Abstract
While modeling and optimization of desalination systems' operation have been extensively studied, current approaches are hard-wired to specific designs and performance metrics, without the flexibility to reuse or extend these models. Bridging this gap, reported in this paper is the development of a formal analytic model and a decision guidance system for desalination service networks that can be applied to a broad range of desalination designs and architectures. The model and the system are based on an extensible repository of atomic component models, initially including models for pumps, renewable energy sources, water and power storage, and reverse osmosis units. An experimental study is conducted to demonstrate the flexibility of the model and system, and its scalability to support realistic size problems.