Optimal sizing of seawater desalination systems using wind-solar hybrid renewable energy sources

Abstract

This paper reports the optimal integration of a hybrid renewable energy system consisting of wind turbines and/or photovoltaics with membrane-based seawater desalination units to meet freshwater demand. To conveniently accommodate renewable energy generation towards a cost-effective process design, the possibility of variable freshwater storage is considered. The minimization of the total cost is the objective function. The real data about renewable resources were tacking from NASA. No electrical grid connection is considered as well. The implemented model has the potential to assess to what extent variable freshwater demands can be covered by wind and solar energy under given meteorological data. As the study cases, two cities in the South of Argentina were selected: Rio Grande and Camarones. Optimal solutions obtained using solar and/or wind systems are compared in detail for both cities. Hybrid solar/wind systems obtain freshwater costs of 0.60 $/m3 to 0.66 $/m3 in both cities.