Document Type : Research Article
Authors
Department of Renewable Energies and Environment, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, P. O. Box: 14399-56191, Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
The issue of power supply in hospitals is of special importance because of its direct effect on people's health conditions and vital treatment and care measures. Hospitals are among buildings with high energy consumption. The possibility of using renewable sources in their energy supply is one of the issues and challenges that specialists encounter. This paper discusses the possibility of installing a small solar power generation unit on a hospital rooftop to improve the quality of power supply systems. The case study is a hospital located in Tehran, Iran. For this purpose, the hospital energy system was modeled with the Design-Builder software. The obtained results were validated based on the actual consumption of the model specified in the hospital energy bills. According to the modeling step results, the annual consumption of the current energy system was 3.08 GWh of electricity and 4.23 GWh of gas. In the second step, a renewable power generation unit consisting of photovoltaic panels and battery was designed for the hospital's roof using PVsyst software. The designed power generation unit could produce 132 MWh of solar energy per year, of which 85 MWh may be sold to the main grid. The techno-economic and environmental feasibility study for the proposed system was performed using HOMER Pro software. The evaluation results revealed that considering the 20-year lifetime of the project, the proposed system achieved a lower energy cost and lower net present cost than the current system. Environmental assessment of the model by considering emission penalty indicated that the proposed system emitted fewer pollutant gases into the environment than the current system. Sensitivity analysis was also applied to investigate the effect of discounting and diesel fuel price variation on the system’s energy cost. According to the results, a 4 % increase in the discount rate leads to a 14 % growth in the cost of energy for the project. Also, there was a direct relation between enhancement of the expected inflation rate and raising the net present cost of the project.
Keywords
- Hospital’s Energy System
- Design-Builder Software
- Photovoltaic Panel
- PVsyst Software
- Economic and Environmental Assessment
- HOMER Pro Software
Main Subjects
- Jahangir, M.H., Eslamnezhad, S., Mousavi, S.A. and Askari, M., "Multi-year sensitivity evaluation to supply prime and deferrable loads for hospital application using hybrid renewable energy systems", Journal of Building Engineering, Vol. 40, No. April, (2021), 102733. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102733).
- Morgenstern, P., Li, M., Raslan, R., Ruyssevelt, P. and Wright, A., "Benchmarking acute hospitals: Composite electricity targets based on departmental consumption intensities?", Energy and Buildings, Vol. 118, (2016), 277-290. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.052).
- Wang, T., Li, X., Liao, P.-C. and Fang, D., "Building energy efficiency for public hospitals and healthcare facilities in China: Barriers and drivers", Energy, Vol. 103, (2016), 588-597. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.03.039).
- García-Sanz-Calcedo, J., "Analysis on energy efficiency in healthcare buildings", Journal of Healthcare Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 3, (2014), 361-374. (https://doi.org/10.1260/2040-2295.5.3.361).
- Ascione, F., Bianco, N., De Stasio, C., Mauro, G. and Vanoli, G., "Multi-stage and multi-objective optimization for energy retrofitting a developed hospital reference building: A new approach to assess cost-optimality", Applied Energy, Vol. 174, (2016), 37-68. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.04.078).
- Paksoy, H., Andersson, O., Abaci, S., Evliya, H. and Turgut, B., "Heating and cooling of a hospital using solar energy coupled with seasonal thermal energy storage in an aquifer", Renewable Energy, Vol. 19, No. 1-2, (2000), 117-122. (https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-1481(99)00060-9).
- Santika, W.G,. Urmee, T., Simsek, Y., Bahri, P.A. and Anisuzzaman, M., "An assessment of energy policy impacts on achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 in Indonesia", Energy for Sustainable Development, Vol. 59. (2020), 33-48. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2020.08.011).
- Tamir, K., Urmee, T. and Pryor, T., "Issues of small scale renewable energy systems installed in rural Soum centers in Mongolia", Energy for Sustainable Development, Vol. 27. (2015), 1-9. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2015.04.002).
