An optimization model for a mechanical vapor compression desalination plant

driven by a wind/PV hybrid system

Driss Zejli
a,
, Ahmed Ouammi
a,b
, Roberto Sacile
b
, Hanane Dagdougui
b,c
, Azzeddine Elmidaoui
d
a
Unit des Technologies et Economie des Energies Renouvelables, CNRST BP 8027 NU Rabat, Morocco
b
Department of Communication, Computer and System Sciences (DIST), University of Genova, Genova, Italy
c
MINES ParisTech, BP 207, 1 Rue Claude Daunesse 06904 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
d
Separation Processes Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, BP 1246, Kenitra, Morocco
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 2 February 2011
Received in revised form 11 April 2011
Accepted 11 April 2011
Available online 4 May 2011
Keywords:
Desalination
Renewable hybrid systems
Mechanical vapor compression
Renewable energy sources
Optimization
a b s t r a c t
A renewable hybrid system to produce domestic water is presented. It consists of a photovoltaic module,
a wind turbine, a mechanical vapor compression desalination plant and a storage unit. An optimization
model based on a mathematical programming is developed to control the energy ows exchanged among
the system components in order to satisfy the domestic water demand. The model has been solved for
three specic case studies in Morocco, where two of them are located in Rabat which aim to satisfy
the hourly and monthly water demand of 20 households, whereas, the last one is in Essaouira, which
aims to ensure the monthly water demand of 40 households. The main motivations behind selecting
these specic case studies are the evaluation of the efciency and feasibility of such system in two coastal
sites having different characteristics of renewable energy sources. The obtained results show that the
domestic water demands are satised in each time interval at a reasonable economic cost comparable
to the current average cost of water in Morocco which is about 0.7 m
3
.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The progress of human societies can be explained by the
increasing control of man on energy and water. While both of these
two inseparable commodities are increasingly becoming scarce,
their overuse during the last two centuries has led to cumulative
environmental degradation that cannot be easily reversed. So, the
energy and water challenges of the next decades seem to be much
more difcult to tackle than most people realize.
In the last few years, the implementation of renewable energy
and desalination plants has increased on a large scale. Renewable
energydrivendesalinationsystems havebeenextensivelydiscussed
as an innovative approach to desalinate water economically and in
an environmentally friendly manner, with specic interest in re-
mote andarid regions where the use of conventional energy is costly
or unavailable. Desalination has been practiced on a large scale for
more than 50 years and has emerged as the primary response to
water scarcity in several member countries. The six world leading
countries bydesalinationcapacityare Saudi Arabia (17%), the United
Arab Emirates (14%), USA (14%), Spain (9%), China (4%) and Kuwait
(4%). Globally, the total installed capacity of desalination plants
was 61 million m
3
/d in 2008. Seawater desalination accounts for
67% of production, followed by brackish water, at 19%; river water
at 8%; and wastewater, at 6% [1]. Desalination is taken into account
as an effective method of meeting some of the worlds growing fresh
water needs due to the abundance of seawater and brackish waters
[2]. Desalination can be achieved by a number of techniques. These
may be classied into two categories: phase change or thermal pro-
cess, and membrane or single-phase process [3].
The inception of the commercial mechanical vapor compression
(MVC) units dates back to the early 1970s [4,5]. MVC units have
been evolved to become a mature technology over the past dec-
ades. However, it is not applied as widely as it should or could
be. Initial costs, system design and energy consumption remain
to be challenging problems. Efcient use of energy in such en-
ergy-intensive operations is crucial to reduce the net energy con-
sumption and to compete with reverse osmosis (RO) technology.
Renewable energy sources (RES) are essential to deal with the
population needs, especially those in the remote areas. RES can
contribute signicantly to ensure sustainable solution like water
desalination plants. RES powering desalination processes can be ta-
ken as a very promising option especially in remote and arid re-
gions where the use of conventional energy is costly or unavailable.
The MVC process remains to be attractive and competitive for
production capacities less than 5000 m
3
/d [6]. The minimum theo-
retical energy required for separating the salts-desalination, to pro-
duce freshwater is 0.7 kW h/m
3
[7]. In practice, much higher
energy is required by the currently available desalination
technologies.
0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.04.031

Corresponding author. Tel.: +212 669220236.

