EAD studies new alternatives of renewable energy sources to produce water

H.E Majid Al Mansouri, EAD's Secretary General, said that finding new renewable and environmental friendly energy resources to produce water is no longer an option but a necessity since the demand for freshwater resources is increasing.

Al Mansouri added that EAD's efforts in this regard are in line with EAD's strategy to pursue the latest developments in the field of water production and to adopt the best economical and environmental methods and techniques.

He said, "H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Honorary Chairman of EAD, wisely directed us to find environmentally friendly, low cost and highly efficient alternatives to produce water of adequate quality for domestic and industrial use."

Al Mansouri added that EAD had launched two pilot projects to produce desalinated water from brackish and saline groundwater using solar energy. So far, the preliminary results have indicated the success of the experiment and tangible results were achieved.

He added that these results have encouraged the Agency to continue its efforts to develop more stations and reduce the cost of its capital cost to about 10% in the future and increase efficiency at the same time.

Disposal of brine water from these desalination unites should be carefully considered. EAD is currently developing a mechanism for harvesting this brine rejected water to rehabilitate the existing natural vegetations. Evaporation ponds are especially suitable to dispose of reject brine from inland desalination plants in arid and semi-arid areas due to the abundance of solar energy whoever guidelines are needed for the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of evaporation ponds for reject brine disposal in an economical and environmentally-sensitive manner.

More efforts in the future will be done to increase the efficiency of the desalination recovery the more than 80% and using to such brine water in the production of salt or animal fodder or fertilizers. This is expected to improve the economics of such systems in the future and reduce the environmental impact of disposing such brine water on the Arabian Gulf.

To raise awareness about the importance of making desalination and water reuse more sustainable and affordable, EAD recently participated in the International Desalination Association World Congress, which was held in Dubai under the theme 'Desalination for a Better World.' During the conference, Dr. Mohammed Dawoud, Manager of the Water Resources Department at EAD, delivered a presentation on the future use of renewable energy in the production of water, especially in areas where groundwater is very salty.

Dawoud said that "The use of renewable sources of energy in desalination is an essential part in the future of desalination in the region to reduce costs and increase efficiency, where technology to collect solar energy from solar cells and desalination plants based on reverse osmosis membrane technology."

He said the real challenge is to increase the efficiency of solar energy collection system and reduce environmental impact, noting that EAD is currently developing a mechanism for safe disposal of water brine from these stations to increase the efficiency of the plant to more than 80% and access to such high salinity water in the production of salt or animal feeds or fertilizers, which will improve the economics of such systems in the future and reduce the environmental impact of waste brine water in the Arabian Gulf or use it for injection into deep aquifers.