Energy 112 (2016) 75e90

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

A techno-economic assessment of a combined heat and power

photovoltaic/fuel cell/battery energy system in Malaysia hospital
Normazlina Mat Isa a, b, Himadry Shekhar Das b, Chee Wei Tan b, *, A.H.M. Yatim b,
Kwan Yiew Lau b
a
Politeknik Merlimau KB 1031, Pejabat pos Merlimau, 73000 Merlimau, Melaka, Malaysia
b
Department of Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Due to the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, it is feared that the world will run out of its energy resources
Received 7 June 2015 soon. Besides, unpredictable uctuation of diesel prices in electricity generation is affecting the economy
Received in revised form of a country. Thus, for developing country that's economically leans on the use of energy, renewable
27 April 2016
energy resources should be utilized to meet the increasing energy demand. In this regards, the cogen-
Accepted 11 June 2016
eration system using renewable energy sources is appropriate, because it has the advantage of producing
both electrical power and heat energy from a single fuel. It is suitable for commercial clients like hospital
buildings which requires to supply both electric and heat load. Therefore, the aim of this study is to
Keywords:
Cogeneration
assess the viability to develop a cogeneration system for a hospital building load in Malaysia. The pro-
Solar PV posed cogeneration system consists of grid connected photovoltaic (PV), fuel cell, and battery. Hybrid
Fuel cell optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) simulation software is used to perform the techno-
Battery economic analysis of the proposed system. The proposed system is then compared with other possible
HOMER optimization congurations. The economical comparison is based on the total net present cost (TNPC), levelized cost of
Hybrid system energy (LCOE), renewable fraction, excess energy production and the pollutant gas emission of the
system. The simulation result shows that, the proposed cogeneration system has the lowest TNPC, LCOE
and operating cost which are $ 106,551, 0.091 $/kWh and 7245 $/yr respectively. Besides, the proposed
cogeneration system is proven environmentally friendly as it only produces total 25,873 kg/yr of
pollutant gas. The sensitivity analysis where fuel prices and annual interest rate are considered as
sensitive parameters, shows impact on the TNPC and LCOE. Finally, the benet from the Feed in Tariff
(FiT) program provided by the government also has been presented.
2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Meanwhile, the current increase in global fuel prices encourages

The growth of industrialization sector and world population has
resulted in the increment of electricity demand. The conventional
electricity generation systems use non-renewable resources such as
oil, gas and coals. However, usage of these resources contributes to
the increasing emission of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) and carbon
dioxide (CO2) which are hazardous to our atmosphere. Air pollu-
tion, coastal pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss and deteri-
oration are several negative effects of fossil fuel consumption [1].
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mzzlina@gmail.com (N.M. Isa), himadry.s.das@gmail.com
(H.S. Das), cheewei@utm.my (C.W. Tan), halim@fke.utm.my (A.H.M. Yatim),
kwanyiew@utm.my (K.Y. Lau).
nations to nd alternative resources for supplying energy. Thus,
policy makers, environmentalist and researchers around the world
are now looking for potential renewable energy resources to
replace the conventional fossil fuel and at the same time reduce in
emission [2]. Government of Malaysia has introduced various pol-
icies for sustainable energy development such as tax exemption
and extra allowance [3]. The Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001e2005) and
Malaysia Five Fuel Policy highlights the use of Renewable Energy
for power generation [4]. Furthermore, under Ninth Malaysia Plan
(2006e2010) the government has put the emphasis to promote the
incentive provided by the Feed in Tariff (FiT). This allows the main
power distribution companies to buy from the approved feed-in
holders (electricity producers) as their electricity is generated
from renewable sources under a xed FiT rate for a specied period
of 16 or 21 years [5]. Eventually, the FiT program would encourage

