ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a detailed analysis of desalination costs and the respective cost components. One of the major challenges for desalination is economic feasibility and price affordability for the final product—desalinated water. The client tenders for a contractor to design and build a desalination plant. Total desalination costs can be calculated as a sum of capital expenditures and operational and maintenance costs. While capital costs are incurred mainly in the construction and commissioning stages of establishing a plant, the operational and maintenance costs occur steadily over the entire period of operating a plant. In most cases, energy prices are agreed upon and warranted in the contract agreement for the entire service period as part of the total water costs. The major costs at this stage refer to improving the pH, alkalinity, and hardness of desalinated water, as well as enrichment with minerals according to water quality standards specific to each country.
