Evaluation of different hybrid power scenarios to Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination units in isolated areas in Iraq

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is imperative to mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable development goals (SGDs). Hydrogen, as a clean energy carrier, holds great potential for decarbonizing various sectors, yet its production remains predominantly reliant on fossil fuels. This study explores a novel approach to sustainable hydrogen production by integrating offshore wind energy with reverse osmosis (RO) desalination technology. The proposed configuration harnesses offshore wind power to energize both a RO desalination system and water electrolysis unit. Initially, the wind energy powers the RO desalination process, purifying seawater, and then desalinated water is directed to water electrolysis system for generating green hydrogen directly from seawater. The resulting renewable hydrogen holds potential for diverse applications, including marine industries, and can be transported onshore as needed. The RO system is configured to treat 20 kg s−1 of seawater with a salinity of 35 000 ppm, aiming for a high recovery ratio and reduced freshwater salinity. A pressure exchanger (PX) is integrated to recover energy from high‐pressure brine stream and transfer it to the low‐pressure feed water, thus reducing the overall energy consumption of the RO process. The concentrated brine extracted from RO desalination is proposed to be utilized for the production of sodium hydroxide that can further pretreat incoming seawater and enhance the effectiveness of the filtration process by mitigating membrane fouling. This pressure exchanger increases the energy efficiency of the RO system from 63.1% to 64.0% and exergetic efficiency from 13.9% to 18.2% increasing the overall first and second law efficiencies to 37.9% and 33.5%. By leveraging offshore wind power to drive RO desalination systems, this research not only addresses freshwater scarcity but also facilitates green hydrogen generation, contributing to the advancement of renewable energy solutions and fostering environmental sustainability.

Experimental evaluation of a multi-skid reverse osmosis unit operating at fluctuating power input

Optimization of sustainable seawater desalination: Modeling renewable energy integration and energy storage concepts

Optimal design of a hybrid solar-wind power to drive a small-size reverse osmosis desalination plant

With projected increases in population and urbanisation in Australia, the sustainable supply of water and energy over the medium to long term will be an important challenge. In this context, meeting a part of the growing demand for urban water may involve reliance upon desalinated water in the future. Moreover, the feasibility and viability of renewable energy sources for water desalination will be of policy importance, particularly in a potentially low carbon Australian economy. In this article, we analyse the potential applicability of solar and wind energy to provide power for water desalination. In two illustrative examples, we assess the feasibility of supplying 3% of Sydney’s projected total water consumption (supplied at an average rate of 24.7 Gl/yr) and 5% of Sydney’s projected water consumption (supplied at an average rate of 32.7 Gl/yr) over a 15-yr period (2011–2025) using a photovoltaic (PV) solar powered (130 MW) and a hybrid (PV solar and wind energy) powered (205 MW) reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants, respectively. In addition to supplying cleaner energy, the renewable energy sources considered in this article have additional cost advantages in the presence of a carbon penalty. For example, at hypothetical carbon penalty rates of $20/tCO2 and $30/tCO2, the estimated cost savings—in net present value (NPV) terms assuming a discount rate of 4.2%—of the PV solar (hybrid) plant will amount to around be $18.7 m ($25.2 m) and $28.0 m ($37.9 m), respectively, over the 15-yr period, relative to a situation where the desalination plant is instead being powered by black coal. Under a discount rate of 8.4%, the cost savings of the PV solar (hybrid) plant associated with carbon penalty rates of $20/tCO2 and $30/tCO2 are estimated to be around $12.8 m ($17.6 m) and $19.2 m ($26.4 m), respectively, in NPV terms. Our analysis also shows that in addition to providing the required power supply for the illustrative desalination plants, the renewable energy supply sources analysed here would produce excess electricity that could be sold to a nearby grid. Consequently, assuming a wholesale electricity price of $36.74/MWh, the PV solar plant and the hybrid renewable plant are estimated to have the capacity to earn around $63.9 million and $110.0 million in NPV terms, respectively, over the 15-yr period, through excess electricity sales. Under a discount rate of 8.4%, the value of the excess electricity sales of the PV solar plant and the hybrid renewable plant are estimated to be around $54.5 million and $91.7 million, respectively, in NPV terms.

This paper employs the K-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) algorithm to examine the relationship between electricity generation—using renewable and non-renewable energy sources—and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The model achieved strong predictive accuracy, with a mean squared error (MSE) of 134.9 and an R² value of 0.915. Two analytical approaches were applied: the first included both renewable and non-renewable energy sources to determine the largest contribution of each energy source, and the second excluded non-renewable sources to assess the relative importance of different types of renewable energy. In the first approach, fossil fuel-fired electricity generation contributed 98.04% of the impact on carbon dioxide emissions, confirming its dominant role in increasing global carbon emissions. Renewable energy sources, however, had limited contributions: solar (1.16%), wind (0.71%), hydropower (0.09%), and bioenergy showed a negligible impact. In the second approach—excluding fossil fuels—renewable energy sources gained relative importance, with wind energy emerging as the most influential factor in the model (80.24%), followed by solar (10.92%), and hydropower (8.84%). Bioenergy remained insignificant in both models. The study concludes that fossil fuel–based electricity generation remains the principal driver of CO₂ emissions globally. though, among renewable sources, wind energy exhibits the greatest potential for reducing emissions when fossil fuels are excluded, highlighting its strategic importance in future clean energy transitions. The findings confirm the need for global energy policies that prioritize expanding renewable energy infrastructure, particularly solar and hydropower, while phasing out reliance on fossil fuels. countries should focus on stimulating investment in clean energy, developing efficiency-enhancing technologies, and expanding renewable energy generation to achieve long-term carbon reduction and environmental sustainability while maintaining economic growth.

