Title: Integrated Pumped Hydro Reverse Osmosis System Design and Optimization
Abstract: The head of seawater in the upper reservoir of a pumped storage hydropower (PSH) system can drive reverse osmosis (RO) desalination, presenting the opportunity for the co-location of these two systems as an Integrated Pumped Hydro Reverse Osmosis System (IPHROS) for concurrently addressing freshwater and grid-scale energy storage needs. Since IPHROS has yet to be actualized, I present a framework and amultidisciplinary design optimization problem formulation for siting, designing, and operating an IPHROS installation. This includes the creation of new metrics including an A+ Index that weighs elevation, distance from the coast, and regional water stress, and a levelized cost of IPRHOS (LCOI) metric for evaluating the costs and products of IPHROS simultaneously. Geographic and renewable energy potential considerations are also made. For the identified reservoir location, using Andalusia, Spain as a case study, initial optimization efforts are then presented.