Transboundary Exchanges of Renewable Energy and Desalinated Water in the Middle East

Abstract

The Levant area of the Middle East suffers from both chronic water scarcity and high population growth. It is also a region highly dependent of fossil fuels. In order to address current and expected water demands, several countries in the region, including Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA), are depending increasingly on desalination, which is expected to intensify energy consumption and energy related emissions. Given that the region also benefits from high levels of solar irradiation nearly year-round, much attention has been given to the possibility of developing renewable energy in general and for desalination specifically. This paper presents partial results of a pre-feasibility study assessing the prospects of transfers of desalinated water from Israel and/or the PA, which have access to the Mediterranean Sea, to Jordan, in exchange for renewable solar-produced electricity from Jordan, which, unlike its neighbors, has an abundance of available open space suitable for solar production. The analysis shows that single-axis tracking photovoltaic (PV) systems appear to be the most economically feasible option. Moreover, the study shows that the proposed idea of international cooperation and water-energy exchanges, while facing political obstacles, could provide numerous economic, environmental and geopolitical benefits to all parties involved. As such, an arrangement such as that examined may be a more promising means of promoting both desalination and renewable energy than if each country unilaterally develops desalination and renewable energy in isolation from one another.

Sustainability of the Energy Sector in Jordan: Challenges and Opportunities

“…As it emerges from a brief review of the literature, the research on energy security in Jordan has explored characteristics of the energy market in the country, adoption of renewable energy [6,17,[34][35][36], policies to boost it [37,38], and its potential and challenges [13][14][15]. Several contributions are also dealing with the political implications of energy security [39], recommendations [40], and policy options, in particular in relation to cooperation with neighboring countries [5,11,16]. Given the severe water scarcity of the country and the increasing energy demand of the water sector, addressing the water-energy nexus has been also discussed as an important element in achieving sustainability [41,42].…”

“…Despite the commitment of the authorities to reach a 10% share of energy from renewable sources and the favorable conditions for solar and wind, infrastructure, lack of funds and local financing schemes, and the size of the domestic market are discouraging investments in the sector and are hindering the transition [14]. To unleash the potential of renewable energy in Jordan, some contributions have been exploring the possibility of new transnational agreements, mostly between Jordan and Israel, suggesting, for instance, the exchange between desalinated water from Israel and Palestine and solar energy from Jordan [11,16], or, more in general, the potential of increased transnational cooperation and better connectivity of the national grids with Israel [5], often framing it within the regional project of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal. Nevertheless, these regional projects, while promising on a technical level, have and bring up political barriers and considerations that have precluded their realization.…”

“…As discussed in Section 4, the literature on the energy sector in Jordan highlights the potential of Jordan as energy producer for non-conventional and renewable energy [11][12][13], but also highlights that this potential is widely unexploited [6,14,15]. It also discusses international agreements [5] and reflects on their possible implications for the overall political stability of the region [11,16,17]. However, the debate on the energy sector in Jordan is still lacking a full understanding of the factors and the conflicts undermining this potential.…”

The Role of Renewable Energy Resources in Sustainability of Water Desalination as a Potential Fresh-Water Source: An Updated Review

“…Meanwhile, Jordan (a neighbor country) has an abundance of available land suitable for solar electricity production but has no access to the Mediterranean Sea, which is close to population areas facing water scarcity in Jordan. The authors of [46] examined the technical and economic feasibility of exchanging desalinated water with renewable electricity among countries. This study considered the exchange of desalinated water and RE as a potential solution to improve the relationship among these countries, which are facing critical political issues.…”

Moving water from last to first in the Middle East peace process

“…Jordan, among the most water-stressed nations on earth, is following Israel's success with reverse osmosis desalination and supplying drinking water to the coastal city of Aqaba. True, most desalination is currently powered by fossil fuels, but, with declining costs for photovoltaic and wind generation and storage, renewably powered desal is not far in the future (Katz and Shafran 2019). Certainly, resolving water issues at this time should be less contentious than doing so as part of a final status agreement that must also deal with borders, refugees, and Israeli settlements.…”