By establishing a saltwater value chain, the Sahara Forest Project will make electricity generation from concentrated solar power (CSP) more efficient, operate energy- and water-efficient saltwater-cooled greenhouses for growing high value crops in the desert, produce freshwater for irrigation or drinking, safely manage brine and harvest useful compounds from the resulting salt, grow biomass for energy purposes without competing with food cultivation, and revegetate desert lands. The synergies arising from integrating the technologies improve performance and economics compared to those of the individual components.
In addition to its commodity outputs of food, energy and salt, the system also provides global climate benefits by sequestering CO2 in the facility’s plants and soils, and by pushing back the accelerating process of desertification through the revegetation of desert areas.