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Seawater desalination is useful for supplementing the freshwater supply to coastal industrial parks. However, high cost and energy consumption is a serious disadvantage of typical desalination plants. Subsidy from government can incentivize investments to increase supply of desalinated water. However, the subsidy must be calibrated to minimize cost to the public. A graphical pinch analysis method is developed to determine the optimal subsidy for water desalination, taking into account local water price as well as supply and demand. This method uses the Limiting Composite Curve (LCC) as basis for the optimal subsidy; the minimum quantity of desalinated water is also determined. Next, the minimum subsidy is determined by relaxing the subsidized price of desalinated water. The proposed method is demonstrated through an illustrative industrial park case study. Results show that the optimal subsidy for desalinated water is $0.35/t. Sensitivity analysis shows that, when subsidy increases, demand for desalinated water increases and displaces the demand for other water resources. Furthermore, analysis of the Water-Energy Nexus is conducted to find the minimum energy consumption per unit of water at the optimal subsidy level. The proposed method can provide options for the industrial park to achieve the economic development, while minimizing the environmental impact of water supply mix. Image 1 • A graphical method is developed to optimize the subsidy of desalinated water. • The method is applied to a case study on Qingdao. • The water-energy nexus aspects of the problem are also discussed. • Sensitivity analysis with respect to subsidy level is performed. • Practical implications for water resource management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been significant changes and dynamic growth in power grids since the inception of the smart grid. To ensure a self-sustainable grid, the power grid should facilitate the real-time sharing of the dynamic attributes of the power grid between the spatially distributed power grid elements. This demands a flawless design of the overlay communication network for a smart grid. However, instrumenting the entire grid with intelligent communication devices would be prohibitively expensive. A cost-optimal model is necessary to select the actual cardinality of intelligent communication devices required for the data transmission by ensuring its Quality of Service (QoS) metrics. This research work presents a smart distribution grid architecture with a network of microgrids and details the need for hybrid communication for intra-microgrid communication. A cost-optimal model is proposed to offer an optimal combination of technologies for intelligent devices in the hybrid communication overlay network. The formulation considers QoS metrics such as data packet latency, bandwidth requirement, link reliability, packet drops, and communication range of the technology to derive a cost-optimal solution. Based on this model, a Recursive Algorithm for Cost Optimal Combination of Communication Technology (RACOCCT) for a power grid topology is presented in this work. The simulation study performed on selected power grid topology based on the Standard IEEE 33 bus network reveals the cost-optimal combination of hybrid wireless communication technologies for the varying probability of link unreliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]