(456f) Integration of Flexibility and Resilience in the Design of Co-Located Water and Power Systems

As the world population continues to grow, the increasing demand for reliable freshwater poses a critical challenge especially in regions where resource availability is low [1]. Desalination methods have emerged as one solution to meet water demand; however, these methods are energy-intensive and therefore are often integrated into existing power plants to reduce energy consumption costs [2]. Co-locating water and electricity production may also expose the system to additional vulnerabilities, threatening the steady production of both critical commodities. For example, failures on the power plant may also trigger shutdowns on the desalination plant. Therefore, retrofitting existing co-located systems to enhance their resilience against potential disruptions is crucial to ensure continued steady production of electricity and water in the face of risk factors [4].

In this work, we present an approach to integrate system flexibility and resilience into process design to ensure business continuity in a cost-effective manner. The proposed framework builds upon establishing the relationship between flexibility and resilience performance against disruption scenarios. Specifically, 1) explicit functions of cost and design variables with respect to the flexibility index were generated to find design alternatives using a parametric optimization formulation, 2) a set of critical disruption scenarios for resilience assessment was built through quantitative risk analysis, and 3) design alternatives that meet a specific flexibility requirement were evaluated against the set of disruption scenarios to assess their expected resilience performance. This proposed methodology offers insights into the flexibility attainable by different designs at various investment costs, as well as the contribution of flexibility to resilience under potential disruption scenarios. For illustrative purposes, a case study is presented on a co-located water desalination and power plant system under the risk of internal failures as well as fluctuating market dynamics.

References

1. Le Quesne, W. J. F., et al. "Is the development of desalination compatible with sustainable development of the Arabian Gulf?" Marine Pollution Bulletin173 (2021): 112940.
2. Caldera, U., et al. "Role of seawater desalination in the management of an integrated water and 100% renewable energy based power sector in Saudi Arabia." Water1 (2017): 3.
3. Hosseini, S. R., et al. "Thermoeconomic analysis with reliability consideration of a combined power and multi stage flash desalination plant." Desalination1-3 (2011): 424-433.
4. Chrisandina, N. J., et al. “Integration of Risk, Flexibility, and Resilience in the Optimization of Water-Energy Nexus.” Manuscript under review (2024).