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.06.056
0360-5442/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
76 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90
the use of renewable energy and bring a signicant reduction of
CO2. Nowadays, cogeneration system or combined heat and power
(CHP) systems are broadly used in micro-grids either in standalone
system [6,7] or in grid connected system [8,9] because of their
advantages in electricity and thermal power generation. Re-
searchers have conducted a few studies on CHP system focusing on
the technical aspects of the systems [10e12]. The studies on
cogeneration system are more focused on the technical aspect
including the development and testing of the cogeneration system.
They are mostly based on Middle East and European countries.
However, researches on cogeneration system development based
on the tropical climate especially in Malaysia is very limited
[12e14]. Cogeneration system is suitable for hospital building, as it
needs large amount of heat demand for hot water all year round.
Besides, some health equipment also has the continuous demand of
heating power [15]. In addition, the hospital has critical load situ-
ations in its 24/7 operation time which need electrical and thermal
supply with emergency backup [33]. Some researchers studied the
viability of cogeneration system in hospital buildings of Europe
using diesel engines and gas turbines in Refs. [16,17]. However
there is no study performed to develop a cogeneration system using
alternative energy sources for hospital building in Malaysia.
Therefore, this paper presents a cogeneration system develop-
ment for hospital building in Malaysia which uses renewable en-
ergy resources. The cogeneration system proposed in this study
consist of grid connected PV, fuel cell and battery. HOMER simu-
lation software was used to determine the optimal design of
cogeneration topology in a hospital building. The economic analysis
was based on total net present cost (TNPC), levelized cost of energy
(LCOE) and operating cost, together with emission effect to the
environment.
In this study, rstly the cogeneration system is overviewed
followed by the input parameters of HOMER simulation tool. Next,
the economic feasibility analysis parameters are discussed. A
description of the proposed cogeneration system is presented in
the next section, which elaborates different component specica-
tions and their economic data. The simulation, optimization results
and sensitivity analysis is done thereafter. In this section, other
possible systems are also simulated and analyzed to check the
viability of the systems. Finally, a discussion on the results of the
assessment is presented.
2. Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) system
Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is a system
that has the ability to generate both electricity and heat at the same
time. The CHP system with alternative energy sources like fuel cell
or micro-turbine also can produce sufcient electrical and thermal
energy [18,19]. Fig. 1 show the diagram of a conventional CHP
system that combine several sources to produce electricity and heat
for building load consumption. Generally, throughout the elec-
tricity generation process, CHP captures the wasted heat and uses
this heat to produce thermal energy and it can be utilized onsite for
industrial heating or producing steam, space conditioning and
producing hot water. It increases power system efciency and at
the same time reduces the operating cost. The operation process of
cogeneration system can be divided into three cycles: topping cy-
cle, bottoming cycle and combined cycle [20]. In topping cycle, fuel
is rst used to generate the electricity or mechanical energy and a
portion of the waste heat from power generation is used to provide
useful thermal energy. On the other hand, bottoming cycle type of
cogeneration systems rst produce useful heat for a manufacturing
process throughout fuel combustion or another heat-generating
chemical reaction and recover some portion of the exhaust heat
to generate electricity. Normally bottoming cycle cogeneration is
mostly applied in process industries, like glass and steel where very
high temperature is needed. In latest technology, the topping and
bottoming cycle are joined together to form the combined cycle
which has better efciency. Fig. 2 shows the operation of combined
cycle based cogeneration system.
Basically, cogeneration systems are classied based on their
prime movers that run the power generation process [21]. There are
ve type of prime mover including gas turbine, steam turbine,
micro turbine, reciprocating engine and fuel cell. Previously, the
turbine base prime movers were widely used in cogeneration
system whereas, recently fuel cell prime movers are very popular.
This is because, fuel cell technology provides various benets
including high efciency, less moving part, low cost, quiet opera-
tion and can be sited almost everywhere. Currently, several re-
searchers have been investigating the combination of fuel cell
cogeneration with some renewable energy like solar PV, biomass
and wind turbine in cogeneration system. Thilak et al. provides a
review on the possibility of renewable energy to work together in a
CHP system [10]. The impact of PV penetration and battery storage
on energy production is studied in article [22]. The study also
consider the cost of energy (COE) and number of operational hours
of diesel generators for the given hybrid congurations. Thanakorn
et al. developed an economic and environmental friendly CHP
system for the application of building energy management system
for a large shopping complex, where the impact of the cogeneration
operation on the environment, multi-objective cost functions,
including total operating cost, the minimum total carbon dioxide
(CO2) emission, and optimal energy ows are considered [11]. K. R.
Ullah prove experimentally that a single tubular solid oxide fuel cell
(SOFC) can produce the heat to be used in cogeneration system [12].
A comparison of different operating strategies for small scale CHP
plants red by natural gas and solid biomass to serve the residential
energy demand is studied in Ref. [23]. This includes the combina-
tion of photovoltaic (PV), battery and fuel cell either in stand-alone
or grid connected mode. The performance of battery and fuel cell
installed in a residential by considering the impact of electricity
tariff is investigated in the reference [24]. An optimization tech-
nique has been developed in order to determine the optimal ca-
pacities of CHP and boiler in Ref. [25]. Also, an energy management
strategy is proposed using the fuzzy logic to determine the opti-
mum ranges for boiler and CHP capacities. The objective function is
based on the net present value (NPV). The author in Ref. [26]
employed a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) as an opti-
mization algorithm to determine the yearly operational strategy of
a cogeneration plant. The strategy also denes the sizing method
for the plant incorporated in commercial microgrid. A cost-benet
analysis to improve the reliability of a cogeneration plant is dis-
cussed in article [27]. In the study, the economic feasibility analysis
was performed based on various costs and benets factors of CHP
based distributed energy resources (DER) system. Another small
scale CHP system is analyzed in article [28], which has three modes
of operation: one-way connection (OWC) mode, two-way connec-
tion (TWC) mode, and heat demand following (HDF) mode. In this
study, the economic decision making is based on net present worth
(NPW). A multi-objective approach is employed in Ref. [16] to
determine the optimal conguration for a CHP plant. This study
shows that the energy and economic benets produced by CHP
plants is dependent on the plant and user characteristics, plant
layout, management strategies and economic variables. Another
analysis presents a technical simulation and economic model of
three small-scale CHP plants which has 15 kV wood gasication
unit coupled to 6 kWe petrol generator [29]. The system is
compared to the 6 kWe diesel generator and fed to the of cogene-
ration system electricity network in the southwest part of Western
Australia (WA). A design and techno-economic optimization of a
 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90 77

Fig. 1. Block diagram of a co-generation system.

FUEL (Liquid or Gas)

Combustor

Gas
Compressor Electricity output
Turbine

Air
inlet

HRSG Thermal energy

Exhaust
Economizer Steam
Electricity output
turbine

Pump

Condensor

Fig. 2. Block diagram of the operation process in combine cycle cogeneration.

