MULTIPLE EFFECT DISTILLATION OF SEAWATER WATER USING SOLAR ENERGY - THE CASE OF ABU DHABI SOLAR DESALINATION PLANT - Energy Research Developments: Tidal Energy, Energy Efficiency and Solar Energy - page 68

Figure 34. Cost of water as a function of plant capacity and collector cost, N eff = 25, T b = 90 o C, c barrel =
50 $/barrel (solar MED plant).
The effect of the cost of fuel on the water cost is displayed in figure 35 for different
conventional MED plants of different capacities. For a plant capacity of 1000 m3/day and a
fuel cost of 60 $/barrel (close to the current oil price), the cost of water is 2.68 $/m3
Figure 35. Cost of water as a function of plant capacity and cost of fuel, N eff = 25, T b = 70 o C
(conventional MED plant).
Figure 36 is 3-dimentional plot of the cost of water versus the number of effects and cost
of fuel for a conventional MED plant having a capacity of 130 m 3 /day. A conventional MED
plant with this capacity produces water at a cost of 3.92 $/m 3 assuming an oil price of 60
$/barrel. As the oil price doubles to 120 $/barrel, the cost of water is expected to reach 4.99
$/m 3 . The corresponding water cost from a solar MED plant is 4.58 $/m 3 at a collector cost of
300 $/m 2 .