Day-Ahead Scheduling of a Hybrid Wind-Battery-RO Desalination Plant with Detailed Modeling of Energy Recovery Devices

Seawater desalination, being a highly energy-intensive process, has long been challenged by its high operational costs. In recent years, reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants powered by renewable energy sources such as wind power have been increasingly developed. However, in most studies on the optimal scheduling of such plants, the role of energy recovery devices (ERD) is often neglected or oversimplified using fixed efficiency assumptions. As a result, these models fail to accurately represent the actual operational behavior of ERDs and their impact on system energy consumption. To address this gap, this paper proposes a day-ahead optimal scheduling model for a wind-battery-RO desalination plant that incorporates a detailed model of the ERD. Case study results demonstrate that the proposed model allows for a more accurate assessment of energy recovery benefits and provides useful insights for achieving energy-efficient and cost-effective operation of renewable-energy-powered desalination systems.