TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimal sizing of an off-grid, renewable energy reverse osmosis desalination system based on a genetic algorithm
AU - Xu, Daming
AU - Acker, Tom
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Science Research Project (No. 16JK1506) of Education Department of Shaanxi Provincial Government, P. R. China. The authors would also like to appreciate the authors of the GA toolbox in University of Sheffield for making their code freely available.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Desalination Publications.
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - The purpose of this work was to find the optimal configuration for an off-grid, renewable energy reverse osmosis desalination (RO) system. The objective was to find the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), with power reliability as the constraint. A genetic algorithm was used to solve the nonlinear integer programming problem. A site with brackish groundwater in Arizona, USA, was selected. The capacity of the RO system was 11.36 m3/d (3,000 gal/d), requiring a constant power consumption of 2.366 kW. The results showed that the optimal configuration was a hybrid photovoltaic/ wind/diesel/battery system with LCOE 0.527 USD/kWh and the corresponding levelized cost of water 3.585 USD/m3, which were about half of the 7.9 USD/m3 currently paid by residents in the area. Sensitivity analyses showed that: (a) the LCOE was fairly insensitive to photovoltaic panel tilt angle over a range; (b) the optimal tilt angle for the hybrid system must be found in the context of the performance of the entire system; (c) the “more hybrid” the renewable energy system, the lower the LCOE; (d) the LCOE value was monotone increasing as diesel price or discount rate increasing, respectively, and different diesel price or discount rate could bring different optimal configurations with diesel generators.
AB - The purpose of this work was to find the optimal configuration for an off-grid, renewable energy reverse osmosis desalination (RO) system. The objective was to find the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), with power reliability as the constraint. A genetic algorithm was used to solve the nonlinear integer programming problem. A site with brackish groundwater in Arizona, USA, was selected. The capacity of the RO system was 11.36 m3/d (3,000 gal/d), requiring a constant power consumption of 2.366 kW. The results showed that the optimal configuration was a hybrid photovoltaic/ wind/diesel/battery system with LCOE 0.527 USD/kWh and the corresponding levelized cost of water 3.585 USD/m3, which were about half of the 7.9 USD/m3 currently paid by residents in the area. Sensitivity analyses showed that: (a) the LCOE was fairly insensitive to photovoltaic panel tilt angle over a range; (b) the optimal tilt angle for the hybrid system must be found in the context of the performance of the entire system; (c) the “more hybrid” the renewable energy system, the lower the LCOE; (d) the LCOE value was monotone increasing as diesel price or discount rate increasing, respectively, and different diesel price or discount rate could bring different optimal configurations with diesel generators.
KW - Brackish water desalination
KW - Genetic algorithm
KW - Optimal sizing
KW - Renewable energy
KW - Reverse osmosis
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U2 - 10.5004/dwt.2019.24498
DO - 10.5004/dwt.2019.24498
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073316959
SN - 1944-3994
VL - 163
SP - 67
EP - 82
JO - Desalination and Water Treatment
JF - Desalination and Water Treatment
ER -