People in the Middle East are facing the problem of freshwater shortages. This problem is more intense for a remote region, which has no access to the power grid. The use of seawater desalination technology integrated with the generated energy unit by renewable energy sources could help overcome this problem. In this study, we refer a seawater reverse osmosis desalination (SWROD) plant with a capacity of 1.5 m 3 /h used on Larak Island, Iran. Moreover, for producing fresh water and meet the load demand of the SWROD plant, three different stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems (SAHRES), namely wind turbine (WT)/photovoltaic (PV)/battery bank storage (BBS), PV/BBS, and WT/BBS are modeled and investigated. The optimization problem was coded in MATLAB software. Furthermore, the optimized results were obtained by the division algorithm (DA). The DA has been developed to solve the sizing problem of three SAHRES configurations by considering the object function's constraints. These results show that this improved algorithm has been simpler, more precise, faster, and more flexible than a genetic algorithm (GA) in solving problems. Moreover, the minimum total life cycle cost (TLCC = 243 763$), with minimum loss of power supply probability (LPSP = 0%) and maximum reliability, was related to the WT/PV/BBS configuration. WT/PV/BBS is also the best configuration to use less battery as a backup unit (69 units). The batteries in this configuration have a longer life cycle (maximum average of annual battery charge level) than two other configurations (93.86%). Moreover, the optimized results have shown that utilizing the configuration of WT/PV/BBS could lead to attaining a cost-effective and green (without environmental pollution) SAHRES, with high reliability for remote areas, with appropriate potential of wind and solar irradiance.
Using renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels is one of the best solutions to overcome greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, in designing clean power generation microgrids, the economic aspects of using renewable energy technologies should be considered. Furthermore, due to the unpredictable nature of renewable energy sources, the reliability of renewable energy microgrids should also be evaluated. Optimized hybrid microgrids based on wind and solar energy can provide cost-effective power generation systems with high reliability. These microgrids can meet the power demands of the consuming units, especially in remote areas. Various techniques have been used to optimize the size of power generation systems based on renewable energy to improve efficiency, maintain reliability, improve the power grid’s resilience, and reduce system costs. Each of these techniques has shown its advantages and disadvantages in optimizing the size of hybrid renewable energy systems. To increase the share of renewable energies in electricity supply in the future and develop these new technologies further, this paper reviews the latest and most efficient techniques used to optimize green microgrids from an economical and reliable perspective to achieve a clean, economical, and highly reliable microgrid.
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