Feasibility of Small Autonomous Solar Powered Water Desalination Units for Arid Regions

Mohamed Azab; Mohamed Naser Al-Ghamdi

doi:10.6000/1929-6002.2015.04.04.2

Authors

Mohamed Azab Center for Renewable Energy-Research Center, Colleges & Institutes Sector
Mohamed Naser Al-Ghamdi Center for Renewable Energy-Research Center, Colleges & Institutes Sector, RC Yanbu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-6002.2015.04.04.2

Keywords:

Renewable energy, solar energy, water desalination, reverse osmosis

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to conduct a feasibility study of utilizing small autonomous water desalination units powered by photovoltaic modules as a green renewable energy resource to be employed in different isolated zones as a source of drinking water for some scattered societies where the installation of huge desalination stations are discarded owing to the unavailability of electric grid in remote areas. Yanbu City is chosen as a case study where the Renewable Energy Center exists and equipped with all sensors to assess the availability of solar energy all over the year. The study included two types of available water: the first type is brackish well water and the second type is seawater of coastal regions. In the case of well water, two versions of desalination units are involved in the study: the first version is based on day operation only. While the second version takes into consideration the night operation, which requires energy storage system as batteries to provide the necessary electric power at night. According to the feasibility study results, it is found that utilization of small autonomous desalinations unit is applicable and economically accepted in the case of brackish well water. However, in the case of seawater the capital costs are extremely high and the cost of desalinated water will not be economically feasible unless governmental subsidies are provided.

In addition, the study indicated that, for the same water production, the utilization of energy storage version (day-night) adds additional capital cost for batteries, and extra running cost for their replacement, which makes the unit price not only incompetent with day-only unit but also with conventional units powered by diesel generator (fossil fuel) owing to the low prices of fuel in the kingdom. However, the cost analysis shows that the price of the produced water per cubic meter of day-night unit is similar to that produced from the day-only unit provided that the day-night unit operates theoretically for a longer period of 50 %.

References

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report. OECD Environment Outlook to 2030, Paris 2008.

Joyce A, Loureiro D, Rodrigues C, Castro S. Small reverse osmosis units using PV systems for water purification in rural places. Journal of Desalination 2001; 137: 39-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0011-9164(01)00202-8

Fiorenza G, Sharma VK, Braccio G. Techno-economic evaluation of a solar powered water desalination plant, Solar Desalination for the 21st Century, 33-41, Springer 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5508-9_3

Chaibi MT, Bourouni K. Development of solar desalination systems concepts for irrigation in arid areas conditions, Solar Desalination for the 21st Century, pp. 19-32, Springer 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5508-9_2

United Nations world water development report, Water in a changing world 2009.

Mahmoud MM. Solar Electric Powered Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination System for the Rural Village Al Maleh: Design and Simulation. Int Journal of Solar Energy 2003; 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01425910310001634451

Tzen E, Morris R. Renewable energy sources for desalination. Solar Energy 2003; 75: 375-379. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2003.07.010

Azab M. Optimal Power Point Tracking For Stand-Alone PV System Using Particle Swarm Optimization. IEEE ISIE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics Italy, July 2010; 10: 969-973. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/isie.2010.5637061 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ISIE.2010.5637061

Esram T, Chapman PL. Comparison of Photovoltaic Array Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques. IEEE Trans Energy Conversion 2007; 22: 439-449. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TEC.2006.874230

Banat F, Qiblawey H. Membrane desalination driven by solar energy, Solar Desalination for the 21st Century 2007; pp. 271-291. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5508-9_21

Azab M. Parameters Estimation of PV Module without Experimental Measurements Using Particle Swarm Optimization, 39th IEEE IECON, pp. 7004-7008,Viena-Austria 2013.