Creative Commons

This dissertation was written as a part of the MSc in Energy Systems, School of Science and Technology, at the International Hellenic University. Water scarcity is a world developing problem of utmost importance. Initially, the subject is a suggestion of technology aiming to address the freshwater need in Greek arid islands. There lies the optional implementation of desalination of the sea or brackish water. Since the scope of desalination facilities subsists, the most important ones are analyzed thoroughly from the technology, economy, and worldwide installation point of view. Among the technologies, the interest lies in the thermal ones. Desalination is very mature but inherently energyintensive, highly dependent on fossil fuel consumption, resulting in high costs. Indirectly it is exacerbating climate change, one of the most challenging matters nowadays. The proposal in this thesis tackles most of these issues with Concentrated Solar thermal Power. The methodology applied is logical steps, one after another, that examine the desalination facility location, capacity, energy demand, and results in the renewable energy technology to be used. A series of simulations unfold, on the System Advisor Model program, designing, and optimizing the Concentrated Solar Thermal plant. For the selected island of Lipsi, a Multi-Effect Distillation desalination facility, with 230m3 /day freshwater capacity, is covered thermally by a plant of 12.95MWt actual capacity, with Pressurized water heat transfer fluid and thermal storage of 6hours. There is also a short discussion on the high competitiveness with other renewable energy sources or desalination technologies, and environmental impacts that should not be neglected.