Techno-economic and resilience optimization of a university microgrid: A dual-tool approach

The imperative for resilient and economically viable renewable energy integration into power grids, particularly in developing regions facing intermittency and affordability challenges, motivates this research. This study investigates optimal configurations of solar photovoltaics, electric vehicles, battery storage, and electrolyzer systems for a representative university campus microgrid in a developing country. Utilizing advanced modeling and optimization with nPro and REopt® software, various integration scenarios were analyzed to enhance grid performance, focusing on resilience against outages and long-term financial sustainability. Techno-economic optimization using nPro for an integrated PV-EV-Battery-Electrolyzer system projects a 20-year net profit of approximately $18.65 million USD and achieves substantial CO 2 emission reductions, reaching the lowest emission level among scenarios at 472 tons per annum. Complementarily, REopt® analysis demonstrates that a PV-Battery-Generator configuration designed for resilience can sustain critical loads for up to 168-h outages. However, such resilience-focused designs exhibit a decreasing NPV as outage endurance extends, dropping from approximately $0.22 million USD for 48-h resilience to $0.17 million USD for a 168-h capability. This contrasts with a financially-optimized system which, while boasting a higher NPV of $0.29 million USD, lacks these extended outage survival capabilities. This research provides a validated framework and actionable insights, demonstrating that synergistic renewable integration can achieve significant economic, environmental, and resilience benefits for campus microgrids, contributing to a sustainable energy future, particularly in developing regions.