The effects of global warming are already severely recognizable. While some regions are threatened by increasingly frightening storms and heavy rainfalls, other areas suffer from drought. According to projections by the OECD, 47% of the world’s population will live in regions with insufficient drinking water resources. Already since 2015, more than 80 countries have been confronted with water scarcity and a great share of the population depends on desalination for their water supply. The main shortcoming of such desalination facilities lies in the high specific energy demand, which so far, has been covered mainly by fossil fuels. This process favors the Middle East with its rich oil reserves but represents a clear conflict with today’s climate change targets. Thanks to the project NEWSUN (Nexus of Electricity and Water Supply for Urban Needs) it will be possible to run desalination facilities entirely energy self-sufficient and sustainable. Solar energy is harvested using parabolic through concentrators, and the core of the system, the so called Hybrid-Absorber converts the radiation to electricity and heat. The desalination process is based on the highly efficient and maintenance-free Multi Effect Distillation (MED). An absolute novelty is the generation of both, electric and thermal energy, in a ratio adjusted to the MED-system based on 100% renewables. Complete energy self-sufficiency, excellent suitability for isolated, off-grid operation and extremely high efficiency characterize the NEWSUN-concept.