Techno-Economic Analysis of PV/Diesel/Battery Hybrid Renewable System for Remote Primary Healthcare Center

Abstract

This paper presents the techno-economic analysis of PV, diesel and battery hybrid renewable system for a remote healthcare facility using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software. Various system configurations that can meet an average daily energy consumption of 15.081kWh and 2.77kW peak demand of the healthcare center was optimized and compared. The optimum system configuration was determined based on electrical energy generated, life cycle cost and pollutant emission. The result obtained from the simulation study shows that, hybrid system architecture consisting twelve (12), 12V batteries connected in 3 strings, 4.65kW PV panels, 3.03kW converter and 3.4kW diesel generator is the best configuration to provide reliable electricity supply for the healthcare center at the lowest life-cycle cost. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was carried out to know the effect of change in diesel fuel price on the optimal system configuration. Result shows that as the diesel price increases, the capacity of the solar panels and number of batteries needed to meet the load demand increases with associated decrease in generator running hours/fuel consumption. The study proved that off-grid hybrid power system is cost effective and environmentally friendly in providing energy to rural health clinic. Thus, paving way for the development of optimized off-grid energy map for remote health clinics in Nigeria.