of renewable energy which becomes a requirement. This would help in bringing more investments in energy storage technologies that are called to play an important role.

Are there specific technologies – both concerning desalination and energy generation – that are particularly promising for the integration of renewable energies with desalination?

The most mature technologies are solar PV with RO, but at the lab scale, we can find some promising technologies such as membrane distillation, forward osmosis (e.g., Oasys), and microbial desalination at the level of desalination, and we can highlight offshore desalination that is promoted by some Scandinavian companies which take advantage of their oil and gas exploration techniques to apply it in the desalination field, including the use of ocean wave energy to power offshore desalination units. But again, TRL higher than 7 will require more effort in the upcoming years.

Can you provide some examples of projects or initiatives where renewable energy technologies are being used in large-scale desalination plants?

I can give the example of Ait Chtouka (Agadir) desalination plant in Morocco mentioned earlier, with indirect use of the electricity coming from the CSP plant in Ouarzazate, we can also add the Al Khafji Plant in Saudi Arabia producing 60.000 m3 per day of desalination water. In Perth, Australia, a wind farm is powering a production of 120.000 m3 per day of desalinated water.

How do the economic and environmental considerations of desalination using renewable energy compare to conventional desalination methods? Economically, renewable desalination is becoming more and more competitive, and it is about time it became dominant, in particular, if we add the commitments of the countries vis-à-vis the Paris Agreement, where we need to encourage more green technologies and decarbonize all sectors to reach net-zero by 2050. This will be a decisive factor in phasing our conventional desalination methods in the future, and also environmentally, the CO2 footprint is lower in the case of renewable energy. The direct carbon footprint of a desalination plant will depend upon the source of energy that drives it, in addition to the efficiency of the plant. As in most industries, desalination plants produce indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well. As a fraction of the world’s energy consumption and GHG emissions, desalination is small – less than 0.2% of worldwide energy consumption in 2013. With RO, about 1.5–3.6 kg CO2 are produced per m3 of freshwater, depending strongly on the fuel used to produce the electricity (coal or gas). Therefore, the use of renewable energy will contribute to reducing the CO2 footprint. While, on the other hand, brine needs to be managed in both cases, in particular by exploring resource efficiency and circularity approaches to extract minerals from the brine and make it profitable for the private sector while reducing its impact on the marine and land ecosystems.

Looking ahead, what are your recommendations to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy in the desalination sector, and what potential impacts can this have on water security and sustainability?

Renewable desalination requires further intensive research and demonstration units for longer-term performance. Regulations and financial incentives to de- velop less energy-intensive desalination technologies are also still needed. Solar desalination is a good example of the water-energy-food nexus implementation. Solar desalination is called to contribute significantly to SDG 2 (food security), SDG 6 (water), SDG 7 (energy) and SDG 13 (climate action). The resilience of the desalination industry to climate change is expected to shield many countries from its impacts on water availability. On the other hand, PPPs (e.g., BOT, BOO) and other innovative financial mechanisms to support the sustainability of desalination schemes will likely be required. Countries relying on desalination need to localize knowledge and technology to avoid depending fully on the international markets in particular in times of crisis (e.g., pandemics, wars, international conflicts, etc.). Finally, desalination is a climate change adaptation option in countries where water security can justify investments in desalination technologies. In addition, an effective climate change adaptation approach will require strategies to reduce GHG emissions, consequently encouraging more renewable desalination.

Boosting renewable desalination will definitely contribute to the efforts to reduce the CO2 footprint of desalination technologies, will contribute to water security in countries suffering from water scarcity and also to sustainability if we manage brine in an effective way.

With the new emerging green hydrogen era, we will need more investment in renewable energy and desalination, because the only source of water that could be utilized by the electrolysers to produce green hydrogen is desalination, and it needs to be renewably powered, so we must ensure producing green hydrogen in particular in our region which is suffering from water scarcity. Each kilogram of green hydrogen we will require 9 litres of high-quality water. Fortunately, the contribution of desalinated water in the cost of 1 kilogram of green hydrogen is below USD 0.02.

Ceo

& COFOUNDER, ONEKA TECHNOLOGIES