Techno-economic evaluation of stand-alone energy supply to a health clinic considering pandemic diseases (COVID-19) challenge

The increase in the number of patients in health care centers boosts electricity consumption. Such a load jump also adversely affects the energy supply, in particular, in rural off-grid systems. To overcome the mentioned challenges, some innovative and practical approaches with available optimization tools should be employed. This study addresses the possibility of developing a challenge prediction-based method for optimizing a reliable and affordable hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to aid with energy challenges associated with pandemic conditions. The results indicate that the PV/diesel/battery hybrid system with a maximum energy cost of $0.141/kWh and a renewable fraction of more than 50% can meet demand even during the most severe load jumps. Furthermore, the fuel constraints during pandemic years can increase the energy costs up to 2.5 times, and the required photovoltaic installation capacity by about four times. Due to the 20.1% PV output boost, Vertical-axis tracking systems are recommended in areas with limited PV installation space. It is concluded that, by considering the likely effects of pandemics, the supplied energy cost to the rural health clinic equipment and water treatment loads would be between $0.113–0.200/kWh.