A Review of Desalination Potential in Greek Islands Using Renewable Energy Sources, a Life Cycle Assessment of Different Units

Abstract

The scarcity of water is a long-standing problem in Greek islands. The government, as a temporary solution adopted the transportation of water using tanker ships. This type of water is of low quality non-potable and in some cases inappropriate for any use. Apart from that water transportation increases the carbon footprint of the islands that it is already stained due to the big thermal power plants that feed the grid using fossil fuels (mainly diesel). Apart from the environmental issues the economic consequences are extremely high. The cost of transported water in Dodecanese and Cyclades reached a total of 73,5 million € from 2002 to 2010. The aim of this paper is to bring forward the proposed solutions for desalination of sea water using renewable energy sources, as Greek islands have a great wind and solar potential that is hard to find in any other place on Europe. A Life Cycle Assessment is been conducted between two different desalination technologies (RES and Diesel operating desalination) to fully understand the impact these units have to the environment.

Optimum green energy solution to address the remote islands’ water-energy nexus: the case study of Nisyros island

“…For a more comprehensive analysis, one shall consider also that, in several islands, the situation is even worse as groundwater pollution due to fertilizers of agricultural activities and saltwater intrusion because of coastal aquifers over-exploitation has been noted [8]. Besides, owning to the touristic bloom, the summer average water demand, strongly correlated with the islands' active population, doubles and, in some cases, triples concerning the corresponding annual value [7,9]. The specific situation jeopardizes the economic development of these remote locations as, on a global level, water is an undisputed contributor to economic progress [10].…”

“…The solution addressed by the Greek State in conjunction with the local authorities is the particularly costly and of questionable quality process of potable water transportation from the mainland, using tanker ships [11]. In some cases, the cost may even reach 10 €/m 3 [9]. Under this framework and as an alternative to the aforementioned policy, extended research has been conducted on seawater desalination techniques [12,13,14], with the vast majority being classified in two categories based on the energy type implemented, that is the thermally-driven and the electrically-driven ones [15].…”