Supplying desalination plants from renewable resources is a promising solution to overcome water scarcity.
Currently, these alternative sources of energy have attracted more attention due to the intensified energy crisis.
Since having relatively higher costs, defining an optimal investment plan ensures the cost-effectiveness of the
whole system. In previous studies, the desalination unit’s size was often considered constant, and power supply
components were optimized by minimizing Net Present Cost. An optimized system based on this cost term does
not reflect the actual cost of produced water. This paper presents a new configuration and linear formulation for
optimal renewable energy-powered water desalination planning. In the proposed model, the size of both the
desalination unit and the supply system components are variable and optimized simultaneously by minimizing
the Levelized Cost of Water. The water and energy storage are also considered and optimized while emitted
carbon by the system is controlled. Besides, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is performed by changing
system configuration, renewable potential, yearly emission cap, desalination unit parameters, and supply system
per unit costs. Besides constituting a reliable optimization framework, the study results detect the most influential
factors and reveal a future roadmap to further water cost analysis and reduction.