The impact of storage facility capacity and ramping capabilities on the supply side economic dispatch of the energy water nexus

Clean energy and water are two essential resources that any society must securely deliver in order to develop sustainably. Recently, the energy and water infrastructure value chains have gained attention as a single interlinked system of global concern called the energy water nexus. In light of these couplings, energy and water, as two valuable resources require co-optimization. Recently, one such simultaneous co-optimization method has been contributed for the economic dispatch of networks that include water, power and co-production facilities. This paper builds upon this foundation with the introduction of plant ramping behavior. Furthermore, it investigates the impact of electrical energy and water storage as a technology that can help to alleviate binding constraints and lead to more flat production and reduced cost levels. Three cases studies are presented; a base case, a second case inspired by Singapore's limited water storage availability, and a third case relevant to countries in the Middle East where water storage facilities can be readily constructed. Storage facilities are shown to reduce total operating costs by up to 38% and lead to less variable daily production suggesting that they have an important role to play in the optimization of the energy water nexus. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.