78 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90
stand-alone PV/FC and battery hybrid power system has been
studied in Refs. [30] and [31].
3. Input parameters description
Simulation in HOMER requires several input parameters to
calculate the optimum results of different topologies. Normally, the
input parameters consist of primary load inputs, solar irradiation,
wind speed, and initial costs per unit for each component. These
parameters will be elaborated in the coming sections.
3.1. Load prole of hospital building
In this study, the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre
(UKMMC) building is chosen for evaluation. This hospital was
established as an educational hospital in 1997. It is located in
Cheras, Selangor which geographical coordinates are 3
50 5500
North, 101
430 2700 East. UKMMC has been divided into four major
parts: clinical and teaching block, United Nation University (UNU),
Kolej Tun Dr Ismail (KTDI) Doctors College and Nurses College.
Generally, in the hospital building, the electrical energy will be
apportioning to several parts including pumps, kitchen utilities,
biomedical equipment, heating, ventilation and air conditioning
(HVAC) systems [32]. UKMMC uses the electricity for air condi-
tioning, lighting, and lifts, and for medical equipment, while ther-
mal energy for boiler heating [33,34]. The study is focused on the
clinical and teaching block area, and the load prole shows the
power consumption of this area. The overall electricity and gas
consumption of the year 2010 is shown in Fig. 3. It is clear that,
UKMMC has the highest electricity consumption in August of
3,873,860 kWh and the highest gas consumption in May of
111,299 kg. The load prole for the building is generated in HOMER
software using this monthly data and also the daily load data from
the same source. The daily load prole for UKMMC is shown in
Fig. 4(a), and the variation of the monthly load prole is illustrated
in Fig. 4(b). The highest load consumption in this hospital is 13 kW
daily in peak time from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. This is due to the
activity of the hospital routine in the clinical and education block.
The average load consumption is 250 kWh/day distributed as peak
load of 22.5 kW, with load factor of 0.464.
3.2. Solar radiation
The solar radiation data was obtained from National Aeronautics
and Space Administrative, NASA [35]. The data is 22-year average
monthly solar radiation data of the location. The latitude and
longitude, 3.0422 oN, and 101.7706 oE were considered in the
HOMER software, from which it received the radiation data. Fig. 5
Fig. 3. Gas and electricity consumption in UKMMC building for year 2010.
shows the solar radiation data for the studied location. The irradi-
ance ranges from 4.792 kWh/m2/day to 5.491 kWh/m2/day and the
annual average of solar irradiance is estimated to be 5.05 kWh/m2/
day. It is noticed that solar irradiance is high in February, March,
April, September and October, and is low in May and November.
The reason of low solar irradiation is because of the South-West
Monsoon season during this period.
3.3. Diesel price
According to [36], the latest diesel price in Malaysia is MYR 1.60/
L or 0.39 $/L (the currency exchange rate is according to the trade
currency of December 2015, US $1 equivalent to MYR 4.31.).
Malaysian Government can remove the subsidy on diesel and
petrol in future, thus the price may change extensively. The diesel
price may rise up to MYR 7.50/L or 1.70 $/L in 25 years period.
Therefore, the diesel prices are varied from 0.39 $/L to 3.0 $/L in the
sensitivity analysis, to investigate the effect of fuel price on the
system cost.
3.4. HOMER software
The HOMER software is a powerful tool that used for designing
and analyzing the hybrid power systems. This software was origi-
nally developed by the United States (US) National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL), but now licensed to HOMER Energy [42].
Generally, the hybrid systems contain a combination of conven-
tional generators, wind turbines, solar PV, hydro power, batteries,
fuel cells, biomass and other inputs. In HOMER, three main tasks
can be performed: simulation, optimization and sensitivity anal-
ysis. In the simulation process, HOMER can model the performance
of various hybrid systems and determines their technical feasibility
and life cycle cost (LCC). In the optimization process, HOMER
simulates various system congurations to come up with the
optimal system congurations which satisfy the technical con-
straints at the lowest TNPC. In the sensitivity analysis, HOMER
performs multiple optimizations under a range of input sensitivity
parameter assumptions to calculate the changes or uncertainties in
the model. Because of these facilities, this software has been
applied for research in many simulations [22]. For an example, in
Ref. [37], a model of possible small hybrid power generation is
studied in terms of technical aspects along with the economic
analysis through HOMER software. A.M. Abdilahi in his work [38]
use HOMER to investigate the possibility of supplying an elec-
tricity from a renewable energy system to Hargeisa, Somalia. The
study presented out the economic and technical view on how to
supply the electricity to a sampled residential load. He also
analyzed the effect of diesel price increase on the system in future.
 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90
Fig. 4. Load prole for the studied building in UKMMC (a): Daily variation, (b) Monthly variation.
Fig. 5. Annual solar radiation and clearness index for the location of Selangor,
Malaysia.
Moreover, M.S Ngan [39] and Lau [40] also uses the HOMER soft-
ware to perform the techno-economic analysis for their systems.
3.5. Annual interest rate
In HOMER simulation, the required economic input parameters
are annual real rate interest and project lifetime. The annual real
rate interest is dene as the discount rate which is used to convert
between one-time costs and annualized costs. Annual real rate of
interest is related to the nominal interest rate by following the
equation in (1).
io  f
i (1)
1f
Where i, is the real interest rate, io is the nominal interest rate and f
is the annual ination rate. In this analysis, the annual rate interest
is set to be 6%.
The project lifetime in HOMER simulation means the length of
time over which the cost of the system is occurred. HOMER uses the
project lifetime to measure the annualized replacement cost and
annualized capital cost of each component. Generally, project life-
time is 20e25 years depending on the component lifetime.
79
4. Economic parameter
In order to analyze the economic effectiveness of the system
developed, there are four main economical parameters that need to
be identied in the analysis. They are LCOE, TNPC, LCC, and salvage
cost. These costs are used by HOMER to determine the optimum
system. The value for each parameter can be calculated using Eqs.
(2)e(6) [41].
4.1. Total net present cost (TNPC)
In HOMER software, the total net present cost of a system is
dened as the present value of all the costs that in incurs over the
lifetime, minus the present value of all the revenue that earns over
its lifetime duration. The costs calculation includes initial capital,
replacement costs, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, fuel
costs, emission penalties, and the costs of buying power from the
grid. Thus, TNPC is HOMER's main economic parameter and all the
systems simulated are ranked according to it [42]. Mathematically,
the formula for the TNPC is as the following:
Cann;tot
CTNPC
 (2)
CRF i; Rproj
i1 iN
CRFi;N (3)
1 iN  1
Where Cann;tot total annual cost ($/yr),
CRF capital recovery factor
i interest rate (%)
Rproj Project lifetime (N)
4.2. Levelized cost of energy (LCOE)
The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) in HOMER software is
dened as the average cost per kWh of useful electrical energy
produced by the system. In order to calculate the LCOE, HOMER
divides the annualized cost of produced electricity (the total
annualized cost minus the cost of serving the thermal load) by the
total useful electric energy production. The equation for the LCOE is
80 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90
as follows [42]:
Cann;tot
LCOE (4)
Eprim;AC Eprim;DC Egrid;sales
Where, Cann;tot is total annualized cost ($/yr), Eprim;AC is AC primary
load served (kWh/yr), Eprim;DC is DC primary load served (kWh/yr)
and Egrid;sales is total grid sales (kWh/yr). The total annual cost is the
sum of the annualized costs of each system component, plus with
the other annualized costs. It is important parameter in HOMER as
it is used to calculate both LCOE and TNPC.
4.3. Life cycle cost
According to [43], life cycle cost (LCC) is dened as accumulated
cost of design, production, sales use, service and recycling discards.
Usually, it is the analytical process of evaluating of projects benets
to choose the best alternative of common power resources. As an
example, a life cycle cost analysis comparing the cogeneration
system to conventional system is performed to evaluate the eco-
nomic benet of the cogeneration system [44]. The cost of the fuel
cell system is considered to be US$1000/kW which is approxi-
mately MYR3500/kW (1US$ MYR3.5). Replacement of the fuel
cell stack is the main maintenance cost for every 40,000 h of
operation. The O&M cost is MYR0.03/h. The life cycle cost of each
system under consideration is calculated using the following
equation [45].
X
I
TEU XEP X
I
ML
LCC IC (5)
i1 1 ri i1 1 ri energy into electrical energy directly, when hydrogen fuel is com-
4.4. Salvage cost
The salvage cost is the value remaining in a component of the
system by the end of the project period. It is assumes linear
depreciation of the components. This means that the salvage cost of
component is directly proportional to its remaining life. Besides,
the salvage cost is assumed to be based on the replacement cost
rather than the initial capital cost. This can be expressed mathe-
matically as shown in Equation (6)
Rrem
Salvage cost; S Crep (6)
Rcomp
Where Crep replacement cost of the component
Rcomp lifetime of the component
Rrem Rproj Project Lifetime
5. Description of system designed
In cogeneration based system, there are elements that can
produce heat energy. Mostly, the turbine based prime movers are
used to generate the heat. In this paper, a fuel cell prime mover is
used to generate the heat. The analysis in this project considers the
combination of fuel cell with the photovoltaic panel and battery in a
grid connected mode. Fig. 6 shows the conguration of the pro-
posed system. The system simulated in HOMER includes PV panel,
battery, fuel cell, converter and hospital building as a load. Table 1
summarizes the descriptions of selected components of the system
and the explanations for each of them are presented in the
following sub-sections.
5.1. Solar panel
In this system, solar panel manufactured by Suntech Solar Power
is chosen. A description of solar panel is given in Ref. [46]. The PV
system is rated 120 kW to fulll the requirement of the system load
prole. This panel is optimized to satisfy the load demand of the
chosen area as well as supplying the excess electricity to the grid. The
PV system has 2000 modules with each module rated at 50 W, with a
nominal voltage of 12 V. The area for each module is 0.871 m2. The
total area occupied by all the modules is 774.192 m2. The lifetime for
PV panel is 25 years. Moreover, a derating factor is applied to the PV
array power output to compensate the reduction in PV module ef-
ciency. The derating factor in this analysis is set to 90%. The efciency
of PV panel decreases when the temperature increases. Therefore, the
temperature effect should be taken into account. The temperature
effect is determined as 0.5%/0C, which means the modules produce
0.5% less power for the increase of 1
C in temperature. In this
simulation, the nominal operating cell temperature of the PV module
is 47.5
C, efciency at standard test condition is 11.9%. Typically, PV
panel converts the sunlight into electricity during daytime. There-
fore, it is impossible to use the PV panels for 24 h. In general, in
Malaysia, the average duration of usable daylight for PV is nearly
6e8 h. Thus PV panels require a storage system in order to ensure the
continuous supply of PV generating system for 24 h. The initial cap-
ital, replacement and O&M cost of PV considered in this study are
$7000, $6000 and 10 $/yr respectively for 120 kW panel.
5.2. Fuel cell
Fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts chemical
bined with oxygen gases. The byproduct of the system is water and
there is no pollutant if pure hydrogen is used. Therefore, fuel cell
needs several sub-systems and components in order to form a
complete system to generate electricity and heat. The essential
components are: fuel reformer or electrolyzer and hydrogen tank.
Fuel reformer is needed to extract the hydrogen from the fuel and
then generated hydrogen is stored in the hydrogen tank. The
electrolyzer is another alternative to fuel reformer where hydrogen
can be produced using water by electrolysis process. Fuel cells are
more efcient than conventional energy sources as it can convert
the chemical energy of the fuel directly into electricity without
going through an intermediate combustion stage. In market, there
are several types of fuel cell, such as: Proton Exchange Membrane
Fuel Cell (PEMFC) or Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC) and Solid
Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC). The cost of fuel cell varies dependent on the
type of technology, reformer, hydrogen tanks and electrolyzer. In
this analysis, a PEMFC type fuel cell Nexa power module from
Ballard power systems company [50] is used for simulation data
specications. The efciency of total PEMFC system is shown in
Fig. 7 [51]. Referred to Fig. 7, the system showed excellent initial
performance (>40% efciency). According to the specication cat-
alog in Ref. [52], the initial capital varies from $ 3000 to $ 6000 for a
100 kW fuel cell system. Three different sizes of fuel cell are taken
into account in the simulation process: 0 kW, 50 kW and 100 kW.
Moreover, the lifetime is 15,000 h, efciency is 50% and minimum
load ratio is 30%. Table 2 presents the detail specication of fuel cell
used in the simulation. In this system, the initial capital, replace-
ment cost and O&M cost are taken as $ 450, $ 400 and 0.15 $/yr
respectively for 100 kW fuel cell.
5.3. Battery
Batteries have become famous energy storage recently due to
their effectiveness and environmental friendly. A Surrete 4KS25P
 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90
Water
Electrolyzer
Unit FUEL CELL
DC
H2
Tank
DC
Reformer
Unit
Photovoltaic
Natural
Gas DC
DC
Battery
DC
DC
Fig. 6. A block diagram of proposed cogeneration system.
from Rolls battery [47] with 4 V, 1900 Ah and 10,569 kW
throughput lifetime is chosen in this simulation work. The mini-
mum state of charge is 40% and the round trip of efciency is 80%.
The lifetime of this battery is 4 year. In order to produce higher
energy capacity, batteries are connected in series that form the
batteries string that consist of 15 batteries in each string. The
maximum capacity of charging is 1887 Ah with capacity ratio is
0.254 and rate constant is 0/528/hour. A description of the battery
system is summarized in Table 3. The initial capital and replace-
ment cost are assumed to be $ 1259 and $ 1100, respectively and the
O&M cost is 0.02 $/yr.
5.4. Converter
The converter used in this simulation is divided into 40 kW
inverter and 40 kW rectier which gives total of rated 80 kW output
power [48]. There are 2 types of energy conversion occur in the
system, ac to dc and dc to ac power. Thus both rectier and inverter
are essential for the system. The inverter efciency is considered
90% and the lifetime is 15 years, which means the inverter has to be
changed once in 25 years period of lifetime. On the other hand,
rectier has the 100% capacity relative to inverter and efciency is
90%. Proper control systems must be provided to the designated
system such as the use of multilevel converter control schemes
applicable to a general multilevel converter and to any types of the
renewable energy resources. The initial capital of the converter is $
800 and the replacement cost is $ 750. There is no O&M cost for
converters. Thus this amount is zero.
5.5. Diesel generator
The diesel generator is an easy means of power generation.
Usually in hybrid systems, diesel generators are used as back-up
81
DC bus AC bus
Pfc
Grid
Pgrid
DC
Ppv
AC
Pload
LOAD
Pbat
t
power unit. The generator model used in this simulation is 5 kw
Changchai diesel generator. The initial capital and replacement
costs are assumed to be $ 500 for a 5 kW generator. The O&M cost of
the diesel generator is 0.030 $/h for the generator system [37,49].
The diesel generator has the lifetime of 15,000 h and minimum load
ratio of 30%. Fig. 8 show the fuel efciency curve of the diesel
generator.
5.6. Reformer unit
Normally, a reformer generates hydrogen by reforming a hy-
drocarbon, which is typically natural gas. In this simulation, the
built in reformer unit installed in the HOMER software is used.
Therefore, the parameters used are provided by HOMER software as
well as it suits the system requirement. Both initial capital and
replacement cost are assumed to be $ 3500. The operational and
maintenance cost are anticipated to be $/yr 200. The reformer size
is 25 kg and it has an efciency of 68.6% with 25 years of lifetime. A
natural gas used in the simulation has the characteristic as shown
in Table 4.
6. System operating strategy
In the proposed cogeneration system, the solar PV and fuel cell
systems work simultaneously to supply power to the hospital load.
The battery is used to improve the load power dispatch efciency as
well as functioning as back-up power sources in case of lack of solar
radiation availability and during fault occurrence. Since the hospital
is has 24/7 operating system, the grid is utilized to ensure the
continuous electricity supply to the load. The operating strategies
are implemented to enhance the efciency of the developed sys-
tem. During the daytime, when the electricity demand of the
hospital is high, the electricity will be supplied by PV and fuel cell
82 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90

