KAPSARC – Desalination as a Power Reliability Service

This paper focuses on the integration of desalination as a flexible load in energy systems with high renewable penetration.

It explores the economic coordination between energy and water sectors, presenting a game-theoretic framework that models power service providers setting time-varying prices and desalination plants optimizing their operations. The study finds that the reliability value of desalination flexibility increases with renewable energy penetration and offers a generalizable coordination method applicable to other flexible loads, resulting in a unique, predictable, and welfare-improving equilibrium compared to uncoordinated operation.