Challenges of Phasing out Emergency Diesel Generators: The Case Study of Lacor Hospital’s Energy Community

Alex Felice; Ander Martinez Alonso; Maarten Messagie; Thierry Coosemans; Jacopo  Barbieri

doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031369

Challenges of Phasing out Emergency Diesel Generators: The Case Study of Lacor Hospital’s Energy Community

Alex Felice, Ander Martinez Alonso, Maarten Messagie, Thierry Coosemans, Jacopo Barbieri

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Abstract

Power outages of the electricity grid threaten the proper operation of critical infrastructure such as hospitals. To cope with this problem, emergency diesel generators (DGs) are often used to guarantee continuous and resilient electricity supply, resulting in increased costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the economic feasibility of both reducing and replacing emergency diesel generators with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and demand-side management. A mixed-integer quadratically constrained program is used to find the optimal configuration in terms of capacities of new assets, as well as the optimal scheduling of both BESS and flexible loads, that minimises the levelised cost of energy (LCOE). The model is applied to an existing hospital and its surrounding community located in Gulu, Uganda. The results show that full replacement of the DGs will require an additional 500 kWp of PV and 1591 kWh of BESS. This new configuration will decrease LCOE by 26% compared to the actual situation, with a simple payback time of 6.2 years and a reduction of 74% in GHG emissions

Original language	English
Article number	1369
Journal	Energies
Volume	16
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031369
Publication status	Published - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 824342 as well as from VLAIO in the ICON project MAMUET (grant number HBC.2018.0529). The APC was funded by VLAIO in the ICON project MAMUET (grant number HBC.2018.0529).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Copyright:
Copyright 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

Energy communities
Sub-Saharan Africa
Micro-grid

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Cite this

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title = "Challenges of Phasing out Emergency Diesel Generators: The Case Study of Lacor Hospital{\textquoteright}s Energy Community",

abstract = "Power outages of the electricity grid threaten the proper operation of critical infrastructure such as hospitals. To cope with this problem, emergency diesel generators (DGs) are often used to guarantee continuous and resilient electricity supply, resulting in increased costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the economic feasibility of both reducing and replacing emergency diesel generators with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and demand-side management. A mixed-integer quadratically constrained program is used to find the optimal configuration in terms of capacities of new assets, as well as the optimal scheduling of both BESS and flexible loads, that minimises the levelised cost of energy (LCOE). The model is applied to an existing hospital and its surrounding community located in Gulu, Uganda. The results show that full replacement of the DGs will require an additional 500 kWp of PV and 1591 kWh of BESS. This new configuration will decrease LCOE by 26% compared to the actual situation, with a simple payback time of 6.2 years and a reduction of 74% in GHG emissions",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was funded by the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 824342 as well as from VLAIO in the ICON project MAMUET (grant number HBC.2018.0529). The APC was funded by VLAIO in the ICON project MAMUET (grant number HBC.2018.0529). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 by the authors. Copyright: Copyright 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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AU - Barbieri, Jacopo

N1 - Funding Information: This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 824342 as well as from VLAIO in the ICON project MAMUET (grant number HBC.2018.0529). The APC was funded by VLAIO in the ICON project MAMUET (grant number HBC.2018.0529). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Copyright: Copyright 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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N2 - Power outages of the electricity grid threaten the proper operation of critical infrastructure such as hospitals. To cope with this problem, emergency diesel generators (DGs) are often used to guarantee continuous and resilient electricity supply, resulting in increased costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the economic feasibility of both reducing and replacing emergency diesel generators with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and demand-side management. A mixed-integer quadratically constrained program is used to find the optimal configuration in terms of capacities of new assets, as well as the optimal scheduling of both BESS and flexible loads, that minimises the levelised cost of energy (LCOE). The model is applied to an existing hospital and its surrounding community located in Gulu, Uganda. The results show that full replacement of the DGs will require an additional 500 kWp of PV and 1591 kWh of BESS. This new configuration will decrease LCOE by 26% compared to the actual situation, with a simple payback time of 6.2 years and a reduction of 74% in GHG emissions

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Challenges of Phasing out Emergency Diesel Generators: The Case Study of Lacor Hospital’s Energy Community

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Keywords

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