Planning and Design of a Micro energy network for seawater desalination and regional energy interconnection

Abstract

With the rapid development of the economy, the continuously increasing population, and ongoing climate change, the shortage of freshwater resources has become an increasingly important global problem. Seawater desalination technology can effectively alleviate the pressure on freshwater supplies and has been investigated in many countries. However, the majority of existing projects focus on the research and development of desalination equipment and the use of new technologies and pay less attention to the operation optimization of the desalination process. The micro energy network (MEN) designed in this study is an efficient distributed energy supply system that can be used to simultaneously supply electricity, cooling, heating, and freshwater as photovoltaic power, wind power, combined heat and power (CHP), electric cooling and heating, and a seawater desalination device are integrated into the MEN. In this study, a model for operation optimization of a MEN for seawater desalination was developed and the influences of the electric cooling and heating ratios and the operation optimization of the seawater desalination device were studied with the aim of minimizing the life cycle cost. Based on the results of this study, MENs can reduce the operation cost of desalination devices and improve the efficiency of renewable energy sources.