Energy Conversion and Management 224 (2020) 113377 Available online 8 September 2020 0196-8904/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Optimal sizing and techno-enviro-economic feasibility assessment of large-scale reverse osmosis desalination powered with hybrid renewable energy sources Khaled Elmaadawy a, b , Kotb M. Kotb c, g , M.R. Elkadeem c, d , Swellam W. Sharshir e, f , Andr´ as D´ an g , Ahmed Moawad b , Bingchuan Liu a, * a School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, Hubei 430074, PR China b Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt c Electrical Power and Machines Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta 31521, Egypt d School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China e Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh 33516, Egypt f School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China g Department of Electric Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest 1111, Hungary A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Desalination Reverse osmosis Renewable energy Techno-enviro-economic optimization, HOMER Pro ABSTRACT Seawater desalination is a viable source of potable water, particularly for the coastal and remote areas. However, their sustainability is limited by the intensive energy demand of the present methods. Renewable energy is an inexhaustible source of energy, accompanied by cost reduction benefts and clean power generations. Seawater desalination powered with renewable energy sources is being attractive, mainly if the utility-grid is absent. This paper aims to design a renewable energy system, to meet the electrical load demand of large-scale reverse osmosis desalination plant (1500 m 3 /d), and to fnd the optimal sizing and techno-economic and environmental feasibility assessment of several off-grid power systems. Two off-grid scenarios with different combinations of hybrid power systems were proposed and compared with the base-case of diesel. The frst scenario consists of a photovoltaic, wind turbine, diesel, and generator, while the second scenario is equipped with battery storage devices. A total of eleven hybrid renewable energy systems were modelled, analyzed, and compared with the aid of HOMER Pro software to identify the best performance and the optimal plan confguration. The optimization results show that the proposed photovoltaic/wind/diesel/battery/convertor system outperformed the other al- ternatives and exhibited reduction potential of 60.7%, 73.7%, 62% and 81.5% lower than the existing diesel with regards to the net present cost, renewable fraction, cost of energy, and carbon dioxide emission, respectively. The optimum case consists of 451 kW solar panels, 25 wind turbines, 250 kW diesel power, battery storage of 352 string, and 358 kW system converter. The results obtained by the optimal plan with low cost and environmental protection aspects would provide a new sight for real feld applications of large scales reverse osmosis applications. 1. Introduction Since the industrial revolution at the end of the 20th century and population rise, freshwater and fossil fuel reserves are diminished, and clean water bodies are contaminated, in addition to the global warming and environmental pollution. The majority of water bodies are saline water [1], which represents more than 97% of the water reservoir on the planet [2]. Millions of peoples are living alongside the coastal and in remote areas, relying on saline water sources for drinking and agricul- ture reuse applications [3]. It was estimated that half of the world population would be experienced in the lack of potable water by 2030 [4], and two million people will be lost every year [5]. Therefore, sci- entist’s attention has been brought to desalinate the brackish and saline seawater and promote a sustainable source of potable water. Over the past decades, different kinds of desalination systems have * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Bingchuan@hust.edu.cn (B. Liu). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy Conversion and Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2020.113377 Received 21 June 2020; Received in revised form 24 August 2020; Accepted 25 August 2020