Comprehensive 3E analysis and optimization of off-grid renewable-based microgrids to meet the clinic energy demand, a case study for medical tourism

Abstract

Technical and executive problems available in the Iranian utility grid inhibit utilizing power at all times. Therefore, considering the importance of the applications of hospitals and medical service centers they should either use auxiliary and backup devices such as diesel generators and UPS, or renewable hybrid power systems. To this end, this paper conducted 3E analysis (energy-economic-environmental analysis) in a medical clinic of Mashhad using HOMER software. The studied renewable hybrid system was an off-grid wind-solar system designed with a peak load of 5.3 kW to produce 19 kWh/day power. Adapting the data of a 20-year history of solar radiation and wind speed and use of the updated price of devices, updated price of fossil fuels and annual interest rate consistent with current economic conditions are other advantages of this work. The investigation of results indicates the superiority of solar potential to wind potential in the studied region. In addition, the configuration of the most economic scenario with minimum pollution emission was as follows: PV cells (4 kW), a diesel generator (4 kW), batteries (n=20) and inverter (4 kW). The minimum price for producing 1 kWh power is 0.721 $ and the minimum emitted CO2 is 1861 kg/year.