PV CSP Hybridization to Produce Irrigation Water Using Desalination and Wastewater Treatment

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2023-6
Gedik, Eylül
Wastewater reuse and reverse osmosis desalination have a large potential to meet the world’s increasing need for irrigation water to produce food. Huge opportunities exist for solar systems to power these water systems for fertile but arid regions with large solar and seawater resources along with several challenges. Photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) hybridization is a potential solution to power water systems as PV provides cheap electricity whereas CSP system with thermal energy storage (TES) allows the dispatching of electricity and high capacity factors (CF). In this study, three solar systems are considered to power wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and reverse osmosis (RO) systems to produce agricultural irrigation water: 1) PV-only, 2) CSP with TES and 3) PV and CSP hybridization with TES. Novel operating strategies for CSP and PV+CSP plants are proposed according to the water system requirements. Also, two different operating strategies of RO are analyzed: 1) nominal load operation and 2) variable load operation. These systems are assessed for Erdemli, Mersin, Türkiye. It is proven that PV and CSP hybridization to power the quaternary treatment stage of an urban WWTP and a RO plant operating at variable loads results in the highest CF of water systems with the lowest levelized cost of water (LCOW) when the systems are hybridized with their stand-alone capacities. The hybridization of PV and CSP is studied also parametrically. The overall water system CF of 77.6% is reached with 90.3% CF of the WWTP plant resulting in LCOW of 1.03 € m-3. Finally, the addition of the WWTP to the RO is found to decrease the LCOW and emission factor of the produced water by 9.6% and 6.9%, respectively.
Citation Formats
E. Gedik, “PV CSP Hybridization to Produce Irrigation Water Using Desalination and Wastewater Treatment,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2023.