E-mail address: zejli@cnrst.ma (D. Zejli).
Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Applied Energy
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ apenergy
The most attractive feature of the MVC system is that it only re-
quires either electrical or mechanical energy as primary energy in-
put [8], which is small compared to the potential energy of steam.
Field data show that the MVC consumes about 1014 kW h/m
3
which includes the pumping and compressor power [6]. So, MVC
desalination is one of the most efcient thermal distillation pro-
cesses [9]. The system works as a heat pump in which the refriger-
ant is the water to be desalinated.
However, there is no more than one heat exchanger which is
both a condenser for compressed steam and evaporator for water
(low pressure steam). The temperatures of the heat source and
the heat sink of the conventional heat pump are confounded with
those of evaporation and condensation, and their difference is
small (typically less than 10 C). Consequently, the coefcient of
performance is high and generally greater than 25. This generates
important primary energy savings and makes the MVC device
equivalent to 15 effects, which exists only in very few cases [10].
Worldwide, several water desalination plants driven by renew-
able energies are in operation. In Abu Dhabi, a solar desalination
plant has been successfully operated since 1984, it consists of a
multi-effect stack evaporator with an average yearly production
of 85 m
3
/d. In Almera, a Multi Effect Distillation (MED) solar sea-
water desalination plant of 72 m
3
/d was tested. The plant was
powered by a eld of solar parabolic trough collectors. In Kimolos
island, geothermal MED plant of 80 m
3
/d, a MVC plant driven by
wind energy of 50 m
3
/d in Gran Canaria, a PV/RO plants of 120, 6
and 1.5 m
3
/d in Lampedusa island, Brazil and Nevada respectively,
and a Wind/PV/RO of around 3 m
3
/d for seawater desalination in
Lavrio, Greece.
Literature studies on desalination plants driven by a renewable
hybrid energy system include system modeling as well as design
and performance assessment. For example Ettouney [11] investi-
gated a new design for a multi-stage ash mechanical vapor com-
pression desalination process. The analysis of the proposed system
was performed based on the energy, exergy and thermo-economic
methodologies. Helal and Al-Malek [12] presented a detailed
model for the design of a hybrid solar-diesel powered MVC unit
with a fresh water capacity of 120 m
3
/d. The MVC unit aims to pro-
vide water and power to isolated communities in remote areas
with no access to water and power networks. El-Khatib et al.
Nomenclature
A
pv
solar cell array area (m
2
)
C
chem
chemical cost ( m
3
)
C
comp
compressor cost ()
C
direct
direct capital cost ()
C
elc
electrical energy cost ( m
3
)
C
h,plates
cost of heat exchanger plates ()
C
indirect
indirect capital cost ()
C
lab
labor cost ( m
3
)
C
other
other direct costs ()
C
plates
specic cost of the heat exchanger plate ( m
2
)
Cp
v
specic heat of saturated vapor above demister at con-
stant pressure (kJ/kgC)
C
water
plant production cost ( m
3
)
C
sp,elc
specic cost of the electrical energy ( kW h
1
)
C
TC
total capital cost ()
E
con,MVC
energy consumption of the MVC plant (kW h m
3
)
E
t
comp
specic power consumption in time period [t, t + 1)
(kW h/m
3
)
E
t
MVC
energy sent to the MVC plant in time interval [t, t + 1)
(kW h)
E
t
wt
energy produced by the wind turbine in time interval
[t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
pv
energy produced by the PV module in time interval
[t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
wt;MVC
energy given by the wind turbine to the MVC plant in
time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
wt;Net
energy sold by the wind turbine to the electrical net-
work in time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
wt;st
energy sent by the wind turbine to the storage systemin
time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
pv;MVC
energy given by the PV module to the MVC plant in time
interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
pv;Net
energy sold by the PV module to the electrical network
in time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
pv;st
energy sent by the PV module to the storage system in
time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
Net;MVC
energy given by the electrical network to the MVC plant
in time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
st;MVC
energy given by the storage system to the MVC plant in
time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
t
st
energy stored in time interval [t, t + 1) (kW h)
E
0
storage system level at the initial time (kW h)
G
t
forecasted hourly irradiance in time interval [t, t + 1)
(kW/m
2
)
H
data
height of the measurement (m)
H
hub
hub height (m)
H
t
d
enthalpy of the compressed vapor in time interval
[t, t + 1) (kJ/kg)
H
t
s
enthalpy of compressed superheated vapor in time
interval [t, t + 1) (kJ/kg)
H
t
v
inlet vapor enthalpy in time interval [t, t + 1) (kJ/kg)
P
d
outlet saturation pressure (kPa)
P
v
inlet saturation pressure (kPa)
p
f
packing factor ()
P
r
rated power (kW)
Q
max,MVC
capacity of the MVC plant (m
3
/day)
Q
t
water
amount of fresh water produced by the MVC unit in
time period [t, t + 1) (m
3
)
Q
t
demand
domestic water demand in time interval [t, t + 1) (m
3
)
S
1
calculated heat transfer area of the brine heat exchanger
(m
2
)
S
2
calculated heat transfer area of the product water heat
exchanger (m
2
)
S
tot
total heat transfer area (m
2
)
T
is
isentropic superheated temperature of compressed va-
por (C)
T
d
temperature of compressed vapor (C)
v
c
cut-in wind speed (m/s)
v
f
cut-out wind speed (m/s)
v
r
rated wind speed (m/s)
v
t
data
wind speed at the height of the measurements in time
interval [t, t + 1) (m/s)
v
t
forecasted wind speed in time interval [t, t + 1) (m/s)
z
0
surface roughness length (m)
g
comp
efciency of the vapor compressor ()
g
pc
power conditioning efciency ()
g
PV
module reference efciency ()
g plant availability ()
a amortisation factor ()
u aggregation factor of the specic cost of the heat ex-
changer ()
c compressibility factor ()
n fraction of the compressor work that is assigned to the
other components ()
D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054 4043
