Abstract
This work aimed to carry out an optimal investigation of the design and operation of a large capacity reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant powered by wind energy. Different scenarios involving two design options, such as using storage tanks or batteries, and operation options, such as using variable or fixed feed pressure, were analyzed and optimized. In addition, another operation option, of using a fixed number of RO vessels or a varying number of active RO vessels, was also considered. It was found that an optimized plant using storage tanks can provide a less expensive water cost and a less complicated plant structure. Moreover, the use of a variable feed pressure can help in attenuating the disturbances incurred in the form of wind intermittency. Conversely, the use of fixed feed pressure and constantly supplied power per vessel can run the RO units smoothly, leading to a predictable production rate. However, this requires operating the plant on different active sets of vessels each hour, which mandates additional automatic control systems. The water cost when storage tanks are utilized can be as low as 7.42 $/m(3), while it is around 19.7 $/m(3) when a battery is used.