An increasing proportion of the growth in capacity is coming from the industrial sector. Since 2010, which exceeded the current figures, 45% of new desalination plants have been ordered by industrial users such as power stations and refineries, while in the previous four years, only 27% of new capacity was ordered by industry.
"Ongoing enhancements in energy efficiency continue to be a key focus for the desalination industry," said Patricia Burke, IDA Secretary General. "While we have made significant improvements in the past couple of decades, we continue to seek additional ways to reduce energy requirements through development of new technologies, implementation of best practices and/or retrofits in existing plants, increased use of hybrid technologies, and efforts to harness the potential of renewable energy to power desalination plants."
Seawater desalination continues to represents the largest percentage of online global capacity at 59%, followed by brackish water at 22%, river water at 9%, and wastewater and pure water at 5% each.
Saudi Arabia - 9,170,391 UAE - 8,381,299 Spain - 3,781,314 Kuwait - 2,586,761 Algeria - 2,364,055 Australia - 1,823,154 Qatar - 1,780,708 Israel - 1,532,723 China - 1,494,198 Libya - 1,048,424
The markets which are expected to see the fastest growth in desalination over the next five years are: South Africa, Jordan, Mexico, Libya, Chile, India and China, all of which are expected to more than double their desalination capacity.
The new Desalination Inventory is being released in the week leading up to the 2013 IDA World Congress, which takes place 20-25 October 2013 in Tianjin, China, where these and other developments will be explored during a four day technical program and the latest technologies will be exhibited.