[13] studied a multi-input multi-output control of MVC desalina-
tion systems. A transient model was developed to describe the sig-
nicant dynamics of the desalination system. Aly and El-Fiqi [14]
described a mathematical and experimental study of the MVC sys-
tem. The experimental and theoretical results indicated that the
production rate increases by increasing the operating temperature
from 70 C to about 98 C. Mahmoudi et al. [15] presented an over-
view of capacity building strategy and policy for desalination in
Algeria. Gastli et al. [16] investigated the potential of implement-
ing combined electric power and seawater desalination plant using
concentrated solar power technologies in Oman. Gude et al. [17]
discussed existing and emerging desalination technologies and
possible combinations of RES to drive them. Al-Karaghouli et al.
[18] summarized the technical side of the main desalination pro-
cesses as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages.
Then, they described a general economic assessment of the con-
ventional and solar coupled desalination processes. Arjunan et al.
[19] presented a review and technical assessments of various pas-
sive and active solar distillation developments in India. Narayan
et al. [20] provided a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-
art of solar-driven humidicationdehumidication desalination.
Sayyaadi and Saffari [21] developed a thermo-economic optimiza-
tion of the multi effects distillation desalination system with ther-
mo-vapor compressor. Tchanche et al. [22] presented an exergy
analysis of micro-organic rankine power cycles for a small scale so-
lar driven reverse osmosis desalination system. Kalogirou [23]
studied the use of parabolic trough solar energy collectors for
sea-water desalination. Colangelo et al. [24] developed a mathe-
matical model of PV powered reverse osmosis sea-water desalina-
tion systems. Al Suleimani and Nair [25] described an experimental
photovoltaic driven reverse osmosis system in a remote desert
location. Bourouni et al. [26] presented a new model based on
the genetic algorithms allowing the generation of several individ-
uals for coupling small RO unit to RES. Baos et al. [27] provided
an overview of the latest research developments concerning the
use of optimization algorithms for design, planning and control
problems in the eld of renewable and sustainable energy.
This paper aims to develop an optimization model for a MVC
desalination plant driven by a wind/PV hybrid system coupled
with an energy storage device and connected with the electrical
network. The model aims to optimize the energy ows among
the different subsystem components (wind turbine, PV module,
MVC desalination plant, energy storage system and the electrical
network) in order to maximize the satisfaction of fresh water de-
mand, and minimizing the power received by electrical network.
2. Sustainability of water desalination plants powered by
renewable energy
Several rural communities and peri-urban areas need a sustain-
able water supply, satisfying the concepts of continuous water
availability, safe water and social/environmental friendly water.
The adoption of new methodologies and technologies will assist
to achieve the goal of sustainable water supply to the communi-
ties, either for remote areas, where the level of water services
and sanitation is extremely poor, or for the developed countries,
where there is a growing need of water because of the rapid urban-
ization, and increasing industrialization. Moreover, water reclaim-
ing techniques would allow rural villages to irrigate their elds,
keeping the agricultural production and avoiding drought risks.
From a top down viewpoint, there is a need to sustain the use of
the available and limited water resources in meeting the popula-
tions water, sanitation and agricultural needs and improve
national and local management of river basin catchments together
with a larger impact at transboundary levels, securing water
availability threatened by large seasonal uctuations, periodic cy-
cles of drought and ood, as well as by climate change. From a bot-
tom up viewpoint, an effective way to achieve the goal of
sustainable water supply is to adopt small, low cost, decentralized
systems and technologies, properly assessing the various technical
and socio-economic constraints which prevent sustainable water
supply.
RES powering desalination processes is a very promising option
especially in remote and arid regions where the use of conventional
energy is unavailable. Renewable energy driven desalination sys-
tems have been extensively discussed as an innovative approach
todesalinatewater economicallyandinanenvironmentallyfriendly
manner. In this respect, these systems can help in improving the liv-
ing conditions of rural population, contribute to access to the basic
social services (education, health, drinking water, agriculture), ac-
cess to incomes, natural and material resources and employment,
housing, communities life, and social infrastructures. Furthermore,
it can assist the protection of the environment, reduce the green-
house gas emissions and preserve the water resources.
3. System description
The system consists of the following subsystems: the PV mod-
ule, the wind turbine, the MVC desalination plant and the energy
storage system. Among these subsystems and from/to the external
electrical network, the power can be exchanged as shown in Fig. 1.
The power produced by the wind turbine and the PV module can
be directly used to feed the needs of the MVC plant. The power sur-
plus from the wind turbine and the PV module can be sent to the
energy storage system or/and sent to the external network. The en-
ergy storage system can also send power to the MVC plant. In addi-
tion, the network connection offers the possibility to purchase
power in case of failure of the storage system.
3.1. The wind turbine subsystem model
The wind turbines power curve represents its power output as
a function of the wind speed. The wind system can be described by
four characteristic parameters:
- the cut-in wind speed v
c
,
- the rated wind speed v
r
,
- the rated power P
r
,
- the cut-out wind speed v
f
.
The following model has been used to estimate the output
power of the wind turbine [28]:
P
t
wt

