Hybrid Energy System Resilience Investigations and Techno-economic Study

Microgrids offer a vital way to improve the resilience of vital institutions like hospitals in light of the rising frequency of grid outages brought on by harsh weather and other disruptive occurrences. Although grid-connected microgrids are frequently assessed only based on economic considerations, their importance in guaranteeing service continuity during extended grid outages cannot be overstated. By optimizing a system only for economic performance, this analysis first creates a financial baseline. It suggests a 1543 kW PV system with estimated net present value savings of 16% ($1.3 million). The grid-connected hospital microgrid, which consists of solar photovoltaics (PV), a battery energy storage system (BESS), and a diesel generator, is then subjected to a techno-economic resilience study to assess its performance during various outage durations. In order to minimize lifetime costs and ensure a 50% critical load, the REopt model was utilized to identify the ideal component size and dispatch method. In order to evaluate the system's performance and related expenses, the study simulated 8-, 16-, and 24-hour outage scenarios. The findings show that a substantial change in system design from the financial baseline is necessary to achieve resilience, with a minimal resilience premium of 1.4% to 3.4% above the business-as-usual cost. The results also show a clear techno-economic trade-off: the ideal design moves from a system with a lot of PV and storage to one that depends more on dispatchable generator capacity as outage length grows. In order to ensure operational continuity during grid disturbances, this study offers hospital administrators and planners a framework for striking a compromise between cost-effectiveness and resilience.