Design and optimization of a renewable energy system for seawater desalination and electricity generation with hydrogen storage

Due to the fast population growth and the strictly limited water resources, many countries are facing great challenges with water shortage issues. Therefore, there is an increased need to identify new solutions for fresh water supply: desalination, a process in which seawater is converted into fresh water represents one of the most promising ones. Membrane processes, especially reverse osmosis (RO), are considered to be the fastest growing technologies in water desalination sector. To overcome environmental issues and mitigate the global climate change, renewable energy sources are the best solution for powering desalination plants. These systems can supply power and water to remote areas, where the national grid is not feasible and there is a water shortage problem. Renewable power generation driven by wind and solar is continuously increasing, and the installed capacities of wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) are growing rapidly. However, the generation outputs of PV plants and wind farms are intermittent and fluctuating, resulting in a serious daily or seasonal energy imbalance between power output and load demand. Energy storage technologies, such as hydrogen storage (HS) can be considered an alternative fuel energy storage technology based on reversible electrochemical reactions and, due to the long-term timescale storage characteristics, ensures security and high reliability of energy supply and moreover can be used directly as a fuel if required. The aim of this thesis is the study of a system for desalination of seawater and electricity generation, using wind and solar energy as a power source. In particular, the study will focus on how to optimize the plant in order to manage and make the most of the excess energy produced through the use of hydrogen storage technologies. Using MATLAB, the plant is dimensioned, and operation simulated. Finally, a technical-economic analysis of the results obtained to evaluate the feasibility of the system is reported.

Due to the fast population growth and the strictly limited water resources, many countries are facing great challenges with water shortage issues. Therefore, there is an increased need to identify new solutions for fresh water supply: desalination, a process in which seawater is converted into fresh water represents one of the most promising ones. Membrane processes, especially reverse osmosis (RO), are considered to be the fastest growing technologies in water desalination sector. To overcome environmental issues and mitigate the global climate change, renewable energy sources are the best solution for powering desalination plants. These systems can supply power and water to remote areas, where the national grid is not feasible and there is a water shortage problem. Renewable power generation driven by wind and solar is continuously increasing, and the installed capacities of wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) are growing rapidly. However, the generation outputs of PV plants and wind farms are intermittent and fluctuating, resulting in a serious daily or seasonal energy imbalance between power output and load demand. Energy storage technologies, such as hydrogen storage (HS) can be considered an alternative fuel energy storage technology based on reversible electrochemical reactions and, due to the long-term timescale storage characteristics, ensures security and high reliability of energy supply and moreover can be used directly as a fuel if required. The aim of this thesis is the study of a system for desalination of seawater and electricity generation, using wind and solar energy as a power source. In particular, the study will focus on how to optimize the plant in order to manage and make the most of the excess energy produced through the use hydrogen storage technologies. Using MATLAB, the plant is dimensioned, and operation simulated. Finally, a technical-economic analysis of the results obtained to evaluate the feasibility of the system is reported.