IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i14p6498-d1702600.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Offshore Energy Island for Sustainable Water Desalination—Case Study of KSA

Author

Listed:
  • Muhnad Almasoudi

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering—Rabigh Branch, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh 25732, Saudi Arabia
    Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Hassan Hemida

    (Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Soroosh Sharifi

    (Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

Abstract

This study identifies the optimal location for an offshore energy island to supply sustainable power to desalination plants along the Red Sea coast. As demand for clean energy in water production grows, integrating renewables into desalination systems becomes increasingly essential. A decision-making framework was developed to assess site feasibility based on renewable energy potential (solar, wind, and wave), marine traffic, site suitability, planned developments, and proximity to desalination facilities. Data was sourced from platforms such as Windguru and RETScreen, and spatial analysis was conducted using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). Results indicate that the central Red Sea region offers the most favorable conditions, combining high renewable resource availability with existing infrastructure. The estimated regional desalination energy demand of 2.1 million kW can be met using available renewable sources. Integrating these sources is expected to reduce local CO 2 emissions by up to 43.17% and global desalination-related emissions by 9.5%. Spatial constraints for offshore installations were also identified, with land-based solar energy proposed as a complementary solution. The study underscores the need for further research into wave energy potential in the Red Sea, due to limited real-time data and the absence of a dedicated wave energy atlas.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhnad Almasoudi & Hassan Hemida & Soroosh Sharifi, 2025. "Offshore Energy Island for Sustainable Water Desalination—Case Study of KSA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-23, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:14:p:6498-:d:1702600
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6498/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6498/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schallenberg-Rodríguez, Julieta & Del Rio-Gamero, Beatriz & Melian-Martel, Noemi & Lis Alecio, Tyrone & González Herrera, Javier, 2020. "Energy supply of a large size desalination plant using wave energy. Practical case: North of Gran Canaria," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    2. Tunde Aderinto & Hua Li, 2019. "Review on Power Performance and Efficiency of Wave Energy Converters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-24, November.
    3. Hernández-Torres, José Antonio & Sánchez-Lozano, Daniel & Sánchez-Herrera, Reyes & Vera, David & Torreglosa, Juan P., 2025. "Integrated multi-criteria decision-making approach for power generation technology selection in sustainable energy systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    4. Shabnam Hosseinzadeh & Amir Etemad-Shahidi & Rodney A. Stewart, 2023. "Site Selection of Combined Offshore Wind and Wave Energy Farms: A Systematic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-33, February.
    5. Artur Amsharuk & Grażyna Łaska, 2023. "The Approach to Finding Locations for Wind Farms Using GIS and MCDA: Case Study Based on Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-24, October.
    6. Zhao, Yuchun & Akbarzadeh, Aliakbar & Andrews, John, 2009. "Simultaneous desalination and power generation using solar energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 401-408.
    7. Ahmad, Naseer & Sheikh, Anwar K. & Gandhidasan, P. & Elshafie, Moustafa, 2015. "Modeling, simulation and performance evaluation of a community scale PVRO water desalination system operated by fixed and tracking PV panels: A case study for Dhahran city, Saudi Arabia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 433-447.
    8. Miao, Huiying & Yu, Yadong & Kharrazi, Ali & Ma, Tieju, 2023. "Multi-criteria decision analysis for the planning of island microgrid system: A case study of Yongxing island, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Hai & Shi, Xiaodan & Kong, Weihua & Kong, Lingji & Hu, Yongli & Wu, Xiaoping & Pan, Hongye & Zhang, Zutao & Pan, Yajia & Yan, Jinyue, 2025. "Advanced wave energy conversion technologies for sustainable and smart sea: A comprehensive review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    2. Wan, Ling & Moan, Torgeir & Gao, Zhen & Shi, Wei, 2024. "A review on the technical development of combined wind and wave energy conversion systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    3. Yao, Ganzhou & Luo, Zirong & Lu, Zhongyue & Wang, Mangkuan & Shang, Jianzhong & Guerrerob, Josep M., 2023. "Unlocking the potential of wave energy conversion: A comprehensive evaluation of advanced maximum power point tracking techniques and hybrid strategies for sustainable energy harvesting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    4. Seongho Ahn & Kevin A. Haas & Vincent S. Neary, 2020. "Dominant Wave Energy Systems and Conditional Wave Resource Characterization for Coastal Waters of the United States," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-26, June.
