Evaluating Alternative Investment Programs for the Mediterranean‐Dead Sea Project

A methodology, geared toward the prefeasibility study, is devised for evaluating alternative investment programs in the Mediterranean‐Dead Sea (MDS) project, which is based on comparing the optimal configuration for each alternative route of the water carrier. The maximal energetic benefits are calculated using two interrelated optimization problems: a multiperiod optimization, involving dynamic programming, to find the optimal operating regime of the system over time, and a one‐period optimization, imbedded in the multiperiod optimization, involving probabilistic methods, to find the loading point of the hydro unit that maximizes the value of the energy displaced. Cost‐benefit analysis is used to find the optimal size of the hydroelectric components, including the hydro unit size and the water carrier diameter. The model has been applied to evaluate the economic feasibility of the MDS project and to rank the various alternatives by economic merit, and some of the results are discussed.