Assessment of most promising developments in solar desalination

Indirect solar desalination systems consist of a conventional desalination unit coupled to a solar conversion system, unlike systems as solar stills that integrates in the same device the desalination and the energy conversion processes. They are among the most developed systems of renewable energy-powered desalination. Their most significant possibilities of development in the near future are assessed in this paper. Particular emphasis is given to the efficiency of such systems since their cost mainly depends on the maturity of the technology and the production scale, factors which may change in the future in favour of more efficient systems. Considerable research has to be conducted on the technologies that have never been coupled before as they could be reliable and cost-effective options.