- Isa, N.M., Das, H.S., Tan, C.W., Yatim, A.H.M. and Lau, K.M., "A techno-economic assessment of a combined heat and power photovoltaic/fuel cell/battery energy system in Malaysia hospital", Energy, Vol. 112, (2016). (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.06.056).
- Biglia, A., Caredda, F.V., Fabrizio, E., Filippi, M. and Mandas, N., "Technical-economic feasibility of CHP systems in large hospitals through the Energy Hub method: The case of Cagliari AOB", Energy Building, Vol. 147, (2017), 101-112. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.04.047).
- Lagrange, A., de Simón-Martín, M., González-Martínez, A., Bracco, S. and Rosales-Asensio, E., "Sustainable microgrids with energy storage as a means to increase power resilience in critical facilities: An application to a hospital", International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems, Vol. 119, No. August (2019), (2020), 105865. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2020.105865).
- Dursun, S., Aykut, E. and Dursun, B., "Assessment of optimum renewable energy system for the Somalia–Turkish training and research hospital in Mogadishu", Journal or Renewable Energy and Environment (JREE), Vol. 8, No. 3, (2021), 54-67. (https://doi.org/10.30501/jree.2021.245232.1140).
- Vaziri, S.M., Rezaee, B. and Monirian, M.A., "Utilizing renewable energy sources efficiently in hospitals using demand dispatch", Renewable Energy, Vol. 151, (2020), 551-562. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.11.053).
- Franco, A, Shaker, M., Kalubi, D. and Hostettler, S., "A review of sustainable energy access and technologies for healthcare facilities in the Global South", Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, Vol. 22, (2017). (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.022).
- Jahangir, M.H., Mousavi, S.A. and Vaziri Rad, M.A., "A techno-economic comparison of a photovoltaic/thermal organic Rankine cycle with several renewable hybrid systems for a residential area in Rayen, Iran", Energy Conversation and Management, Vol. 195, (2019), 244-261. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2019.05.010).
- EnergyPlus, "The board of US Department of Energy (DOE), October 1, (2013)”, EnergyPlus Eng. Ref., (2016).
- Rezaei, M., Boushehri, A. and Bagheri Moghaddam, N., "Factors affecting photovoltaic technology application in decentralized electricity", Journal or Renewable Energy and Environment (JREE), Vol. 5, No. 3, (2018), 27-41. (https://doi.org/10.30501/jree.2018.93451).
- Firouzjah, K.G., "Assessment of small-scale solar PV systems in Iran: Regions priority, potentials, and financial feasibility", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 94. (2018), 267-274. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.06.002).
- "Shading Analysis", (2022). (https://www.pvresources.com/en/siteanalysis/shadinganalysis).
- Kasaeian, A., Rahdan, P., Vaziri Rad, M.A. and Yan, W.M., "Optimal design and technical analysis of a grid-connected hybrid photovoltaic/diesel/biogas under different economic conditions: A case study", Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 198, (2019), 111810. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2019.111810).
- Mousavi, S.A., Zarchi, R.A., Astaraei, F.R., Ghasempour, R. and Khaninezhad, F.M., "Decision-making between renewable energy configurations and grid extension to simultaneously supply electrical power and fresh water in remote villages for five different climate zones", Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 279, (2021), 12361. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123617).
- Hafez, O. and Bhattacharya, K.,"Optimal planning and design of a renewable energy-based supply system for microgrids", Renewable Energy, Vol. 45, (2012), 7-15. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.01.087).
- Haghighat Mamaghani, A., Avella Escandon, S.A., Najafi, B., Shirazi, A. and Rinaldi, F., "Techno-economic feasibility of photovoltaic, wind, diesel and hybrid electrification systems for off-grid rural electrification in Colombia", Renewable Energy, Vol. 97, (2016), 293-305. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.05.086).
)