Preliminary design of a hydraulic wind turbine drive train for integrated electricity production and seawater desalination

Abstract

The integration of wind energy to desalinate seawater can address the freshwater scarcity issue and alleviate the environmental impact of desalination. This paper presents the use of the Delft Offshore Turbine, an unconventional wind turbine with hydraulic transmission which can be used to directly drive a seawater reverse osmosis desalination process and to produce electricity with a Pelton turbine. A steady-state model is used to identify the potential regions at which it is possible to operate the system and to propose a system settings for maximising water production. The results show that the proposed system provides up to 300 kW of electricity and can desalinate up to 25 m3/h, at rated operating conditions.