Techno-economic analysis of hybrid power system sizing applied to small desalination plants for sustainable operation

Water and energy are two inseparable commodities that govern the lives of humanity and promote civilization. Energy can be used to produce water in case of scarcity in water. Ironically most of the places that are water stressed are also energy stressed. The cost of extending grid power may be prohibitively high in those cases. Rural/remote locations like hills and islands multiply the problem to a larger magnitude. Use of renewable sources like solar, wind, biomass and other locally available energy sources is the only solution. But these renewable sources are of intermittent nature and have poor availability. Hence, it is practically difficult to produce water with a single source of energy. Naturally, combining two or more sources of energy, known as hybrid power system, is the next available option. This paper carries out a techno-economic analysis of various sizing combinations of systems with solar photo voltaic, wind energy and stored energy in batteries for production of drinking water from a brackish water source. The system can operate the RO plant whenever the power is available, produce drinking water and store in a tank. This paper analyses the model of the entire hybrid power system in MATLAB to simulate the performance of the hybrid power system for different combinations of capacities. Results of the analysis under various input conditions are analyzed.