The power industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by scarcity of natural water supplies and the rise in demand for consumable water due to rising populations, urbanization and end-use industrialization, as well as growing importance of technologies such as thermal and membrane technologies. In the last three years alone, there have been over 695,000 patents filed and granted in the power industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Environmental sustainability in power: solar-powered desalination. Buy the report here.

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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilizing and reaching maturity.

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.

45+ innovations will shape the power industry

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the power industry using innovation intensity models built on over 83,000 patents, there are 45+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Within the emerging innovation stage, solar-powered desalination, wind turbine performance monitoring, and renewable energy storage are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Foldable solar panels, solar thermal collectors, and geothermal collectors are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are wave energy converters and solar cell protective films, which are now well established in the industry.

Innovation S-curve for environmental sustainability in the power industry

Solar-powered desalination is a key innovation area in environmental sustainability

Desalination is a technique used for extracting minerals from saline water. Solar desalination is a technique to desalinate water using solar energy. Solar desalination can be accomplished either directly or indirectly. Sunlight may produce heat for evaporative desalination procedures, and for some indirect methods, it can also be converted into electricity to power a membrane process. The four stages in solar desalination include pre-treatment, reverse osmosis, post-treatment, storage and distribution.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 180 companies, spanning technology vendors, established power companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of solar-powered desalination.

Key players in solar-powered desalination – a disruptive innovation in the power industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.  

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’. 

Patent volumes related to solar-powered desalination

Company Total patents (2021 - 2023) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
Surrey Aquatechnology, Ltd. 53 Unlock Company Profile
MURTECH, INC. 33 Unlock Company Profile
Transocean Ltd 27 Unlock Company Profile
First Green Park Pty Ltd 15 Unlock Company Profile
Oneka Technologies Inc 14 Unlock Company Profile
Electricite de France SA 11 Unlock Company Profile
Saltworks Technologies Inc. 11 Unlock Company Profile
General Electric Co 11 Unlock Company Profile
Hitachi Ltd 11 Unlock Company Profile
Natural Ocean Well Co. 10 Unlock Company Profile
Ebara Corp 10 Unlock Company Profile
AW-Energy Oy 9 Unlock Company Profile
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd 9 Unlock Company Profile
Xerox Holdings Corp 9 Unlock Company Profile
Oceanus Power and Water LLC 9 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid Corporation of China 8 Unlock Company Profile
Siemens AG 8 Unlock Company Profile
Sala Corp 8 Unlock Company Profile
Sunlight Photonics, Inc. 8 Unlock Company Profile
Xi'An Xire Energy Saving Technology Co Ltd 8 Unlock Company Profile
Sylvan Source Inc 7 Unlock Company Profile
Lockheed Martin Corp 7 Unlock Company Profile
ABB Ltd 6 Unlock Company Profile
Hengli Group Co Ltd 6 Unlock Company Profile
Bl Technologies, Inc. 5 Unlock Company Profile
China Southern Power Grid Co Ltd 5 Unlock Company Profile
TotalEnergies SE 5 Unlock Company Profile
Uni-President China Holdings Ltd 5 Unlock Company Profile
Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt eV 4 Unlock Company Profile
Mangrove Water Technologies Inc 4 Unlock Company Profile
Advanced Innergy Ltd 4 Unlock Company Profile
M Hikari & Energy Laboratory Co Ltd 4 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid International Development Ltd 4 Unlock Company Profile
Kenergy Inc. 4 Unlock Company Profile
China General Nuclear Power Corp 4 Unlock Company Profile
LightSail Energy, Inc. 4 Unlock Company Profile
Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek NV 4 Unlock Company Profile
Korea Electric Power Corp 3 Unlock Company Profile
Sunvapor Inc 3 Unlock Company Profile
Sasakura Engineering Co Ltd 3 Unlock Company Profile
Saudi Arabian Oil Co 3 Unlock Company Profile
KSB Aktiengesellschaft 3 Unlock Company Profile
Changsha Zichen Technology Development Co Ltd 3 Unlock Company Profile
DeepWater Desal LLC 3 Unlock Company Profile
Halliburton Co 2 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid Information and Telecommunication Co Ltd 2 Unlock Company Profile
Oscilla Power Inc 2 Unlock Company Profile
Quidnet Energy Inc. 2 Unlock Company Profile
Empire Technologies 2 Unlock Company Profile
Zhoushan Zhihai Technology Development Co Ltd 2 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Surrey Aquatechnology is a leading patent filer in the solar-powered desalination space. The company develops processes for the osmotic treatment of water, which include the desalination of seawater for potable water, the treatment of water produced from the desalination process and the preparation of water for re-injection for use in the oil industry. Osmosis technology can be used in the construction of new and integrated into existing thermal desalination and reverse osmosis desalination plants, reducing the capital costs, the footprint and the operating costs of such plants. Some other key patent filers in the solar-powered desalination space include MURTECH, Transocean, and Xi'an Thermal Power Research Institute.

In terms of application diversity, DeepWater Desal leads the pack, while Quidnet Energy and Sunvapor stood in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Saltworks Technologies and Zhoushan Zhihai Technology Development are the leading companies.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the power industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) in Power.

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.