The Department of Energy has chosen a public-private partnership led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to manage a research and development facility that will focus on desalineation technology platforms. DOE said Monday that the National Alliance for Water Innovation will aim to address water security gaps and explore approaches to treat certain water sources for multiple applications via the Energy-Water Desalination Hub.Â
Under the initiative, NAWI will build treatment systems for produced, brackish and sea-based waters in an effort to help water desalination system suppliers build critical components and large-scale platforms. The alliance also seeks to minimize the environmental impact for 90 percent of non-traditional water sources over the next decade.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Energy Technology Laboratory helped form NAWI, which has more than 35 members and 180 partner organizations. Congress has allocated $40 million for the hub since fiscal 2017 and DOE expects stakeholders to provide $34 million in cost-share funds.
The department added it plans to award research grants to solar desalination and wastewater resource recovery projects through the Water Security Grand Challenge.
