A plant for cogeneration of electricity and water powered by renewable energy sources based on using high level of automation

Abstract

In this paper an off-grid hybrid energy system consisting of a reverse osmosis desalination plant for brackish water powered by renewable energy sources, and a diesel generator as back-up will be described. The whole system serves as a prototype for testing new automatic control methods to increase the plant reliability, which is crucial in remote arid areas. The necessary steps for the design of an optimal co-generation of both water and electricity such as the decision support system, modelling and simulation of the system and developing a fault tolerant control system will be depicted. The overall goal is to provide a cost optimal way to produce water and energy under the regional and technical boundary conditions. The presented work was performed within the framework of the European co-funded Project OPEN-GAIN. © 2010 IEEE.