Nexus Water & Energy: A Case Study of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) to Desalination Applications in Sicily

Abstract

The recent studies about interactions among energy and water are considered as a new field of research. As almost all energy generation processes require significant amounts of water, and water requires energy for treatment and transport, so these two resources are inextricably linked. The main aim of this work is a presentation of the use of renewable energy for desalination plants in Sicily: in particular exploitation of wave energy into electrical energy necessary for water treatment. Desalination is the most energy intensive water treatment technology but it could be solution for many problems in water supply for areas with chronic debt of water. In this study we find three section: in the Section I we propose the state of art of renewable energy system for water desalination applications, in Section II we present an experimental evaluation of wave energy power in Mediterranean and the description of WEC prototype realized by Department of Energy of University of Palermo. In the final Section III we describe a case study of sustainable integrated system WEC and desalination plant.