Table 1 Table 2
Economic and technical specication for the components used in the proposed Specication of fuel cell for distributed generation.
cogeneration system.
Rated power (kW) 2.4e10.5
Component Data specication
Rated currents (A) 135
Photovoltaic panel [46] Voltage (V) 17.5e77.6 V DC
Size (kW) 120 Cell efciency (%) 54e64
Capital/Replacement cost ($) 7000/6000 Fuel consumption Hydrogen
O&M cost ($/yr) 10
Lifetime (years) 20
Battery [47]
Model Surrete 4KS25P Table 3
String 10 Surrete 4KS25P specication [47].
Nominal capacity 4V
Nominal capacity 1900 Ah
State of charge 40%
Capital/replacement ($/pc) 1259/1100 Nominal voltage 4V
O&M cost ($/yr) 0.02 Round trip efciency 80%
Lifetime throughput (kWh) 10,569 Minimum SOC 40%
Converter [48] Float life 12 years
Size (kW) 40 Lifetime throughput 10,569 kWh
Capital/replacement cost ($/kW) 800/750 Suggested 10,494 kWh
O&M cost ($/kWh) 0 Maximum charge rate 1 A/Ah
Lifetime 15 Maximum charge current 67.5 A
Efciency 90
Diesel generator [49]
Rated power (kW) 5
Capital cost ($) 500
Replacement cost ($/kW) 500
O&M cost ($/h) 0.03
Lifetime (hours) 15,000
Minimum load ratio 30%
Fuel cell [50]
Size (kW) 100
Capital/Replacement cost ($/kW) 450/400
O&M cost ($/h) 0.150
Lifetime 15,000
Minimum load ration 30%
Hydrogen tank [41]
Sizes (kg) 80
Capital cost ($/kg) 1300
Replacement cost ($/kg) 1200
O&M cost ($/yr) 15
Lifetime (years) 25

