OPTIMIZATION OF ENERGY SUPPLY AND CONVERSION IN A NORTHEAST BRAZIL HOSPITAL: USE OF PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS
Danielle Bandeira de Mello Delgado1; Monica Carvalho1; Ricardo Chacartegui2; Luiz Moreira Coelho Junior1
1 Universidade Federal da Paraíba; 2 Universidad de Sevilla
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-0012
Resumo
The introduction of new energy sources in an energy supply and conversion system can be analyzed through optimization projects and from information on energy demands and equipments utilized in a specific consumer center. In the energy system presented herein, the following energy demands were considered: electricity, heat (hot water: direct use and laundry), steam (sterilization), and coolth (ar-conditioning). The consumer center was a university hospital, located in the city of João Pessoa (Northeast Brazil). Commercially available equipment was considered as well as the possible utilization of two renewable energy resources: solar energy and biomass. Based on the annual energy demands and considering the installation of 200 photovoltaic solar panels, an optimal system was characterized as a result of the solution of a mixed integer linear program, which considered the annual total cost (R$/year) as the objective function to be minimized. For this scenario, the optimal solution included the utilization of biomass as an energy source for the operation of hot water and steam boilers, with an annual cost 10% lower than the conventional solution and also almost 23% less electricity imported from the grid. It was observed that the high cost of implementing photovoltaic solar energy in Northeast Brazil in addition to the production of only 129 MWh/year of electricity with this technology, were not sufficient to allow for the injection of surplus electricity into the electric grid (realizing economic benefits in the form of credit compensation, characterized by "minigeneration", as foreseen by Brazilian regulations).
Palavras-chave: polygeneration; photovoltaic solar energy; biomass; optimization; linear programming