Optimum sizing of a pv-battery solution for the green operation of Nisyros Island new desalination plant

Abstract Climate crisis affects strongly the islands, especially the small-scale ones perceived as the most vulnerable cases. Greece has many islands of various size, with more than two hundred of them being inhabited. To this end, a noteworthy number of remote Greek islands suffer from water stress. All these islands try to satisfy their needs using water transportation, drillings or by developing reverse osmosis desalination plants. The corresponding energy consumption is imported by the local power grid, which is primarily supported by expensive diesel-electric generators triggering also significant environmental impacts. In this context, the current work describes an optimum sizing methodology for a PV-battery based installation used to cover the energy requirements of the new (600m 3 /day) Nisyros desalination plant. The proposed system protects the desalination unit from unexpected disruptions, essentially eliminates the fossil fuels consumption and minimizes the life cycle operational cost and the corresponding environmental impacts, introducing a green clean water production solution. Finally, the PV-battery collaboration reduces drastically the electricity demand of the islands network especially during peak load demand (mainly summer) periods.