In March 2020, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported on a joint venture between Wyoming-based Encore Green Environmental and Midkiff farmer Cody Wilson (S&S Wilson Farms). Water from oil and gas wells was to be cleaned, turned into steam by concentrated solar power to drive a turbine, and then used on cotton fields. Surplus electricity was to go to the grid. A feasibility study on financing and equipment was under way. The Danish engineering firm Aalborg CSP took part and, according to the partners, could combine desalination and production commercially.
The report showed that the Permian Basin was looking for ways to treat the saline water from oil production and use it beyond the oilfields, for example in farming.