Fresh drinking water is increasingly precious. That’s why worldwide hundreds of desalination plants are planned or under way. However, most of them are powered by fossil fuels. At the giant Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park under construction near Dubai, a desalination facility goes into operation this month that will be completely run on solar power. The system will produce about 13,200 gallons of drinking water a day for use on site. That’s insignificant compared with the size of traditional desalination plants elsewhere, but it’s a start and there are more similar projects under development. Turning salt water into drinking water with renewable energy is a critical innovation.