Economic analysis of wind-powered desalination

Wind-powered desalination is one of the most promising uses of renewable energies for seawater desalination. The influence of the main parameters on the levelized cost of fresh water was analyzed: climatic conditions, nominal power of the wind turbine, salt concentration of seawater or brackish water, design arrangement, operating conditions, plant capacity, cost of reverse osmosis modules and cost of wind turbines. In addition, the competitiveness of wind power vs. conventional energy in reverse osmosis plants was studied. Results obtained are useful, not only to quantify the influence of the parameters studied, but also to system design and to evaluate the economic perspectives of this technology.