Floating, high-capacity desalting islands on renewable multi-energy supply Original Research Article

The concept DESIRES® is presented as a floating, but moored, DESalting Island on Renewable multi-Energy Supply. It is estimated to produce 5–500 Mm3/y of high quality fresh water from seawater, at the costs of US$ 0.88–1.32/m3. This is achieved by using: (a) an artificial, floating island 10–100 km from the shore, 0.06–0.65 km2 in size with hexagonal shape, 0.1–1 km in diameter and 20 m deep; (b) a high-yield combination of many, renewable energy sources (eolian, solar, tidal, wave and hydrothermal gradient); (c) the use of a huge storage reservoir aboard for stabilisation and coping with fluctuations in energy supply and water demand; (d) the use of peak energy supply (during storm events) to pump stored fresh water to land and to pressurize this water to generate hydro-power on land; (d) reverse osmosis; and (e) intelligent technological solutions to reduce energy consumption and maintenance. In this way, a contribution is made to solve water scarcity problems without aggravating the mondial issue of climate change. Additional advantages of DESIRES® are: modularity in construction, easy brine disposal, no optical nor acoustic pollution (on land), and use as a weather and oceanic monitoring station.