Summary: | Commercial sector has been among the largest source of electrical load demand in Malaysia including educational buildings. Nowadays, distributed energy resources, such as solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), are being implemented in educational campus to save and manage its energy consumption. Additionally, electric vehicles (EV) are becoming more popular as they are more environmentally friendly than the traditional gasoline-powered cars. This research aims to examine the cost-effectiveness, environmental and technical aspects of a microgrid system that includes grid-connected solar panels, BESS and EV supply equipment (EVSE). The study was conducted for Universiti Teknologi MARA campus Pulau Pinang. The campus microgrid models are simulated using HOMER software to explore four different of microgrid configurations. The load profiles of the buildings in the campus were gathered and used in the model to identify the optimum microgrid model. The findings show Grid-PV-BESS has the best hybrid energy system based on the weightage sum decision making approach considering multiple criteria assessments. Through this study, a sustainable hybrid energy system in the educational campus can be proposed integrating solar PV, BESS and EVs. © 2023 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.
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