Resilience analysis of a PV/battery system of health care centres in Rohingya refugee camp

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) 2023-01, Vol.263, p.125634, Article 125634
• Main Authors: Chowdhury, Tamal, Chowdhury, Hemal, Islam, Kazi Sifatul, Sharifi, Ayyoob, Corkish, Richard, Sait, Sadiq M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bangladesh; Battery; Health care center; REopt; Resiliency; Rohingya
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.125634

Due to frequent natural disasters, it is required for the energy systems to be more resilient and affordable. Numerous investigations can be found in the publications that proposed renewable energy systems to deliver power to localities. Nevertheless, researchers have yet to explore the resiliency benefits of renewable energy systems in refugee camps. Therefore, in this study, we modelled the performance of a PV/battery system for hypothetical health care centres located in the Rohingya refugee camp, Bangladesh. A 24-h grid outage was assigned to the REopt software to observe the survival possibility of the system. An optimized mixed-integer linear programming model is used as it considers several practical parameters such as reducing total cost sufficiently robust to handle the simulated outages perfectly. The optimum system consists of a 643 kW PV and a 102 kW battery. The potential life cycle savings of the system are $27,212, and the system can successfully handle a 24-h duration outage. The system also reduces CO2 emissions by 69% in resilient mode compared to 44% in financial mode. Therefore, it can contribute to climate change mitigation. •First study to address the resiliency benefits of a PV/Battery System in Refugee Camp.•REopt software is used to study and simulate the outage impact in the camp.•The system can successfully handle a 24-h duration outage.•The optimum system consists of a 643 kW PV and a 102 kW battery.•The system also reduces CO2 emission by 69% in resilient mode.