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The use of a fully renewable energy system (RES) to power mid-and low-scale off-grid systems is an attractive alternative solution to replace fossil fuel technologies in order to meet the ever-growing demand and tackle environmental problems. In this study, the design optimization of a hybrid solar biogas, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC-Toluene) and Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) for desalination and electric power generation is presented. Three objective functions namely, maximizing power and water production, and minimizing the unit exergy product costs has been formulated. The turbine efficiency, top ORC vapor temperature and ORC condenser temperature has been selected as the decision variables. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) has been employed to solve the optimization problem and produce a Pareto frontier of the optimal solutions. Further, the TOPSIS approach has been used to select the optimal solution from the Pareto set. The study constitutes the first attempt to holistically optimize such a hybrid off-grid cogeneration system in a robust manner. It is found that the proposed system is capable of generating 1960 kW of electricity and 8 𝑘𝑔 𝑚 2 ℎ ⁄ freshwater with 11 $/GJ unit exergy product costs.

The main objective of the current work is to assess the hybridization of a solar power tower's with wind turbines and the potential of this integration to compensate the energy losses caused by aerosols attenuation of the reflected irradiance of the solar field. The combined solar power tower and wind turbines configurations are assessed over the range of 60-100 MW. A maximum reduction of 6.8 % in the annual energy generation is found in the standalone solar power tower when the aerosols are adopted. The integration of wind turbines has a limited effect in the compensation of the energy loss due to the aerosols effect on the solar field, however, it has a major role in the decrease of the LCOE.