Towards Optimal Decision Guidance for Smart Grids with Integrated Renewable Generation and Water Desalination

Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are becoming increasingly prevalent for the energy mix of almost every country. However, this kind of energy is non-dispatch able, i.e., The supply can be interrupted and is usually not adjustable as in regular fossil-fueled power plants. The integration of these renewable energy sources in the Smart Grid (SG) has a large impact on the grid operations because of the variability and uncertainty of the supply. In addition to the increased criticality of the grid intermittence management, the SG must be able to manage this type of interruption of these energy sources effectively. Energy storage solutions such as batteries are not well developed yet and do not provide long term cost effective solutions. This paper provides a mathematical modeling approach to compensate for the intermittence of the supply from renewable energy sources for the SG. The idea is suitable in case of the integration of power generation with desalination production. The desalination plants can be used as a deferrable load to mitigate for the supply interruption. The optimal solution is based on a mathematical programming model to find the optimal scheduling of production and storage of desalinated water over the planning horizon such that the solution is not just feasible but also economically optimal. The real-world case study explains the advantages gained when applying the proposed approach.