The SDAWES project: Lessons learnt from an innovative project

Abstract

The Seawater Desalination by an Autonomous Wind Energy System (SDAWES) project was developed to produce a natural scarce resource (fresh water) by the use of a natural, renewable resource (wind energy). The basic concept consists in the connection of three kinds of desalination systems: reverse osmosis, vacuum vapour compression and reversible electrodialysis to a stand-alone wind energy system to produce fresh water from seawater on a significant scale (total nominal water production: 440 m(3)/d. The main objectives of the project were to identify the best desalination system for connection to a stand-alone wind farm and to assess the influence of the variations of wind energy on the operation of the desalination plants and on the quality of the water produced. This is a project where several lessons were learnt after two years' testing experience. This paper presents the main problems detected during that period and the experimented proposed solutions.