Description
A Master of Science thesis in Electrical Engineering by Mennatalla Ahmed Elbalki entitled, “A Water-Energy Nexus Approach for the Co-optimization of the Electrical and Water Systems”, submitted in May 2023. Thesis advisor is Dr. Mostafa Shaaban and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Ahmed Osman. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
Abstract
Water and electricity are two essential and critical needs for living; however, water scarcity and uncertainty are becoming more prominent. Water networks are energy-demanding industries where a significant amount of electricity is consumed in various water processes. Also, thermal desalination systems are usually a part of a cogeneration process, which cogenerates electricity and freshwater. Therefore, water and electrical networks can't be entirely independent by which a more integrated approach, Water-Energy Nexus (WEN), is developed. A WEN is the basis of a smart city where water and electrical networks are interconnected and integrated by implementing efficient management strategies. Accordingly, this study develops a co-optimization model for the design and operation of the integrated power and water systems. The proposed co-optimization model minimizes the total annual cost of the micro-WEN system while capturing its optimum design values and operating conditions and meeting the electrical and water demands. For a smart grid, three main characteristics are considered to enhance its efficiency and reliability: Integrating distributed energy resources, including renewable resources, grid operations, and resources optimization, and utilizing advanced electricity storage technologies. Improving the efficiency and reliability of a water network can involve a variety of measures: Improving the pump station design, system configuration, and valve distribution, installing variable speed drives (VSDs) for pumps, and including water storage tanks. The design and operational problems are formulated as non-linear programming (NLP) in General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) environment. This work presents a plan for the transition from thermal desalination to RO desalination in UAE, where electricity and water production are decoupled to address the problem of operating UAE's power plants during the winter at low efficiency to be able to meet the water demand. The results show that the optimal design of the cogeneration unit has a power generation capacity of 150 MW and a water production capacity of 145 mᵌ/h to meet the electrical and water demands at a minimum total annual cost. Moreover, the simulation results assert that the co-optimization model provides a reduction in the total operational cost of 1.23% and 26.7% with the integration of PVs and shifting to RO with PV, respectively.