OPTIMAL SIZING OF A HYBRID PHOTOVOLTAIC/WIND SYSTEM SUPPLYING A DESALINATION UNIT

Abstract

This work presents the dimensioning of a wind-photovoltaic hybrid system for the supply of a seawater desalination plant (reverse osmosis desalination) located in Honaïne in the Tlemcen coastal region of Algeria. The plant has a production capacity of 200,000 m3 /day and supplies potable water for a population of about 555,000 people (the plant's energy demand is 1,825 MW). The main idea is to present a method for sizing and optimizing a hybrid system by introducing two scenarios: the first scenario treats the operation of the plant under good weather conditions. The second one introduces the notion of the worst month (poor weather conditions). For it, we developed a calculation code (Programming under the MATLAB environment) that allowed us to determine the size and optimization of the system, as well as the optimal technical and economic configuration (numbers of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and batteries), as well as the total cost. The results obtained show on the one hand: the complementarity of the two scenarios, which allows a better reliability of the system, and this by using a number well defined of panels, wind turbines and batteries to ensure the long-term operation of the plant. On the other hand, the use of the hybrid system has allowed us to obtain a 51.46% benefit compared to fossil fuels, which gives the proposed study an important reliability, since it offers a very advantageous benefit in terms of cost and efficiency.

Keywords

• Batteries
• Cost
• Desalination
• Hybrid photovoltaic-wind system
• Optimization technique