Energy, economics and environmental (3E's) analysis of a solar-assisted HRES through demand side management

The limitation of renewable energy is its fluctuation with time, season, and peak load demand. Hence, most of the research was carried using demand side management to reduce the actual consumption load to lower the peak load. This will also hamper the basic energy need of the facility. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to model a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to attain the specific consumption of a community health centre (CHC) in Yomcha, Arunachal Pradesh, with load shedding. The optimization of HRES is performed on HOMER® Pro software along with the demand side management algorithm and a maximum annual capacity shortage of 5%. Three different cases were compared based on feasibility, economics, and environmental basis to estimate the performance of the HRES. The results show that the proposed model is appropriate for the CHC over the previously proposed system. Moreover, HRES with (design-side management) DSM will reduce the overall cost and increase efficiency and reliability with an net present value of Rs. 3013482 and a cost of energy of Rs. 5.42/kW, renewable fraction 78%, internal rate of return 70%, return of investment 66%, and payback period of 1.4 years. Moreover, it reduces emissions, controls overloading during peak hours, and decreases load shifting. The study also supports the sustainable development goal (SDG)-7 set by the United Nation SDG Committee.