Fig. 8. Fuel efciency curve of the diesel generator.

Table 4
Natural gas characteristic.

Lower heating value 45 MJ/kg

Density 0.79 kg/m3

Carbon content 67%
Sulfur content 0.33%

low, only the fuel cell system will supply the load along with the
grid. The PV system cannot work at night due to the unavailability
of solar radiation. The excess energy from fuel cell will charge the
battery until it is fully charged. As the fuel cell system is still
working at night, there will be heat supply for the heating appli-
cations. Fig. 9: illustrate the energy ow in the proposed system.

7. Result and analysis

Fig. 7. Efciency of PEMFC [53].
7.1. Optimization results

system along with the grid. A reformer and hydrogen tank are also
considered for the provision of uniform hydrogen supply to the fuel
cell system. Natural gas is used to produce hydrogen using the fuel
reformer and stored in the hydrogen tank. The heat produced by
the fuel cell and reformer is used in water boilers and the sterilizing
equipment in the hospital. At night, when the load is comparatively
There are ve different congurations simulated by HOMER
software in this study. They are: standalone diesel system, grid
connected PV system, grid connected PV-battery system, grid
connected PV-fuel cell system and grid connected PV-fuel cell-
battery system. The main purpose of the simulation is to evaluate
and compare the feasibility of each system in terms of economics
 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90
Fig. 9. Model of energy ow in proposed system.
and emission effect. The optimization results of the ve scenarios
are discussed below.
7.1.1. Standalone diesel based system
Conventionally, the hospital building uses diesel generators as a
backup system for any fault or interruption occurrence in the power
system. In this study, a stand-alone diesel based system is analyzed
to evaluate the cost for implementing only diesel system. The
HOMER simulation diagram is shown in Fig. 10. The diesel price is
considered here 0.4 $/L according to the current market price. Ac-
cording to the optimization result, the system has the TNPC of $
206,710. The LCOE for the diesel only system is $ 0.179/kWh. In this
system, the AC load is 91,228 kWh of annual average electricity
demand. The diesel generator can produce 91,815 kWh/yr of elec-
tricity with 567 kWh/yr of excess electricity. The exhaust emissions
produced by the system contains carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide
and nitrogen dioxide of 96,712 kg/year, 239 kg/year and 2130 kg/
year, respectively. According to David Biello, the world may cause a
peak warming of 2
C when a trillion tons of carbon was released
into the atmosphere [54]. Therefore, the power generation systems
design should focus on the carbon emission. The result shows that,
the fuel cost inuences the total cost of overall system. Table 5
shows the optimization results.
7.1.2. Grid connected PV system
This analysis is performed to evaluate the feasibility of a grid
connected PV system installation to the hospital building. Fig. 11
shows the conguration of simulated system and Table 6 provide
the optimization result for the grid connected system. The results
Fig. 10. Stand-alone diesel based system.
83
show that the initial capital of grid-connected PV is $ 33,000. The
TNPC and LCOE are $ 148,764 and 0.128 $/kWh, respectively. Ac-
cording to the simulations results, the grid connected PV system
has total electrical energy production of 91,692 kWh/yr from which
PV produces 4423 kWh/yr and 87,270 kWh/yr is supplied by the
grid purchases.
7.1.3. Grid connected PV/battery system
The simulation results give the optimal congurations which
consist of 100 kW of grid power, 3 kW PV panel, 15 kW inverter and
15 kW rectier, as shown in Fig. 12. This analysis is performed to
evaluate the effectiveness of battery installation. The optimization
results are shown in Table 7. The simulation results show the op-
timum conguration where, the AC load consumption requires
91,250 kWh per year and it is full lled by the power from PV panel
with 4423 kWh/yr and another 87,278 kWh/yr is supplied by the
grid purchases. This optimal result gives the TNPC $154,955. The
LCOE for the system is 0.133 $/kWh. The system produces 456 kWh
of excess electricity that can be sold to the grid. The TNPC and
operating cost of the system are $ 154,955 and 9343 $/yr respec-
tively. The system produces 55,155 kg/yr of carbon dioxide and
239 kg/yr of sulfur dioxide and Nitrogen dioxide of 117 kg/yr.
7.1.4. Grid connected with PV/FUEL cell system
Another conguration of grid connected PV panel and fuel cell
without batteries is simulated as shown in Fig. 13. The optimization
result shows that, there are ve optimized results produced which
are ranked based on the TNPC. Table 8 show the optimize output
from the HOMER simulation. The optimum conguration for this
system consist of a 100 kW power from the grid, 140 kW PV, 50 kW
fuel cell, 80 kW power converter and 5 kg/h reformer. The simu-
lation gives the TNPC equal to $ 99,094 and LCOE equal to 0.085
$/kWh. Moreover, the total amount of power production in the
system is 251,313 kWh/yr from which 206,389 kWh/yr come from
photovoltaic panel and the rest is supplied by the grid. In this
system, 91,250 kWh/yr is used for AC primary load and
77,206 kWh/yr is sold to the grid.
7.1.5. Grid connected PV, fuel cell with battery
The proposed system consists of PV panels, fuel cell and battery
with grid connected mode is shown in Fig. 14. The analysis also
considers the reformer and hydrogen tank as part of the fuel cell
84 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90

Table 5
Optimization results of standalone diesel based system.

