Description
A Master of Science thesis in Electrical Engineering by Zahra Hassan Abdallah Hassan Alnahhal entitled, “Optimal Operation and Planning of Power System Integrated with Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination”, submitted in December 2021. Thesis advisor is Dr. Mostafa Shaaban. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
Abstract
The typical desalination for seawater in the Gulf area relies on thermal desalination, where the water and electricity are co-generated from fossil fuel thermal plants. These thermal plants are well known to increase CO2 emissions, and therefore the refuge to renewable energy resources is necessary to date to lower these emissions. However, the generation of renewable resources will not be propitious for thermal desalination. Therefore, other desalination techniques, such as the reverse osmosis (RO) desalination technique which is a harvesting electricity method, can be a beneficial way to utilize this excess renewable generation. To achieve this, the expression of water-energy-nexus (WEN) blossoms, which is the integration of water and electrical systems together, by the co-optimization of these two systems can mitigate the conventional ways defects. This thesis proposes new approaches for the operation and planning phases to co-optimize the water and electric power systems. The proposed approach leverages the operational pliability granted from the desalination tracks in conjunction with water storage tanks and variable speed pumps for the operation phase. Therefore, the operating costs of the electric and water networks can be minimized while considering the essential constraints of both systems, thus optimizing the operation of the two systems without jeopardizing the energy and water supplied to customers. Further, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is proposed for the day optimal operation of the two integrated systems. The simulation results were conducted on the IEEE 24-bus power system and a 15-node test water system supplied from a 4-track RO desalination plant. While in the planning phase, the proposed approach aims to size and allocate resources in the WEN system. On the electrical side, the planning approach optimally allocates photovoltaic (PV) generation and battery storage units while it allocates RO desalination plants in the waterside. The proposed approach utilizes Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to address the variability and uncertainty associated with electricity, PV generation, and water demand. Simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed operation approach in minimizing the operating costs of the WEN system by 4.6%.