Energy Management for a Random Outage Grid-tied Hybrid Photo-voltaic Solar-Thermal Energy System for Health Center Applications

This research proposes and evaluates an enhanced open-loop photovoltaic evacuated tube solar thermal collector hybrid energy system based on the developed multi-objective energy management strategy that manages and coordinates the hybrid system with a randomly unreliable grid power source to meet the health center's energy demand using TRNSYS software. A technical assessment of the system shows that the system is capable of meeting system load with a solar fraction of 67% even on days with an overcast sky level of radiation as low as 250 W/m2 and only 37.5% grid power availability. Overall, the system has a solar fraction of 80%. The implication of an 80% solar fraction is the large environmental benefit of reducing emissions and improved system economic viability, indicating that the formulated energy management achieves the goal of promoting renewable energy sources in the hybrid system. An economic analysis of the system revealed that it has a payback period of 6.9 years and Net Present Value of $36,985 at the end of the project's lifetime. This demonstrates that the upgrade of the traditional hybrid PVT with an evacuated tube collector operated based on the developed energy management strategy has met the goal of minimising emissions with significant environmental and economic savings.