Gen (kw) Initial capital ($) Operating cost ($/yr) TNPC ($) LCOE ($/kWh) Renewable fraction Capacity shortage Diesel (L/yr) Gen (hrs)

15 1500 16,053 206,710 0.179 0 0 36,085 8.759

20 2000 16,849 217,387 0.186 0 0 36,726 8.759
40 4000 22,025 285,552 0.245 0 0 44,269 8.759
60 6000 31,723 411,522 0.353 0 0 63,117 8.759
80 8000 42,272 548,378 0.470 0 0 84,094 8.759

9. From the results, the optimal conguration of this proposed

Fig. 11. Grid connected PV based system.
system contains a 100 kW power from the grid, 140 kW PV, 50 kW
fuel cell, 150 Surrete 4KS25P battery storage, 80 kW power con-
verter, and 5 kg/h reformer which gives TNPC, LCOE and operating
cost of $ 106,551, 0.091 $/kWh and 7245 $/yr respectively. Since in
this system hydrogen cost is considered, therefore the cost is $
5047. The optimum topology has renewable fraction of 0.82 and it is
considered environmentally friendly. Since, it produces the lowest
emission compared to the other congurations, the pollutants
emitted from the system are CO2, SOX and NOX and the amounts
are 20,321 kg/yr, 88.1 kg/yr and 43.1 kg/yr respectively. The emis-
sion depends on how the fuel cell is operated in the system. The

Table 6
Optimization result of grid connected PV system.

Grid (kw) PV (kw) Converter (kw) Capital cost ($) Operating cost ($/yr) TNPC ($) LCOE ($/kWh) Renewable fraction Capacity shortage

100 3 15 33,000 9056 148,764 0.128 0.05 0

100 6 15 54,000 8688 165,062 0.142 0.1 0
100 3 45 57,000 9654 180,405 0.155 0.05 0
100 6 30 66,000 8987 180,882 0.155 0.14 0
100 9 15 75,000 8321 181,368 0.155 0.1 0
100 12 15 96,000 7957 197,717 0.169 0.19 0

proposed system produces 206,389 kWh/yr of electricity from the

PV panel and 45,371 kWh/yr is supplied by the grid, as shown in
Fig. 15. In this regards, the system power consumption which goes
to the AC power load used is 91,250 kWh and the power that sales
to the grid is 77,525 kWh. The excess electricity is 69,003 kWh,
which can be sold to the grid. Besides, the excess electricity can be
sell back to the power utility companies to earn some prots.
However, the rule and agreement from SEDA must be followed. The
advantage of this conguration compared to the previous grid
connected PV and fuel cell without a battery is, the energy pro-
duced can be stored for the emergency use rather than wasting it.
The efciency of the system also can be increased by adding the
battery.
Fig. 12. PV, battery system based grid connected.

Table 7
Optimization result of grid connected PV-Battery system.

Grid (kw) PV (kw) Conv (kw) Battery Capital cost ($) Operating cost ($/yr) TNPC ($) LCOE ($/kWh) Ren fraction Capacity shortage

100 3 15 40 35,518 9343 154,955 0.133 0.05 0

100 3 30 40 47,518 9643 170,793 0.146 0.05 0
100 6 15 40 56,518 9168 173,722 0.149 0.1 0
100 3 45 40 59,518 9943 186,624 0.16 0.05 0
100 6 30 40 68,518 9469 189,560 0.163 0.1 0
100 9 15 40 77,518 8995 192,506 0.165 0.15 0

component since the hydrogen reformer is required to extract the 7.2. Sensitivity analysis
hydrogen from the fuel if a hydrocarbons source is used. In this
analysis, the fuel is assumed to use natural gas. There are ve A sensitivity analysis is performed on the uncertain parameters
optimization results rank according to the total NPC shown in Table that have been estimated during the system design. These might
 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90 85

Fig. 13. Grid connected PV and fuel cell system.
Government may reduce the subsidy on the fuel prices, which can
increase the diesel price in future. The ination rates that uctuate
in every year may give the impact on the annual interest rate. Ac-
cording to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) [55], the annual interest
rate varies from 1% to 3.25% (current). Nevertheless, in this sensi-
tivity analysis, the annual interest rate is assumed from 1% to 6% for
25 years of lifetime. In other hand, the changes in diesel prices from
0.4 $/L (MYR 1.60) to 3 $/L (MYR 10.23) is considered for the 25
years of lifetime. The sensitivity parameters are set in order to
observe the effect to the total NPC and LCOE. Fig. 16 shows the effect
of annual rate of interest change and diesel price change on TNPC.
The sensitivity analysis of standalone diesel generator based
system considers the annual interest rate from 1% to 6% and also the
diesel price from 0.4 $/L to 3 $/L for 25 years. The effect of change in
these variables results in the increment of TNPC from $ 354,797 to $
1,406,054. The LCOE increases at the same time from 0.179 $/kWh
to 1.221 $/kWh. The main reason for this increment is the raise of
diesel price. Generally, at constant diesel price, the TNPC decreases
with the increase of interest rate. As the both the diesel price and
interest rate is varied here, thus the result is different. The grid
connected PV system has TNPC of $ 236,847 when annual interest

Table 8
Optimization Result of grid connected PV/Fuel cell system.

Grid (kW) PV (kW) Conv (kW) FC (kW) Reformer (kg/h) Capital cost ($) Operating cost ($/yr) TNPC ($) LCOE ($/kWh) Ren fraction Capacity shortage

100 140 40 50 5 9217 7045 99,094 0.085 0.82 0

100 140 40 5 10,992 7049 100,199 0.086 0.82 0
100 140 40 50 5 11,217 7105 102,038 0.087 0.82 0
100 140 40 50 5 11,242 7106 102,079 0.088 0.82 0
100 140 40 100 5 11,442 7106 102,218 0.088 0.82 0

