Techno-economic evaluation of a 29-kW micro-grid hybrid photovoltaic system for a healthcare center in Bangladesh

Abstract

A micro-grid solar hybrid photovoltaic (PV) system has been designed for powering the remote healthcare center located at Charbhadrashan Upazila, Faridpur district in Bangladesh. Geographically, Bangladesh is a promising country for PV technologies, having an average of 4.5 kWh/m2/d solar insolation. The selected location for the work is an island into the mighty Padma River where the electric connection is not reliable for 24 hours service of a hospital. The considered roof-top PV system is comprised of 350 W solar panels, bi-directional inverter, generator, connecting wires, mounting system, and related accessories. In this assessment, state-of-the-art PV design software, HOMER Powering Health Tool has been utilized for estimating the load requirements, techno-economic and environmental evaluation of the micro-grid system. The load analysis revealed that a 29-kW grid-connected solar PV system is required for the hospital and the estimated net present cost (NPC) is US$29,846, with a Levelized cost of energy is $0.045. Renewable electricity contributed 98% of this system's power requirement and the grid contributed only 2%. The annual production of this 25-year PV system is 43,642 kWh/year and per unit, the electricity production cost is $0.058 which is significantly lower than today's average per-unit cost of $0.082 in.Bangladesh. Besides, the system reduces 34.9 tons of CO2 emissions per year. Thus, this analysis suggested that the grid-connected PV system is a better configuration among other power sources for providing electricity to the health clinics in the absence of no electricity.