0 v
t
< v
c
or v
t
> v
f
P
r
av
t
3
b v
c
6 v
t
6 v
r
P
r
v
r
6 v
t
6 v
f
_

_
t 0; . . . ; T 1
with
b
vc
vr

3
_
1
vc
vr
_ _
3
_ _
a 1 b=v
3
r
_
_
_
where v
t
(m/s) is the forecasted wind speed in time interval [t, t + 1).
It is assumed that the wind speed can be predicted by some reliable
meteorological models.
In general, the wind speed measurements are given at a height
different than the hub height of the wind turbine. So, the following
equation is used to evaluate the wind speed at the desired height
[29]:
v
t
v
t
data
lnH
hub
=z
0

lnH
data
=z
0

t 0; . . . ; T 2
4044 D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054
where H
data
(m) is the height of the measurement, H
hub
(m) is the
hub height, z
0
is the surface roughness length and v
t
data
is the wind
speed at the height of the measurements.
3.2. The PV module subsystem model
Hybrid energy systems are often taken into account as a viable
approach to face the RES intermittent character. The use of different
RES (such as wind and solar) can enhance the effectiveness of the
system and can overcome problems related to energy demands.
The power generated from a PV module can be calculated using
the following formula:
p
t
pv
A
pv
g
PV
p
f
g
pc
G
t
t 0; . . . ; T 3
where A
pv
(m
2
) is the solar cell array area, g
PV
() is the module ref-
erence efciency, p
f
() is the packing factor, g
pc
() is the power
conditioning efciency and G
t
(kW/m
2
) is the forecasted hourly irra-
diance, that is predicted by some reliable meteorological model.
3.3. The MVC subsystem model
The MVC system contains ve major elements, which include
mechanical vapor compressor, evaporator/condenser heat exchan-
ger, pre-heaters for the intake seawater, brine and product pumps,
and a venting system [13].
In this paper, the MVC desalination system is fed by the energy
produced by the wind power plant and the PV module. This energy
activates the compressor, pumps, start-up heating and control
components. It is recognized that the most energy consumed in
the MVC side is due to the compressor work. The rest of the re-
quired energy is assumed to be a fraction of the compressor work.
The specic power consumption E
t
comp
(kW h/m
3
) in time period
[t, t + 1) is expressed in terms of the enthalpy difference of the
compressed superheated vapor and the inlet vapor as follows [11]:
E
t
comp
H
t
s
H
t
v
1000=3600 t 0; . . . ; T 4
where
H
t
s
H
t
d
Cp
v
T
is
T
d
H
t
v

P
d
=P
v
c 1=cg
comp
1
P
d
=P
v
c 1=c 1
_ _
H
t
v
t 0; . . . ; T 5
where H
t
s
(kJ/kg) is the enthalpy of compressed superheated vapor,
H
t
d
(kJ/kg) is the enthalpy of the compressed vapor, H
t
v
(kJ/kg) is the
inlet vapor enthalpy, Cp
v
(kJ/kg C) is the specic heat of saturated
vapor above demister at constant pressure, T
is
(C) is the isentropic
superheated temperature of compressed vapor, T
d
(C) is the tem-
perature of compressed vapor, P
d
(kPa) is the outlet saturation pres-
sure, P
v
(kPa) is the inlet saturation pressure, c is the
compressibility factor and g
comp
is the efciency of the vapor
compressor.
The amount of fresh water Q
t
water
(m
3
) produced by the MVC
unit in time period [t, t + 1) is expressed as follows:
Q
t
water

E
t
MVC
1 nE
t
comp
t 0; . . . ; T 6
where n () is the fraction of the compressor work that is assigned
to the other components and E
t
MVC
(kW h) is the energy sent to the
MVC plant in time interval [t, t + 1).
4. Optimization problem
The decision variables of the optimization problem are ex-
pressed in (kW h) and in time interval [t, t + 1) are:
E
t
wt;MVC
; E
t
wt;st
and E
t
wt;Net
are the energy components given respec-
tively by the wind turbine to ensure the energy required by the
MVC plant, the energy sent to the storage system and the energy
sold to the electrical network.
E
t
pv;MVC
; E
t
pv;st
and E
t
pv;Net
are the energy components given respec-
tively by the PV module to ensure the energy required by the MVC
plant, the energy sent to the storage system and the energy sold to
the electrical network.
E
t
Net;MVC
and E
t
st;MVC
are the parts of energy given respectively by
the electrical network and the storage system to ensure the energy
required by MVC plant.
4.1. Objective function
The objective (to be minimized) is characterized by the sum of
different terms that are properly weighted in one function: the
quadratic deviation from the domestic water demand Q
t
demand
(m
3
), the energy that is taken from the net and the energy in the
storage system (that should be maximized during the optimization
horizon and at the end of the optimization horizon), that is,
z

