Investigation of hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) for covering energy and water needs on the Island of Karpathos in Aegean Sea.

The exploitation of RES and their combination with desalination may be the solution to water scarcity and volatility of the electricity grids in remote offshore areas around the world. This research work investigates an HRES of a 12 MW wind park, a 1.8 MW photovoltaic park and a 1000 m3/d desalination plant in Karpathos, Greece. Concerning the wind and solar power, 30% and 20% respectively is integrated to the grid and the remaining is obtainable for desalination and water pumping, which is used as energy storage. The surplus energy returns to the grid, reducing the deficit. The project's lifespan is 40 years, rendering the stochastic time series necessary and the paper culminates in the economic sustainability investigation of this HRES. Several results can be obtained, as follows: i) the HRES′ reliability is high, since the system is able to cover the entire drinking water needs of the island, 89.75% of irrigation and 50.63% of energy needs. ii) The wind and solar potential of Karpathos has a decisive role, possessing the 3.02% of the total produced energy. iii) The IRR of various selling prices of desalinated water and energy ranges from 10% to 17%, rendering the investment viable and even profitable. • The HRES meets the island's entire drinking water needs, 90% irrigation and 51% of its energy needs. • The PSH produces 36% of the energy, increasing the HRES′ efficiency by exploiting the energy excess. • The ARMA (1,1) stochastic model is implied to include the uncertainty of rainfall and temperature. • The Negra et al. method is implied to simulate the variability of wind speed, for the project's lifespan. • The cost-benefit analysis shows that the HRES is viable economically, with IRR ranging from 10 to 17%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]