**1. Introduction**

The energy demand in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is almost doubled in a decades, from 300 TWh in 2000 to 600 TWh in 2012. In GCC countries, the residential and commercial sector energy demand has grown rapidly. The residential sector consumes over 50% due to improved living standards. In GCC countries, per capita primary energy consumption is the highest as compared to other countries in the world as shown in the **Figure 1** [1–3].

 The GCC countries also produce substantial amount of CO2 and it was estimated as 1.2 billion tons of CO2-equivalent in 2012. The major part of CO2 emission is related to energy and water production. The GCC countries are the most water

#### **Figure 1.**

*Per capita oil consumption in different parts of the world.* 


#### **Table 1.**

*Water consumption and estimated shortage in 2050 in GCC countries.* 

scariest in the world due to dry environmental conditions and recently it became even worst due to population increase and GDP growth. It is estimated that by 2050, the shortage of water supply can be as high as 77%. **Table 1** shows the water consumption and shortage in million cubic meter per year scenario in all GCC countries by 2050. It can be noticed the large gap in water demand and supply cannot be filled by renewable and ground water sources. The non-renewable such as desalination is the only source for future water supplies in GCC countries [1–3].

Today, all desalination processes are energy intensive and consume primary energy in the range of 6–10 kWh/m3 . The inefficiency of desalination processes, 10–13% of thermodynamic limit, requires not only more energy but they also emit enormous CO2 [4–7]. For future sustainability, one feasible option is to utilize renewable energy such as wind and solar. The renewable technologies have drastically developed and their economics are greatly improved in recent years, and GCC countries have great potential to exploit the renewable energies potential such as solar and wind. The GCC countries government announced mega investment plans to invest in renewable energy sectors to meet the increasing demand of electricity as shown in **Figure 2** [8].

The resettlement of energy mix in GCC countries needs a comprehensive plan for contractor as well as operator companies. One of the major challenges in renewable energies development is its intermittent nature. Currently they are only employed to cope the peak load typically during office hours. The one of the solution to overcome intermittent supply is the energy storage and there are two methods namely, battery storage and thermal heat storage. In terms of battery storage, the efficiency is very low, typically 8–10% in field operation due to

#### *Desalination with Renewable Energy: A 24 Hours Operation Solution DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84944*

#### **Figure 2.**

*GCC countries renewable energy development plan by 2030.* 


#### **Table 2.**

*Comparison of different thermal energy storage materials.* 

efficiencies involved from one form to other form conversions. On the other hand, direct thermal storage and utilization efficiency is significantly high due to same form of energy utilization without conversion into different forms. There are three major technologies utilize different methods to store solar energy. The comparison of different heat storage materials is summarized in **Table 2** [9–11].
