Optimal design and operation of hybrid renewable energy system for drinking water treatment

Highlights: • A hybrid renewable system for drinking water treatment plant is proposed. • An optimization model and analysis paradigm are provided for potential appliers. • Real case proved the economically feasible self-sufficiency ratio can reach 95%. • Deployment of above system helps to cope with the electricity price variation risk. The industrial process of drinking water treatment requires intensive energy, leading to high enterprise costs and abundant carbon emissions. To ensure cost-effective and low polluting power supply for the above process, this paper proposes to deploy the grid-connected hybrid renewable system. A multi-objective nonlinear dynamic model mixed with integer variables is established for the decision makers, in which both system configurations and operations as well as benefits trade-offs from four dimensions are simultaneously considered. The ε-constraint method and system planner attitude parameters are introduced to transform the proposed model into its equivalent single objective form, which is further been solved by the LINGO software. A case study in China is given to assess the viability of the proposed model, in which optimal system configuration, economically feasible self-sufficiency ratio and optimal energy balance are obtained. Influences of electricity pricing strategies and natural resource changes on the systems are also analyzed and compared. It is found that the deployment of grid-connected hybrid wind/PV/storage system can help power users to cope with the future electricity price variation risks, with the feasible self-sufficiency ratio reaching 95%.