Critical Power Demand Scheduling for Hospitals Using Repurposed EV Batteries

Abstract

Without a doubt, the healthcare sector is one of the most vulnerable sectors of electricity outages. A microgrid system to be installed in hospitals, if well planned, may offer a continuous and low electricity cost solution for health-care. By constructing an Energy Management System (EMS) specific to the hospitals, this study aims to present the significance of using an energy storage system and an optimum schedule for power utilization to prevent the lethal consequences arising from cut-offs and power quality issues. EMS is a linear (LP) scheduling model including PV panels and re-purposed EV batteries, and its target is to meet the electricity demand of the hospital with the lowest cost for every hour. The proposed scheduling model was run for a 150-bed hospital in Istanbul, Turkey under 5 different scenarios for every hour based on the data of 2016. According to scenario results, it is possible to achieve a 9.4% and 13.4% reduction in electricity bills and the grid electricity usage, respectively.