rate is 1% while the TNPC is equal to $ 151,231 for annual interest

Fig. 14. The HOMER diagram of proposed PV-FC-Battery cogeneration system.
have some signicant effect on the TNPC. In HOMER, the variables
can be specied within certain values, yet it can be determined how
important that variable is, and how the results will change
depending on this value. Meaning, the sensitivity of the outputs
with change in the input variable could be easily measured.
In this analysis, two parameters are selected as sensitivity var-
iables; fuel price and annual interest rate. Since Malaysia
rate 6%. There is no effect of diesel price change on this congu-
ration due to not having any diesel generator. The LCOE value is
remain 0.1 $/kWh. The third conguration, grid connected PV/
battery system shows decrease of TNPC from $224,419 to $136,189
and increase of LCOE from 0.117 $/kWh to 0.208 $/kWh. Further-
more, a grid connected PV/fuel cell system has TNPC equal to
$164,222 when annual interest rate is 1% while the TNPC is equal to
$ 99,094 for annual interest rate 6%. The LCOE changes from 0.086
$/kWh to 0.096 $/kWh for the same variation. Another analysis
related to grid connected PV/fuel cell and battery system has TNPC
equal to $173,540 when annual interest rate is 1% while the TNPC is
equal to $106,372 for annual interest rate 6%. At the same time LCOE
rises from 0.086 $/L to 0.091 $/L.
Fig. 17 shows the relation of TNPC and LCOE of the proposed grid
connected PV/FC/Battery system with the increase of annual in-
terest rate from 1% to 6%. It shows that the relation of TNPC and
LCOE is just opposite to each other. With the increase of annual
interest rate the TNPC decreases whereas the LCOE increases. Here,
the increment of LCOE is linear, however the decrement of TNPC is
not totally linear. This is because in this cogeneration system, the
cost is not affected by fuel cost change since PV system is fuel free,
but annual rate of interest has the effect on the TNPC. Moreover,
The TNPC curve and LCOE curve intersect each other at rate of in-
terest 3.5%, which means the system operates most economically at
this point.
The diesel price sensitivity graph of the standalone diesel sys-
tem at 6% annual interest rate is shown in Fig. 18. It can be seen that,
the TNPC increases linearly with the fuel cost increase. The rate of
interest increases at the same rate with fuel cost increase. The
reason is the fuel cost affects the both TNPC and LCOE similarly.
Moreover, the TNPC includes the fuel price over the whole lifetime.
86 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90

Table 9
Optimization output of grid connected PV/Fuel Cell and battery system.

Grid PV Conv FC Battery Reformer Capital cost Operating cost TNPC LCOE Renewable Capacity
(kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) Pc (kg/h) ($) ($/yr) ($) ($/kWh) fraction shortage

100 140 40 0 150 5 13,713 7248 106,372 0.091 0.82 0

100 140 40 50 150 5 13,938 7245 106,551 0.091 0.82 0
100 140 40 0 150 5 15,938 7305 109,316 0.094 0.82 0
100 0 40 0 150 5 5546 15,647 205,551 0.176 0 0
100 0 40 50 150 5 7771 15,704 208,516 0.179 0 0

Fig. 15. Monthly Average of electric production by grid PV panels and FC.

Fig. 16. Effect of increase in annual rate of interest on the systems.
8. Discussion
The techno-economic feasibility of the proposed system is
investigated in this paper. The simulation results were analyzed
based on economical point of view as it will help to predict and
design the optimal cogeneration system. According to the simula-
tion results, the system consist of PV/fuel cell and battery is the
optimal conguration. Moreover, four other topologies have also
been simulated to evaluate and compare the feasibility of the sys-
tem. Furthermore, the impact to the environment and the effec-
tiveness of battery installation in the system also has been analyzed
in the simulation and the results are discussed in the following
subsection.
8.1. Economical evaluation
There are several economic parameters simulated in HOMER
software. The comparison of initial capital, replacement cost, O&M
cost for each conguration are represented in Table 10. Among all
the congurations, the grid connected PV and fuel cell system has
the lowest capital cost as it only requires $ 9217. In contrast, the grid
connected PV/fuel cell/battery system requires $ 13,938 of initial
capital. Conventionally, diesel generator has been used as a backup,
therefore the stand alone diesel system also been simulated in this
work. The results have $ 1500 for initial capital cost which is lower
than the proposed system. Another topology, grid connected PV
system required capital cost of $ 33,000 and a grid connected PV
ebattery system needs $ 35,518 for initial capital.
Grid connected PV/battery system has the highest replacement
cost of $ 11,943 while the grid connected PV/Fuel cell system has
the lowest replacement cost which is $ 2496. The grid connected PV
system has replacement cost of $ 10,307. It is clear that battery cost
inuence the increment in replacement cost allocation. Moreover,
the grid connected PV/fuel cell/battery has the replacement cost of
$ 5,564, which also proves the inuence of battery cost.
The highest O&M cost is required by the grid connected PV/
Battery system which is $ 111,983. Next, the grid connected PV
system, grid connected PV/fuel cell/battery system and grid con-
nected PV/fuel cell system require $ 11,944, $ 8614 and, $ 8245
respectively. Again, the difference between the system with battery
and without batteries clearly shows that battery cost can increase
the cost of the system.
8.2. Energy parameter assessment
In this study, the variations of energy parameters of the
analyzed congurations are also observed. Among all congura-
tions, the proposed grid connected PV, fuel cell and battery system
produces the highest energy which 251,760 kWh/yr. Whereas, the
consumption is only 168,776 kWh energy per year. Thus, the excess
electricity of this system is 69,003 kWh/yr, which can be stored in
the battery. The grid connected PV and fuel cell without battery
system produce 251,313 kWh/yr for energy consumption of
168,456 kWh/yr. The excess electricity of this conguration is
69,131 kWh/yr. As there is no storage component installed in this
 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90 87

Fig. 17. TNPC versus annual interest rate.

Fig. 18. TNPC versus Diesel prices in standalone diesel system.

Table 10
Comparison of cost allocation for each system.

System Initial capital ($) Replacement ($) O&M ($) Fuel ($) TNPC ($)

Standalone diesel system 1500 10,759 10,077 184,515 206,710

Grid connected PV system 33,000 10,307 111,944 0 155,251
Grid connected PV/Battery system 35,518 11,943 111,983 0 159,444
Grid connected PV/FC system 9217 2496 8245 80,643 100,601
Grid connected PV/FC/Battery system 13,938 5564 8614 80,643 108,759

conguration, the excess energy is wasted. In comparison, stand-
alone diesel system produced 91,815 kWh/yr and the energy con-
sumption is 91,228 kWh/yr. The system has an excess electricity of
587 kWh/yr with 21.9 kWh/yr of unsatised load. The result depicts
that; the diesel based system is inefcient in terms of satisfying the
load. As the system is for hospital load, the capacity shortage is not
tolerated. Thus the diesel based system is not applicable although it
has low excess electricity production. The energy production in grid
connected PV system and grid connected PV-battery system are
91,692 kWh/yr and 91,740 kWh/yr respectively. Grid connected PV
system has an energy consumption of 91,250 kWh/yr with 0.005
excess electricity while the grid connected PV/battery system has
energy consumption of 91,284 kWh/yr with 0.06 kWh/yr excess
electricity. Although these two systems are also capable of satis-
fying the load, and have low excess power generation, they are not
suggested because the TNPC and LCOE of these systems are higher
than the grid connected PV/fuel cell/battery system. Table 11 shows
the comparison of energy parameters according to the simulation
88 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90

Table 11
Comparison of Energy parameters.

