Integrated Optimization of Solar-Based Multi-Generation Systems for Cooling, Heating, Power, and Freshwater with Different Prime Movers

The proposed solar-assisted hybrid system integrates decentralized, energy-efficient technologies for multi-vector energy production, delivering key advantages such as improved efficiency, lower emissions, economic feasibility, sustainability, and enhanced reliability. This work investigates the optimal design of a solar–fossil-fuel-based configuration capable of generating cooling, heating, power, and freshwater (CCHPW). The system employs different prime movers for combined heat and power production, namely a gas engine (GE), gas turbine (GT), and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The overall plant consists of a prime mover, two types of chillers, an auxiliary boiler, a reverse osmosis desalination unit, parabolic trough solar collectors, a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer, and thermal and cooling energy storage systems. A genetic algorithm is utilized to minimize the total annual cost (TAC). Optimization results demonstrate that the exergy efficiency of the GE-based CCHPW system is about 40.31% and 92.50% higher than that of SOFC- and GT-based systems, respectively. Moreover, the GE configuration achieves reductions in TAC of 27.08% and 23.80% compared to SOFC and GT systems, respectively.