In April 2020, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) had launched the Solar Desalination Prize on 28 April, a USD 9 million competition within the American-Made Challenges series. It sought systems that turn salt water into drinking water using solar heat. Participants could win up to USD 2.3 million in prizes plus vouchers of up to USD 200,000 for national laboratory work. First-round entries were due by 16 July. Each team was finally to permit, build and demonstrate a system.
The report showed that US research funding saw solar-thermal desalination as a way to cut the cost of treating highly saline sources such as water produced during oil and gas extraction.
Source: NREL (Kopie im Webarchiv)