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Desalination was mentioned, and it could conceivably run during the sunlight hours only, storing water for the night.

I would imagine that they will build _some_ storage as well in the coming 12 years, or I will be very disappoint.

Desalination using reverse osmosis is just 6kwh/m3. It means 67 cubic km of water per year. Which is about as much water withdrawal as all of Russia. They can't possibly practically use that much water. It will be 10% of India's (world top), or 14% of U.S.' water use.

They don't need to use it all for water. Electricity can be sold. Can also produce hydrogen and sell that.

Does that include the energy used to pump the water after processing?

From what I understand the most energy-intensive part of desalination is pumping it to where people can actually use it.

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