Optimising Electrical Power Supply Sustainability Using a Grid-Connected Hybrid Renewable Energy System—An NHS Hospital Case Study

Kahwash, Fadi; Barakat, Basel; Taha, Ahmad; Abbasi, Qammer H.; Imran, Muhammad Ali

Abstract

This study focuses on improving the sustainability of electrical supply in the healthcare system in the UK, to contribute to current efforts made towards the 2050 net-zero carbon target. As a case study, we propose a grid-connected hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) for a hospital in the south-east of England. Electrical consumption data were gathered from five wards in the hospital for a period of one year. PV-battery-grid system architecture was selected to ensure practical execution through the installation of PV arrays on the roof of the facility. Selection of the optimal system was conducted through a novel methodology combining multi-objective optimisation and data forecasting. The optimisation was conducted using a genetic algorithm with two objectives (1) minimisation of the levelised cost of energy and (2) CO2 emissions. Advanced data forecasting was used to forecast grid emissions and other cost parameters at two year intervals (2023 and 2025). Several optimisation simulations were carried out using the actual and forecasted parameters to improve decision making. The results show that incorporating forecasted parameters into the optimisation allows to identify the subset of optimal solutions that will become sub-optimal in the future and, therefore, should be avoided. Finally, a framework for choosing the most suitable subset of optimal solutions was presented.

Citation

Kahwash, F., Barakat, B., Taha, A., Abbasi, Q. H., & Imran, M. A. (2021). Optimising Electrical Power Supply Sustainability Using a Grid-Connected Hybrid Renewable Energy System—An NHS Hospital Case Study. Energies, 14(21), Article 7084. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14217084

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 14, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Oct 29, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Nov 12, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 12, 2021
• Journal: Energies
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 21
• Article Number: 7084
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en14217084
• Keywords: grid-connected; hybrid renewable energy systems; multi-objective optimisation; machine learning; forecasting; NHS; CO2 emissions; net-zero systems; hospital
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2820687