A Case Study of Energy Saving by CCHP Technology in a Hospital

This paper describes a study that starts with an analysis of typical energy demand profiles in a hospital setting followed by a case study of a CCHP system. The CCHP idea is of an autonomous system for the combined generation of electrical, heating, and cooling energy in a hospital. The driving units are two high-efficiency gas engines that produce the electrical and heat energy. A gas engine meets the requirement for high electrical and heating energy demands; a natural gas-fuelled reciprocating engine is used to generate 735 kW of power. In our case, the electrical energy was used only in the hospital. A deficit in electricity can be covered by purchasing power from the public network. Generated steam drives three steam-fired absorption chillers and is delivered to individual heat consumers. This system can provide simultaneous heating and cooling. No technical obstacles were identified for implementing the CCHP. The typical patterns for driving units of CCHP were decided by the hourly energy demands in several seasons throughout the year. The average ratio between electric and thermal loads in the hospital is suitable for CCHP system operation. An analysis performed for a non-optimized CCHP system predicted a large potential for energy savings and CO₂ reduction.