Its miles better than traditional desalination - requiring so much energy that burning fossil fuels is unavoidable. And brine is chucked back in the ocean. Basically an environmental catastrophe.

If you think of it on the scale of one community - providing potable water, dealing with treated wastewater AND getting a surplus of energy while treating the brine it is actually pretty clever.

If it makes you feel better you could probably slap some solar panels on those flat roofs too.