A comprehensive review of the effective environmental parameters on the efficiency and  suitable site selection for installing solar based water desalination systems in Iran

The increase in demand for water has caused attention to non-traditional methods for water supply in many places. Solar still is a simple, economical and suitable technology for providing drinking water from salt water that can be used even in remote areas. The challenge facing these technologies is to increase their performance, which is possible through three ways: environmental, design and operational parameters. This research has investigated the potential and location of Iran for the installation of solar still using environmental parameters. The three parameters of ambient temperature, solar radiation intensity and wind velocity are the most important environmental parameters affecting the performance of solar still; hence, they were used to investigate the potential of Iran to install solar still. The long-term information of the desired environmental parameters was prepared using field and telemetry methods; then, by averaging each parameter in ArcGIS software, a map was prepared for the ease of analysis and review. The results show that Iran has a high potential for using solar still in terms of environmental conditions affecting the performance of solar still and having brackish water resources and the provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan, Hormozgan, Fars, Kerman and Bushehr are the most favorable places in the country. Iran has been investigated for the installation of solar still based on three parameters. Also, the results show that the provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan (2196 kWh/m 2 ), Fars (2148 kWh/m 2 ), Hormozgan (2136 kWh/m 2 ), Kerman (2116 kWh/m 2 ), and Kohkiloyeh and Boyer-Ahmad (2098 kWh/m 2 ), are the regions with highest potentials for installation of solar based water desalination systems in Iran.