A solar energy desalination analysis tool, sedat, with data and models for selecting technologies and regions.

There is interest for desalination technologies powered by solar energy as arid areas are typically bestowed with good solar potential. In response to a US DOE call for solar desalination analysis tools, we developed an open-source solar energy desalination analysis tool, sedat, for techno-economical evaluation of desalination technologies and selection of regions with the highest potential for using solar energy to power desalination plants. It is expected that this software will simplify the planning, design, and valuation of solar desalination systems in the U.S. and worldwide. Sedat uses Dash for integrating various layers of large volumes of GIS data with Python-based models of solar energy generation and desalination technologies. It derives time-series of energy generation and water production, with details of plant performance and suggestions for improving the solar-desalination coupling. This paper summarizes the various phases of the tool's development, presents example results showing the potential, under multiple objectives, of solar desalination in parts of the U.S. southwest, and discusses method details that would be useful for future model development. © 2022. The Author(s).

Citation

Vasilis Fthenakis, Gregory Yetman, Zhuoran Zhang, John Squires, Adam A Atia, Diego-César Alarcón-Padilla, Patricia Palenzuela, Vikas Vicraman, Guillermo Zaragoza. A solar energy desalination analysis tool, sedat, with data and models for selecting technologies and regions. Scientific data. 2022 May 20;9(1):223

PMID: 35595803

search → result