System Energy production (kWh/yr) Energy consumption (kWh/yr) Excess electricity (kWh/yr) Unmet electricity (kWh/yr)

Standalone diesel system 91,815 91,228 587 21.90

Grid connected PV system 91,692 91,250 0.005 0
Grid connected PV/Battery system 91,740 91,284 0.006 0
Grid connected PV/FC system 251,313 168,456 69,131 0
Grid connected PV/FC/Battery system 251,760 168,776 69,003 0

Table 12
Pollutant gas emission from the analyzed systems.

System model Environmental impact/emission (kg year1)

Carbon dioxide Carbon monoxide Unburned hydrocarbon Particulate matter SOX NOX

SA: diesel System 96,712 239 26.4 18 194 2130

GC:PV system 55,154 e e e 239 117
GC: PV/battery System 55,163 e e e 239 117
GC: PV/FUEL cell system 20,402 e e e 88.5 43.3
GC: PV/fuel cell/battery system 25,708 e e e 111 54.5

results in HOMER.
8.3. FiT benets
In general, the grid connected systems provide more cost-
effective solutions. The proposed system that consists grid con-
nected PV/fuel cell and battery system is feasible since it has the
lowest TNPC of $ 98,318 and the lowest LCOE of $ 0.084. This system
has some excess electricity generation and also it uses a battery
bank to store energy. The battery bank is for emergency backup
during fault occurrence. The excess energy and battery stored en-
ergy can be sold to the grid using the FiT program. The incentive
provided by the government for FiT program can be a source of
income to the hospital management if it fullls the requirement of
Sustainable Energy Development Authorization (SEDA). The
installation of cogeneration system which consists of the PV panel
will allow the building owner to claim the FiT benets. Conven-
tionally, the electricity charge is provided by the main utility
company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) as a monthly bill. The tariff
is categorized according to the client. According to TNB, hospitals
fall under Tariff C2 which charges the customers a at rate of RM
0.365/kWh (0.116 $/kWh) at peak period and RM 0.224/kWh (0.071
$/kWh) during off-peak period. FiT program determines the elec-
tricity prices from PV generation, which is upto 4 kW is 0.8249 RM/
kWh and upto 72 kW is 0.6139 RM/kWh. Also, additional incentive
amount of 0.1550 is given for the installation of PV panel in a
building. The payback cost in sales and purchase activity with the
authorized utility returns 20%e30% prot in duration of 21 years
agreement with SEDA [41]. This cogeneration system is able to
produce the 206,389 kWh/yr electricity from the PV panel, which
allows the hospital manager to claim the incentive of 1.0184 RM/
kWh. Means, for total 206,389 kWh/yr energy produced, the
amount can be claim from the TNB is MYR 223,725.6 per year. Thus,
per month the claim will be 18643.8 MYR. Therefore, by installing
the cogeneration system in the hospital system, the amount of
electricity and gas bill can be reduced.
8.4. Environment impact
Among all conguration simulated, the stand-alone diesel sys-
tem has the highest amount of the carbon dioxide emission of
96,712 kg/yr, followed by the grid connected PV/battery system,
grid connected PV system, grid connected PV/fuel cell/battery
system and grid connected PV/fuel cell system of 55,163 kg/yr,
55,154 kg/yr, 25,708 kg/yr and 20,402 kg/yr, respectively. The result
shows that the stand alone diesel system is not environment
friendly as it not only produces the highest carbon dioxide, but it
also produce carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide
of 239 kg/yr, 194 kg/yr and 2130 kg/yr, respectively. In this regard, it
has negative impact on the environment, and the atmosphere can
be infected. In addition, the uctuation in global fuel prices has
made the traditional system less effective.
The grid connected PV/fuel cell system is environmental friendly
as it only produces 20,402 kg/yr of carbon dioxide, 239 kg/yr of
sulfur dioxide and 117 kg/yr of nitrogen oxide. The grid connected
PV/fuel cell and battery system produces 25,708 kg/yr of carbon
dioxide, 111 kg/yr of sulfur dioxide and 54.5 kg/yr of nitrogen oxide.
Although there is small increment in emission when the system is
added with battery, it can be considered as environment friendly
compared to the existing traditional power generation in the hos-
pital building. This system can help the hospital community to
maintain healthy and economical green environment. Table 12
simplied the results of emission produced in the simulation.
9. Conclusion
This paper has demonstrated that cogeneration system con-
sisting grid connected hybrid PV, fuel cell and battery is promising
alternative to the conventional power system. Large energy
consuming centers like hospital should consider installing cogen-
eration system considering all the benets. Five congurations
have been simulated in HOMER in order to study the feasibility of
the proposed system from an economic point of view. The results
show that the proposed conguration which consists of grid con-
nected PV/fuel cell and battery is reasonable to supply the load
demand and at the same time the emission effect is also low.
Conventionally in hospital building, diesel power generation sys-
tem are used to provide the electricity while the heat is provided by
the natural gas through combustion process in a boiler. In cogen-
eration system, both electricity and heat energy can be generated
simultaneously from single system using single fuel. Hence, in this
paper, a cogeneration system consist of fuel cell, photovoltaic and
battery system is proposed to fulll the hospital building demand.
University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) building
is chosen as a case study. According to the simulation results of
HOMER, the proposed cogeneration system needs only $ 12,771 of
initial capital and $ 5564 for the replacement cost. The TNPC of this
system is $ 98,318 and LCOE is $0.0841/kWh. The sensitivity
 N.M. Isa et al. / Energy 112 (2016) 75e90
analysis of the system proves that, the system is sustainable to the
increase of diesel price and the annual rate of real interest change.
Although the initial investment of this system is high, it will be
protable to the hospital when it is included in the FiT program
provided by the Malaysian Government. With the installation of
proposed cogeneration system in the selected hospital, cost on
power generation can be saved up to 30%. In addition, this proposed
system is also suitable for environment, because it has low emission
of gases. It only produces 25,708 kg/yr of carbon dioxide, 111 kg/yr
of sulfur dioxide and 54.5 kg/yr of nitrogen oxide. It is important for
the hospital community to ensure the area as a healthiest premise
and green area. Nevertheless, the results from the simulation prove
that the cogeneration system is feasible to be implemented in the
hospital building in Malaysia.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to pay gratitude to Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM) for supporting with lab and library facilities and
National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) for providing leg-
acy version of HOMER software and its free technical support. In
addition, the authors would like to express their appreciation to the
Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (MOHE). They also
acknowledge funding provided by fundamental research grant
scheme (FRGS) under vote 4F596, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
(UTM).Lastly thanks to those colleagues who have either directly or
indirectly contributed to the completion of this work. Special
thanks to Dr. M. J. Sanjari for his valuable comments and support
from time to time.
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