Development and Assessment of a Hybrid Solar-Based Multi-Generation System for UAE

Abstract

Over the past few years, major developments were inducted in utilizing solar energy for power generation in rich solar areas, such as the UAE. However, these rich locations are usually arid, and the demand for freshwater is needed. Hence, this thesis aims to develop a solar-based multi-generation system of electrical energy and freshwater in the UAE. The system was designed for a 50 MW electrical load and 8 Million Gallons/day distilled water. The variation of energy consumption throughout the year based on the different weather seasons was studied, and the required power output was optimized to minimize the cost of the system. In this thesis, four different designs were proposed. These designs had different integration combination between the solar technology and the desalination plant. Parabolic trough solar collector and heliostat solar field were the solar sources used, while multi-effect distillation (MED) and reverse osmosis were the desalination plants. The power cycle used in all designs was a Rankine cycle. The mathematical model was performed using System Advisor Model (SAM) and MATLAB. SAM was used to model the solar systems, and then the results obtained were imported into MATLAB to model the remaining subsystems of the design, i.e. steam turbine cycle and the desalination plants. Furthermore, the effects of the operating conditions were investigated to provide guidelines for optimal operation for each system. The designs were compared in terms of their output, solar capacity factor, payback period and total land area. The results showed that the parabolic trough solar collector - steam turbine - MED was the most efficient and effective system. The system produced an average of 41 MW electric power, 13 million gallons/day average distilled water production and had a 94.5 % solar capacity factor, while the levelized payback period was found to be 9.04 years.