T1
t0
Q
t
water
Q
t
demand

2
a

T1
t0
E
t
Net;MVC
b

T1
t0
E
t
st
dE
T
st
t 0; . . . ; T 1 7
where a, b and d are weight factors.
4.2. Constraints
4.2.1. Flow conservation
The energy produced (kW h) by the wind turbine in time inter-
val [t, t + 1) is expressed as:
E
t
wt
P
t
wt
Dt t 0; . . . ; T 8
The energy produced [kW h] by the PV module in time interval
[t, t + 1) is expressed as follows:
E
t
pv
P
t
st
Dt t 0; . . . ; T 9
t
MVC st
E
,
t
wt
E
t
pv
E
t
Net wt
E
,
t
st wt
E
,
t
Net pv
E
,
t
st pv
E
,
t
MVC pv
E
,
t
MVC wt
E
,
t
MVC Net
E
,
MVC plant
PV module
Wind turbine
Storage system Network
Fig. 1. power ows among the subsystems.
D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054 4045
The energy produced in each time interval [t, t + 1) by the wind tur-
bine and the PV module can be directly used to generate a part of
the electrical needs of the MVC plant. The energy surplus from
the wind turbine and the PV module can be sent to the storage sys-
tem or/and sent to the network.
E
t
wt
E
t
wt;MVC
E
t
wt;st
E
t
wt;Net
t 0; . . . ; T 10
E
t
pv
E
t
pv;MVC
E
t
pv;st
E
t
pv;Net
t 0; . . . ; T 11
The energy E
t
MVC
sent to the MVC plant in time interval [t, t + 1) is
composed by four terms coming from the PV module, the wind tur-
bine, the storage system and the electrical network. It is expressed
as follows:
E
t
MVC
E
t
pv;MVC
E
t
wt;MVC
E
t
st;MVC
E
t
Net;MVC
t 0; . . . ; T 12
4.2.2. Storage system state equation
The state equation of the storage system is given by:
E
t1
st
E
t
st
E
t
wt;st
E
t
pv;st
E
t
st;MVC
t 0; . . . ; T 1 13
E
0
st
E
0
where E
t
st
(kW h) is the quantity of energy stored in time interval
[t, t + 1) and E
0
is the storage system level at the initial time.
4.2.3. Other constraints
The storage system is limited in upper and lower bands:
E
min
6 E
t
st
6 E
max
t 0; . . . ; T 14
Non-negativity constraints on the energy ows:
E
t
wt;MVC
; E
t
wt;st
; E
t
wt;Net
; E
t
pv;MVC
; E
t
pv;st
; E
t
wt;MVC
; E
t
pv;st
; E
t
wt;Net
; E
t
st;MVC
; E
t
Net;MVC
P0 t 0; . . . ; T
15
5. MVC desalination production cost model
In this section, it is assumed that the MVC plant is composed by
the main following components: a brine heat exchanger, a product
water heat exchanger, an evaporationcondensation plate heat ex-
changer, a compressor and other equipments. The plant production
cost C
water
( m
3
) constitutes a crucial economical criteria of the
desalination plant and its operation, it is given as follows [30,31]:
C
water

