Chapter 2 - Hybrid renewable energy systems for energy supply to autonomous desalination systems on Isolated Islands

Abstract

Currently, the problem of water shortages is presented in many regions around the world. Because of this, desalination has been taken as an unconventional source for the shortage of drinking water. The purpose of this work is to model hybrid systems based on renewable energy, in order to compare different options of design analyzing their economic and technical qualities for energy supply to isolated desalination systems. To creating the optimum design for hybrid renewable energy systems, HOMER software has been used. The possible inputs in the software were technical devices’ specifications, the electric demand of the desalination plant, and the renewable source potentials (wind speeds and solar radiation). With the intention of evaluating different renewable energy possibilities, a multicriteria calculation is carried out using a number of criteria that are probable to be essential in application decisions. The software has considered several configurations and different optimum outputs according to the use of renewable energies. Real data from Canary Islands have been used in this study, taking into consideration the high solar and wind potentials in the region and extended the use of the desalination in the Canarian archipelago. The outcomes of this work could be an extent to other analogous scenarios in the North Atlantic Ocean or throughout the world.