    5. Çelik, Anıl & Altunkaynak, Abdüsselam, 2021. "An in depth experimental investigation into effects of incident wave characteristics front wall opening and PTO damping on the water column displacement and air differential pressure in an OWC chamber," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    6. Mandev, Murat Barıs & Altunkaynak, Abdüsselam, 2023. "Cylindrical frontwall entrance geometry optimization of an oscillating water column for utmost hydrodynamic performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    7. Ying Xiang & Long Guo & Shaoqian Ji & Shengchao Zhu & Zhiming Guo & Hu Qiao, 2025. "Method for Analyzing the Importance of Quality and Safety Influencing Factors in Automotive Body Manufacturing Process—A Comprehensive Weight Evaluation Method to Reduce Subjective Influence," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-25, June.
    8. Buenau, K.E. & Sather, N.K. & Arkema, K.K., 2025. "A marine energy and ecosystem service framework for coastal communities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    9. Mito, Mohamed T. & Ma, Xianghong & Albuflasa, Hanan & Davies, Philip A., 2019. "Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane desalination driven by wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) energy: State of the art and challenges for large-scale implementation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 669-685.
    10. Cai, Qinlin & Zhu, Songye, 2021. "Applying double-mass pendulum oscillator with tunable ultra-low frequency in wave energy converters," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    11. Adriano Silva Bastos & Tâmara Rita Costa de Souza & Dieimys Santos Ribeiro & Mirian de Lourdes Noronha Motta Melo & Carlos Barreira Martinez, 2023. "Wave Energy Generation in Brazil: A Georeferenced Oscillating Water Column Inventory," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-24, April.
    12. Américo S. Ribeiro & Maite deCastro & Liliana Rusu & Mariana Bernardino & João M. Dias & Moncho Gomez-Gesteira, 2020. "Evaluating the Future Efficiency of Wave Energy Converters along the NW Coast of the Iberian Peninsula," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-15, July.
    13. Manuel Corrales-Gonzalez & George Lavidas & Giovanni Besio, 2023. "Feasibility of Wave Energy Harvesting in the Ligurian Sea, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, June.
    14. Mandev, Murat Barış & Altunkaynak, Abdüsselam & Çelik, Anıl, 2024. "Enhancing wave energy harvesting: Performance analysis of a dual chamber oscillating water column," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    15. Satymov, Rasul & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Dadashi, Mojtaba & Lavidas, George & Breyer, Christian, 2024. "Techno-economic assessment of global and regional wave energy resource potentials and profiles in hourly resolution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    16. Majidi, Ajab Gul & Ramos, Victor & Rosa-Santos, Paulo & das Neves, Luciana & Taveira-Pinto, Francisco, 2025. "Power production assessment of wave energy converters in mainland Portugal," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    17. Choupin, O. & Têtu, A. & Del Río-Gamero, B. & Ferri, F. & Kofoed, JP., 2022. "Premises for an annual energy production and capacity factor improvement towards a few optimised wave energy converters configurations and resources pairs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    18. Kyriakarakos, George & Dounis, Anastasios I. & Arvanitis, Konstantinos G. & Papadakis, George, 2012. "A fuzzy logic energy management system for polygeneration microgrids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 315-327.
    19. deCastro, M. & Rusu, L. & Arguilé-Pérez, B. & Ribeiro, A. & Costoya, X. & Carvalho, D. & Gómez-Gesteira, M., 2024. "Different approaches to analyze the impact of future climate change on the exploitation of wave energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    20. Dragić, Mile & Hofman, Milan & Tomin, Veselin & Miškov, Vladimir, 2023. "Sea trials of Sigma wave energy converter – Power and efficiency," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 748-766.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:14:p:6498-:d:1702600. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.