/ C
TC
365gQ
max;MVC
C
elc
C
chem
C
lab
16
where C
TC
() is the total capital cost, a () is the amortisation factor,
g () is the plant availability, C
max,MVC
(m
3
/day) is the capacity of the
MVC plant. C
elc
( m
3
) is the electrical energy cost, C
lab
( m
3
) is
the labor cost, C
chem
( m
3
) is the chemical cost.
The total capital cost is calculated by [30]:
C
TC
C
direct
C
indirect
17
It is assumed that :
C
indirect
0:15C
direct
18
The direct capital cost is given by [30]:
C
direct
C
comp
C
h;plates
C
other
19
where C
comp
() is the compressor cost, C
h,plates
() is the cost of heat
exchanger plates and C
other
() is the other direct costs.
The compressor cost constitutes the main fraction of the MVC
direct costs. According to estimation based on reviews of particular
costs made by [30], a linearly dependent compressor cost of the
compressor power is assumed [30]. It is calculated as a function
of the compressor power:
C
comp
667:86P
comp
55:556 20
The cost of the heat exchanger plates is given by [30]:
C
h;plates
S
1
S
2
uS
tot
c
plates
21
where C
plates
( m
2
) is the specic cost of the heat exchanger plate,
S
1
, S
2
are respectively the calculated heat transfer areas of the brine
heat exchanger and the product water heat exchanger, S
tot
(m
2
) is
the total heat transfer area and u is the aggregation factor of the
specic cost of the heat exchanger for his ion-implantation
treatment.
According to estimation based on reviews of particular costs
made by [30], the other direct costs are estimated using the follow-
ing formula [30]:
C
other
18; 181Q
0:1773
max;water
22
The electrical energy cost is given by:
C
elc
E
con;MVC
c
sp;elc
23
where E
con,MVC
(kW h m
3
) is the energy consumption of the MVC
plant and c
sp,elc
( kW h
1
) is the specic cost of the electrical
energy.
6. Results and discussion
The optimization model has been applied to three specic
Moroccan case studies: two of them are located in Rabat and one
in Essaouira. The main motivation behind selecting these specic
case studies lies in the evaluation of the efciency and the feasibil-
ity of such systems in two coastal sites having different character-
istics of renewable energy sources. For the rst case study, the
hourly wind speed and solar irradiance of the 13th April 2004 of
Rabat are given by the laboratory of solar energy, Faculty of Sci-
ences, University Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco. Whereas, for
the other two case studies, the data are obtained as follows: the
monthly average amount of the total solar radiation incident on
a horizontal surface at the surface of the earth for a given month,
averaged for that month over the 22-year period (July 1983June
2005), each monthly averaged value is evaluated as the numerical
average of 3-hourly values for the given month. However, for the
monthly average wind speed for a given month, averaged for that
month over the 10-year period (July 1983June 1993) where the
wind speed was evaluated at a height of 10 m above the surface
of the earth assuming the underlying terrain is similar to that typ-
ical of airports. The monthly wind speed and solar radiation of Ra-
bat and Essaouira sites are available at: http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov
(Surface meteorology and Solar Energy). The annual wind speed of
Rabat and Essaouira are respectively equal to 3.7 and 4.47 m/s at a
height of 10 m [32], further detailed descriptions of wind charac-
teristics of the whole Moroccan territory are available in [32,33].
It is assumed that the forecasted data from which the optimiza-
tion problemmust be solved are exactly equal to the historical data
recorded in the sites, and which consist of the hourly and monthly
wind speed, recorded at the height of 10 m, the hourly solar irradi-
ance and monthly solar radiation.
The optimization problem described in the previous sections
has been solved using the optimization tool Lingo (www.lindosys-
tems.org). The program has been performed throughout using the
real meteorological conditions described below as well as based on
an average water demand of one Moroccan household (in average
four persons).
In this paper, the wind turbine Endurance E-3120-50 kW, with
the following geometric and technical characteristics has been
4046 D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054
considered to assess the energy output of all case studies: v
c
= 3 (m/
s), v
r
= 11 (m/s), v
f
= 25 (m/s), Pr = 50 (kW), H
hub
= 42.7 (m), z
o
= 0.03
(m). For the PV module, the features that have been used consist in:
A
pv
= 60 (m
2
), g
pv
= 0.11, g
pc
= 0.86 and P
f
= 0.9. Regarding the MVC
desalination plant, the compressor work is assumed to be equal to
10 (kW h/m
3
) and the fraction of the compressor work n that will
be dedicated to the other components is equal to 0.2.
6.1. First case study: Rabat
The aim of the rst case study is the satisfaction of the hourly
water demand of 20 households in the Rabat city. This study is
based on the hourly wind speed and solar irradiance showed in
Fig. 2 as well as the hourly water consumption in a day of one
household of four persons described in Fig. 3.
Fig. 4 shows the hourly energy produced by the wind turbine
and the PV module. In fact, it can be depicted from this gure that
the energy produced by the wind turbine is ranged between a min-
imum of 0.4 kW h at 8:00 h and a maximum of 14 kW h at 15:00 h.
For the case of the solar module, the energy production reaches a
maximum of 5.3 kW h at 12:00 h.
Fig. 5 shows the PV energy ows obtained by solving the opti-
mization problem. Most part of the PV energy is sent to the MVC
desalination plant (approximately 84%), another part is sent to
the storage system which is equal to 13.5%, while a small part is
sent to the network (less than 3%). As regard, the wind turbine,
its energy ows are managed as illustrated in Fig. 6: about70% of
the whole energy production is sent to MVC plant and 30% is
stored.
Fig. 7 shows the energy management of the MVC plant, the
hourly periods have been dened throughout the day: period A
(6 < t < 12), period B (12 < t < 17), and period C (17 < t < 23). During
period A and C, the production of energy from the wind turbine
and the PV modules are not sufcient to cover the energy needs
of MVC plant. Consequently, the system purchases the energy
mainly from the electrical network during the period A, thus be-
cause it is assumed that the storage system is empty at initial time.
While in period C, the MVC system obtains its energy needs from
the storage system. During the period B, both, the wind turbine
and the PV module satisfy completely the energy requirements
by MVC, while the exceeding energy is sent to the storage system.
The storage system level in interval time [t, t + 1) is reported in
Fig. 8.
In the results, the water needs of the 20 households are always
satised in each time interval producing an overall quantity of
10,000 l.
Rabat
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hours
W
i
n
d

s
p
e
e
d

(
m
/
s
)
S
o
l
a
r

i
r
r
a
d
i
a
n
c
e

(
W
/
m

)
Wind speed
Solar irradiance
0
2
4
6
8
10
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Fig. 2. Hourly wind speed and solar irradiance data of 13 April 2004 of Rabat.
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hours
W
a
t
e
r

d
e
m
a
n
d

(
l
)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Fig. 3. Hourly water consumption in a day of a household in Morocco.
D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054 4047
6.2. Second case study: Rabat
The aim of the second case study is the satisfaction of the
monthly water demand of 20 households in the Rabat city. The
monthly wind speed and solar radiation used are showed in Fig. 9.
Fig. 10 displays the energy output of the wind turbine and the
PV module, thus, using the monthly wind speed and solar radiation
of the Rabat city recorded from [http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov]. The
same technical characteristics of the plants described before have
been used. It can be observed that April is the month at which a
Rabat
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hours
E
n
e
r
g
y

