Standalone hybrid PV/wind/diesel-electric generator system for a COVID-19 quarantine center

This work is motivated by the need in overcoming the electricity crisis in Gaza, which is initiated due to political reasons and the spread of COVID-19. Building quarantine centers is one of the most important means used in combating the COVID-19, but connecting these centers to the electricity distribution network at the appropriate time is not always possible and increases the burden on the local utility company. This article proposed a hybrid off-grid energy system (HES) to effectively energize the quarantine COVID-19 center in Gaza economically and environmentally. To achieve this aim, the estimated load profile of the quarantine center is fed to the HOMER-Pro program. In addition, the various systems components are introduced to the program, then modeled, and optimized. The developed approach was tested using a real case study considering realistic input data. HOMER-Pro program is used to simulate and optimize the system design. The results revealed the potential of the HES to provide environment-friendly, cost-effective, and affordable electricity for the studied quarantine center, as compared to just the diesel generators system. For the considered case study, it is found that the PV-wind-diesel generators HES can cover the connected load with the lowest cost ($ 0.348/kWh) in comparison to other possible HES structures. Taking into consideration the price of harmful emissions, the wining system shows a reduction of 54.89% of the cost of energy (CoE) compared to other systems. For the considered case study, it is found that a combination of 150 kW PV, 200 kW wind, and two diesel generators with capacities of 500 and 250 kW can hold 100% of the electrical load required to keep the quarantine COVID-19 center in operation. The initial capital cost of this HES is $510,576 where the share of wind energy, solar PV, inverter, and diesel-electric generators are $320,000, $83,076, $25,000, and $82,500, respectively. The replacemen cost ($55,918) is due to diesel generators. The total operation and maintainance cost (O&M) is $268,737, that is, 25.6% for wind turbines, 1.2% for inverters, and 70.7% for diesel electric generators. The PV/wind/diesel generators HES generate 1,659,038 kWh of electricity. The total energy requirement of 1,442,553 kWh, which means a surplus of 212,553 kWh of energy/year. The total energy (kWh) is an integration of energy sources which are 427,276 (25.8%), 274,500 (16.5%), and 857,263 (57.7%), due to wind, solar and diesel generators respectively. The cost of yearly consumed fuel is $437,828.769. The payback period for the winning system is 1.8 years. Finally, it is proved that the developed approach gives a reasonable solution to the decision-makers to find a fast, economic and reliable solution to energize the quarantine centers.