Abstract
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.