p
r
o
d
u
c
e
d

(
k
W
h
)
Wind turbine
PV module
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Fig. 4. Hourly energy production.
Rabat
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Hours
P
V

e
n
e
r
g
y

(
k
W
h
)
Energy sent to the MVC plant
Energy sent to the storage system
Energy sent to the network
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Fig. 5. Hourly PV module energy ows.
Rabat
W
i
n
d

e
n
e
r
g
y

(
k
W
h
)
Energy sent to MVC plant
Energy sent to the storage system
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Hours
0
2
4
6
8
10
Fig. 6. Hourly wind turbine energy ows.
4048 D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054
maximum energy is reached from wind turbine, by contrast to the
solar radiation, where June is the month that has the higher value
of energy production.
In the optimization problem the temporal step [t, t + 1) is set to
one month. Fig. 11 shows different ows that are sent to the MVC
plant, these ows were provided by wind turbine, PV module and
Rabat
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Hours
E
n
e
r
g
y

(
k
W
h
)
Energy sent from storage system to MVC plant
Energy sent from the net to the MVC plant
0
2
4
6
8
10
Fig. 7. Energy management of the MVC plant.
Rabat
S
t
o
r
a
g
e

s
y
s
t
e
m

l
e
v
e
l

(
k
W
h
)
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Hours
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Fig. 8. Hourly storage system level.
Rabat
0
2
4
6
8
10
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
W
i
n
d

s
p
e
e
d

(
m
/
s
)
0
2
4
6
8
10
S
o
l
a
r

r
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n

(
k
W
h
/
m
2
/
d
a
y
)
wind speed
solar radiation
Fig. 9. Monthly wind speed and solar radiation of Rabat.
D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054 4049
the storage system. It appears that wind turbine constitutes the
main source of energy used by the MVC desalination plant, fol-
lowed by the PV module. While, the contribution of the storage
system comes out when low renewable energy production, specif-
ically wind energy. Whatever the energy required by the MVC
plant, it is ensured by the overall hybrid system without any inter-
vention of the electrical network which allows to avoid a large
amount of GHG emissions, this mainly due to the presence of the
storage system.
In order to give more details on the optimal control of the ows
exchanged among the different components of the hybrid system
and the storage device, Fig. 12 shows the inlet/outlet energy ows
with the storage device, it can be seen that the storage system sup-
plies the energy needs of the MVC plant in energy shortage periods
and limits the power exchange with the electrical network which
improves the sustainability of the proposed green hybrid energy
system. Fig. 13 highlights the storage system level in time interval
[t, t + 1). The water demand of the 20 households is completely sat-
ised by the MVC desalination plant in each time interval.
6.3. Third case study: Essaouira
This case study aims to assure the water needs of 40 households
at Essaouira city (Morocco). The monthly wind speed and solar
radiation used are shown in Fig. 14.
Fig. 15 shows the energy produced either by the wind turbine
and the PV module always with the same technical characteristics
of the plants. It can be observed that the wind and solar energy
produced reaches respectively their maximum in April with a va-
lue of 9000 kW h and June with 1166 kW h. Fig. 16 highlights the
different energy fractions (wind turbine, PV module, storage sys-
tem and electrical network) that are sent to the MVC desalination
plant, it can be observed that the main energy part is provided di-
rectly by the wind turbine, whereas the rest is guaranteed com-
pletely by the PV module with a low contribution of the storage
system between September and December. As a consequence the
energy used to produce clean water is entirely green and renew-
able energy (without any interaction with the electrical network).
Fig. 17 displays the overall energy parts exchanged between the
storage system and the other plants. It shows that the mainly en-
ergy stored between February and September is provided by the
wind turbine, while a small part is offered by the PV module, this
is due to the high wind speed in this period. However, the storage
system provides energy to the MVC desalination plant in order to
cover the lack of energy needed between September and Decem-
ber; due to the low energy production from the two plants espe-
cially the wind turbine (Fig. 15).
Fig. 18 underlines the storage system level in time interval
[t, t + 1), it can be seen that, between January and February, the
system stores the excess of energy provided by both the wind
Rabat
E
n
e
r
g
y

p
r
o
d
u
c
e
d

(
k
W
h
)
Wind turbine
PV module
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 10. Monthly wind turbine and PV module production of Rabat.
Rabat
Wind turbine
PV module
storage system
Overall energy sent to the MVC plant
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
5500
E
n
e
r
g
y

s
e
n
t

t
o

t
h
e

M
V
C

p
l
a
n
t

(
k
W
h
)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 11. Monthly energy sent to the MVC plant (Rabat).
4050 D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054
turbine and the PV module, whereas, between September and
December, the storage system is responsible to full the energy
shortage. Also, in this case the water demand is guaranteed and
available to the consumers.
It can be concluded from the case studies that the proposed
system has been controlled in different ways, thus, for diverse
geographical locations and time periods, and it shows different
congurations of the energy ows exchanged among the
Rabat
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
E
n
e
r
g
y

