Interestingly enough, at the same time, several other countries are experimenting with osmotic power generation [1], which is pretty much exact opposite of electrically-powered desalination.
Well it's only a suitable solution for a very few countries that do not have water shortages.
So not sure how interesting it is since those countries also usually have good renewable sources such we wind, hydro and geothermal.
Well I wonder if could be used near a river mouth? Since that water is going to be "thrown away" into the ocean anyway.