Abstract
Growing populations and periodic drought conditions have exacerbated water stress in many areas worldwide. In response, some municipalities have considered desalination of saline water as a freshwater supply. Unfortunately, desalination requires a sizeable energy investment. However, renewable energy technologies can be paired with desalination to mitigate concern over the environmental impacts of increased energy use. At the same time, desalination can be operated in an intermittent way to match the variable availability of renewable resources. Integrating wind power and brackish groundwater desalination generates a high-value product (drinking water) from low-value resources (saline water and wind power without storage). This paper presents a geographically-resolved performance and economic method that estimates the energy requirements and profitability of an integrated wind-powered reverse osmosis facility treating brackish groundwater. It is based on a model that incorporates prevailing natural and market conditions such as average wind speeds, total dissolved solids content, brackish well depth, desalination treatment capacity, capital and operation costs of wind and desalination facilities, brine disposal costs, and electricity and water prices into its calculation. The model is illustrated using conditions in Texas (where there are counties with significant co-location of wind and brackish water resources). Results from this case study indicate that integrating wind turbines and brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) systems is economically favorable in a few municipal locations in West Texas.
Highlights
Many areas of the United States are at high risk for water shortages, if they are not already facing water constraints due to increasing demands for water coupled with decreasing water supplies and increases in the frequency and severity of droughts
These weights are calculated based on sizing of the brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) desalination facility and wind turbine to operate at peak of average wind output
Due to sizing the desalination facility to operate at peak of average wind capacity, the capital expenses of the project will be considerably larger than necessary for the production level of water if the facility operated with a continuous energy source
Summary
Many areas of the United States are at high risk for water shortages, if they are not already facing water constraints due to increasing demands for water coupled with decreasing water supplies and increases in the frequency and severity of droughts. Continental wind resources are weakest in the summer, when electricity demands are highest, and strongest in the winter or shoulder months, when electricity demands are typically lower. Another challenge faced by wind implementations is the requirement of large, expensive electricity transmission infrastructure that is time intensive and expensive to construct, as wind farms are often located far from populations. Wind power comprised 43% of the electricity generating capacity additions in the United States in 2012 [3]. If electricity prices rise, or if costs for wind turbines fall, the wind power classification considered profitable could decrease and more areas of Texas could be considered suitable for wind power generation
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