(
k
W
h
)
Energy sent from wind turbine to storage system
Energy sent from PV module to storage system
Energy sent from the storage system to MVC plant
-1000
-800
-600
-400
-200
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Fig. 12. Monthly energy exchanged with other system component (Rabat).
Rabat
S
t
o
r
a
g
e

s
y
s
t
e
m

l
e
v
e
l

(
k
W
h
)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
Fig. 13. Storage system level (Rabat).
Essaouira
wind speed
solar radiation
0
2
4
6
8
10
W
i
n
d

s
p
e
e
d

(
m
/
s
)
0
2
4
6
8
10
S
o
l
a
r

r
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n

(
k
W
h
/
m
2
/
d
a
y
)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 14. Monthly wind speed and solar radiation of Essaouira.
D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054 4051
subsystems, but the demands were guaranteed and available to the
consumers in all cases.
As notated in the previous sections, the hybrid system is
connected to the electrical network, so, part of energy demand is
satised by the grid which is supposed to be a non-renewable en-
ergy system. Thus, a large amount of GHG can be avoided by cou-
pling the storage system to the hybrid energy system. The results
obtained show that the storage system supplies a signicant part
Essaouira
W
i
n
d

e
n
e
r
g
y

p
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n

(
k
W
h
)
S
o
l
a
r

e
n
e
r
g
y

p
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n

(
k
W
h
)
Wind turbine
PV module
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2200
2400
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 15. Monthly wind turbine and PV module production of Essaouira.
Essaouira
E
n
e
r
g
y

s
e
n
t

t
o

M
V
C

p
l
a
n
t

(
k
W
h
)
Wind turbine
PV module
Storage system
Overall energy sent to MVC plant
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 16. Monthly energy sent to the MVC desalination plant (Essaouira).
Essaouira
E
n
e
r
g
y

(
k
W
h
)
Energy sent from wind turbine to storage system
Energy sent from PV module to storage system
Energy sent from storage system to MVC plant
-1500
-1000
-500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 17. Monthly energy exchanged between the storage system and the others plants (Essaouira).
4052 D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054
of energy needs of the MVC plant in cases of decit in energy and
limits the power exchange with the electrical network. So, the
environmental impacts could be reduced signicantly by imple-
menting the storage system, which, in fact, enhances the reliability
and sustainability of the proposed green hybrid system.
6.4. Evaluation of the MVC water production costs
An important aspect that can affect the sustainability of the con-
trol model described above is to evaluate which are the resulting
costs of the water. A simplied approach to performthis evaluation
is to followthe methods described in [28,29]. The following param-
eters have been used in the evaluation process: C
lab
= 0.1 ( m
3
),
C
chem
= 0.02 ( m
3
), c
plates
= 150 ( m
2
), c
sp,elc
= 0.06 ( kW h
1
),
E
con,MVC
= 12 (kW h m
3
), P
comp
= 1000 (W), g = 0.95, a = 0.05783,
S
1
= S
2
= 2 (m
2
), S
tot
= 20 (m
2
). Fig. 19 shows the inuence of the
MVC plant capacity on the water production cost. It can be seen that
the production cost is reduced accordingly with the increased value
of the MVC capacity. The trend of the cost function includes three
MVC capacity classes: a high variation of the cost with a value ran-
ged between 7.74 and 2.24 m
3
for a capacity variation between
20 and 100 m
3
/d; a medium variation of the cost with a value ran-
ged between 2.1 and 1.1 m
3
for capacity variation between 120
and 500 m
3
/d; and a constant cost variation approximately equals
to 0.98 m
3
for a capacities up to 500 m
3
/d. It is not the aimof this
paper to assess any economic evaluation of the proposed approach,
but it is worthwhile to add that the current average cost of water in
Morocco (source Lydec, http://www.lydec.ma/) is about 0.7 m
3
,
which is a cost comparable to the one proposed in the last two
MVC capacity classes dened before.
7. Conclusion
An optimization model in term of state and control variables
integrating a wind/PV hybrid system with storage device driven
MVC desalination plant has been presented. On the basis of this
model, an optimization problem is formulated to ensure a variable
hourly and monthly domestic water demand. These two different
optimization temporal intervals can be taken into account as a
demonstration of the sustainability of the MVC desalination plant
both at a planning level and in real time as a green plant, at a cost
which for MVC plants with a capacity higher than 120 m
3
/day is
comparable to traditional costs of domestic water. In authors opin-
ion, the proposed approach complemented with additional case
studies, reliable meteorological predictions, economic consider-
ations and evaluations of CO
2
savings, can represent an important
step forward to the evaluation of the sustainability of a desalina-
tion system. Future work will be devoted to include the electrical
and thermal demand to the current water demand and to study
an optimal control strategy more adequate to real time control.
Essaouira
s
t
o
r
a
g
e

s
y
s
t
e
m

l
e
v
e
l

(
k
W
h
)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 18. Storage system level (Essaouira).
P
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n

c
o
s
t

[
.
m
-
3
]
Capacity of the MVC plant [m
3
/d]
Fig. 19. The water production cost vs the MVC plant capacity.
D. Zejli et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 40424054 4053
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