Simulation and optimization of hybrid green energy systems for desalination purposes

Energy is the main concern in the design and implementation of desalination plants; this concern is even more significant in remote areas with limited or no access to the main power grid. This paper presents an off-grid hybrid renewable energy assessment for a reverse osmosis desalination plant. The plant with a 10 m³ desalination capacity is located in al-Batinah region in the north of Oman. For better assessment, the meteoritic data of the site such as temperature, wind velocity, solar radiation, and clearness index are extracted. The simulation has been done using Homer software, and all possible combinations of photovoltaic panel/wind turbine/generator/battery are calculated and compared with one another. At last, two different approaches, a complete renewable hybrid energy with and without generator backup, are compared and the results are provided. The results of the experiment show that the most economic off-grid hybrid energy system is a combination of a 12.5 kW PV panel with 335 W energy production for each panel, a battery bank consisting of 12 batteries with 205 Ah capacity, and a generator as a backup. The cost of energy for one kWhr is $0.28; on the other hand, a hybrid renewable energy system with the combination of PV/wind turbine/battery costs $0.37 per kWhr.