Enabling the use of seawater for hydrogen gas production in water electrolyzers

This paper aims to develop a Smart Energy Management System based on an artificial intelligence technique of a brackish water reverse osmosis desalination plant powered by stand-alone hybrid (PV/Wind) renewable sources. This system aims to meet the freshwater demand of an isolated community in a specific site of Tunisia’s south. This study is characterized by a hydraulic storage in water tanks instead of electrochemical storage. For this purpose, a power management based on an Artificial Neural Network was developed to share power between three motor-pumps (High pressure pump, Low pressure pumps). The different components of the system (the motor-pumps, reverse osmosis, tanks, photovoltaic system and wind system) are defined with their energy models in order to size the system. This smart management is integrated in a dynamic simulator of the proposed system. The proposed strategy deals to maximize freshwater production taking interest in the available renewable energy.

Techno-economic evaluation of reverse osmosis desalination system considering emission cost and demand response

the adaption of renewable energy (RE) in electric systems (ESs) involves many technical challenges when its share exceeds certain levels. Various strategies are used to manage these challenges. The reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants can play a significant role in RE integration because of their high energy consumption and flexibility of operation. This paper investigates how RO desalination plants can help in integrating RE resources in ESs. First, the impact of different levels of RE penetration on IEEE 30-bus system was studied in terms of voltage profile. Then, the adaption of an RO plant in the system as a flexible load was introduced to reduce the effects of RE penetration. The consumption of RO plant was decreased during the absence of RE and increased at the midday hours to absorb the surplus power generated by RE. This prevented the ES voltage profile to fall below the permissible limits. The results showed that, the coordination between RO plants and ESs operation had a significant positive role.

Identification of behaviour and evaluation of performance of small scale, low-temperature Organic Rankine Cycle system coupled with a RO desalination unit

Evaluation of power and freshwater production based on integrated gas turbine, S-CO2, and ORC cycles with RO desalination unit

Strong governance is vital for developing environmental policies to promote renewable energy consumption and discourage nonrenewable energy sources. The present research explores the effect of economic growth and different governance indicators on renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka using data from 1996 to 2019. For this purpose, the study uses different econometric techniques to find the long-term effects of the rule of law, regulatory quality, corruption control, government effectiveness, political stability, voice and accountability, and economic growth on oil, natural gas, coal, hydroelectricity, and renewable energy consumption. The results show that economic growth has a positive impact on all investigated renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Additionally, regulatory quality measures also increase all types of renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption. Except for natural gas, the impact of the rule of law is negative, and government effectiveness positively affects all energy sources. Control of corruption has a positive effect on natural gas consumption. Political stability has a negative effect on nonrenewable energy sources and a positive impact on renewable energy sources. The magnitudes of the effects of economic growth and most governance indicators are found to be larger on nonrenewable sources than renewable sources. The testing of the energy consumption and governance nexus is scant in global literature and is missing in South Asian literature. Hence, the study results contribute to how South Asian economies can be more sustainable in energy use by enhancing governance indicators in the economies. Particularly, the results imply that these countries should focus on improving the rule of law, corruption control, governance, regulatory quality, political stability, and economic growth to help maintain a sustainable balance of renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Moreover, this issue needs further attention in developing countries, as governance indicators would play an effective role in promoting sustainable energy.

Water shortage is one of the biggest defiances in the world. Desalination becomes an essential strategy to secure fresh water. Reverse osmosis (RO) prevails the desalination market worldwide in terms of installed numbers and revenue. The fossil fuel‐powered desalination process has harmful environmental impacts and is expensive. Renewable and abundant energy sources are an auspicious substitutional for powering the RO process. This review focuses on the RO process, its classifications, challenges (including membrane fouling and large‐scale issues), integration of RO with other desalination processes, and integration with energy recovery devices (ERDs). Hybridization of RO with various renewable energy sources (RESs), focusing on solar, wind, and ocean energy, is also demonstrated, and a cost comparison between the different systems is presented. Environmental impacts and assessment of different RO systems, as well as the design of renewable power systems to operate seawater RO (SWRO) desalination systems using hybrid optimization model for electrical renewable (HOMER) software, were discussed.

In today’s present world, billions of people live without reliable access to clean drinking water, and as populations continue to grow, freshwater sources begin to disappear at an equally rapid pace. In an effort to combat these issues, desalination has been introduced as a solution to abstract water from untouched resources. However, while desalination can produce additional potable water, it is also heavily criticised for its flaws; namely cost, energy consumption, and environmental pollution. Thus, in order to promote desalination as a sustainable solution for both the present day and future, improvements need to be implemented to produce less costly, more energy efficient, and environmentally friendly desalination plants. This paper reviews all of the current desalination methods in today’s global market, evaluating which methods are most sustainable for the future of desalination. Options for renewable energies to replace fossil fuels are also studied, as well as various brine disposal methods which can produce more environmentally safe and sustainable desalination facilities. Among the literature reviewed, reverse osmosis was found to be the world’s most sustainable method of desalination due to its energy efficiency and production capacity, while solar photovoltaics were found to be the popular choice among renewable energies. Zero liquid discharge was also found to be the most environmentally friendly method of brine waste disposal, although research in the field was very limited. Each method was closely evaluated and compared among its competitors, offering a detailed perspective on the sustainable state of desalination.