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Low cost, highly reliable rural electrification through a combination of grid extension and local renewable energy generation

Publication Type : Journal Article

Publisher : Sustainable Cities and Society .

Source : Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 42, p.344 - 354 (2018)

Url : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210670717307655

Keywords : Design, Energy shortage, Grid extension, Losses, Microgrid, Reliability, Renewable energy, Rural electrification

Campus : Amritapuri

School : School of Engineering

Center : Amrita Center for Economics & Governance (ACEG)

Department : Electronics and Communication

Year : 2018

Abstract : Globally, 1.2 billion people have yet to be granted access to electricity. Another 2.4 billion receive an intermittent electrical supply due to undersized and unreliable rural power grids. However, existing rural electrification programs focus mostly on extending the central power grid, thus providing an intermittent supply and increasing the losses on the power grid. In the literature, extension of the central grid is unilaterally compared with a stand-alone microgrid solution. In the model for rural electrification presented in this paper, the extension of the central grid is supplemented with local renewable energy generation and storage. The “reliability of the central power grid”, the “expected reliability of electrical supply in the village”, and the “losses” are also introduced as important design parameters. The usefulness and relevance of the proposed model was illustrated through 20 test cases. For Kanjikuzhi, an Indian village, additional renewable energy can reduce the average cost of electricity by 26%, diminish power interruptions by 40% and decrease grid losses by 62.5%, compared to a simple extension of the central power grid.

Cite this Research Publication : Fabien Chidanand Robert and Dr. Sundararaman Gopalan, “Low cost, highly reliable rural electrification through a combination of grid extension and local renewable energy generation”, Sustainable Cities and Society, vol. 42, pp. 344 - 354, 2018.

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