Title: Optimum design of PV-RO system for solar powered seawater desalination without storage in Saudi Arabia

Abstract:

Drinking water scarcity is a major problem in regions with law freshwater resources and frequent draughts, such as Saudi Arabia. Water desalination is an excellent solution to this problem; however, it is energy consuming and mainly depends on fossil fuels. Photovoltaics (PV) powered desalination represent a cleaner and cost-effective alternative, because the cost of PV has considerably dropped in the last five years as a result of the efforts to reduce climate change, phase out fossil fuels, and develop renewable energy sources. The objectives of this study were to investigate the feasibility of providing part of the energy required for reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants with electricity from PVs without storage, determine the price of kWh, and calculate the maximum energy percentage that can be obtained from PV plants during daytime. Therefore, two RO plants located on the Red Sea and Gulf area, in Saudi Arabia were selected as case studies. The energy consumption data were based on a one-year operational data from the studied RO plants. The maximum and minimum mean energy demands among the plants were found to be 47.31 MWh/h and 2.28 MWh/h, respectively. Solar data was attained from the Renewable Resource Monitoring and Mapping (RRMM) program, and a solar PV plant was designed to calculate the energy production, percentage of electricity consumption that could be covered by PV, and price of kWh in each case. The results showed that the electric energy produced from the solar power plants ranged from 16,125.66 kWh to 386,459.92 kWh. In addition, by assuming the consumption of the total energy output, solar energy could cover up to 19.9% of the total energy demand.  

Biography:

Khalid AL-Shail is an engineer by profession and works as Researcher in Desalination Technologies Research Institute (DTRI) in Saudi Arabia. He holds a BSc in Chemical engineer. As well a Master of Philosophy degree in Renewable Energy Engineering at the School of Mechanical engineer, University of Heriot-Watt in UK. Currently pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Renewable Energy Engineering at the School of civil engineer, University of Granada in Spain.