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This study thoroughly investigates the potential of direct current (DC) microgrids to enhance electricity access in rural and remote areas of Indonesia that continue to face significant obstacles despite ongoing national electrification efforts. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this research comprehensively evaluates socio-economic and technical factors that influence the adoption of DC microgrids. The results indicate that DC microgrids offer significant potential for enhancing energy access, reliability, and sustainability, particularly when combined with renewable energy sources. This aligns with Indonesia's move towards renewable energy. Nevertheless, the analysis identifies significant obstacles, such as the substantial initial investment, the requirement for complete regulatory frameworks, and the technological complexities that need to be conquered. In conclusion, DC microgrids present a promising solution for rural electrification. However, the implementation requires a strategy that emphasizes strategic investments, policy innovation, and capacity-building initiatives. This research significantly contributes to the study of sustainable energy by evaluating the criticality of integrating policies and technology for implementing DC microgrids as a key factor in achieving sustainable energy access in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many rural areas on remote islands that cannot be reached by electricity sources from the utility grid. However, Indonesia is a country that has an abundant supply of renewable energy. One of the renewable energies that is obtained for free is solar energy sources. Renewable energy has great potential as a source of distributed electricity generation or microgrids. This article proposes a new method for providing large electrical power supplies for rural areas, namely multiple microgrids with a centralized control strategy. The purpose of this method is to provide stability of power supply to the load. In this method, each microgrid has solar panels (SP), batteries, and diesel generators (GD). Multiple microgrids provide power supply to DC loads and AC loads. The centralized controller uses an outseal programmable logic controller (PLC) which functions to regulate the power flow of microgrid 1 (MG1), microgrid 2 (MG2), and microgrid 3 (MG3) to the load alternately. Simulation test results show the performance of a centralized control which is able to provide power supply to the load according to demand or changes in load. Power regulation management for rural areas can be developed for large-scale microgrid systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work models a photovoltaic (PV) inverter connected to an IEC microgrid system. The purpose of this study was to find the characteristics of symmetrical components before and after a high impedance single phase short-circuit fault. The IEC microgrid system is tailored to the distribution system in Indonesia, where the applied voltage is 20 kV. Only parameters related to the short-circuit study are included in the model. A second-order generalized integrator frequency-locked-loop is utilized to represent the 3-phase PV inverter. The inverter model, previously treated as an ideal current source, and positive sequence current are no longer employed, as they fail to depict the characteristics of symmetric components during a phase-to-ground short-circuit fault. The IEC microgrid system connected to the PV inverter is simulated using ATPDraw-electro magnetic transient program (EMTP). Simulation results reveal that the changes in the symmetric component values of current after a fault experience a very insignificant increase. Meanwhile, the positive sequence voltage values following the short-circuit fault exhibit a negligible decrease. In contrast, the negative sequence and zero sequence voltage components after the shortcircuit fault undergo a significant increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, community microgrids have expanded their power systems with many aims. One of the most important goals of microgrids is to increase resiliency. The main objective of this paper is to develop effective planning tools for community microgrids within electrical distribution networks, with a specific focus on ensuring the provision of critical loads during natural disasters. Additionally, this paper emphasized emphasises long-term planning considerations by using DIgSILENT 15.2 tools. The primary goal of this issue is to create the best planning tools for community microgrids in order to increase the network's resilience to natural disasters, with a focus on important loads like hospitals and hotels. Also, the second goal is an optimization that seeks to reduce overall expenses. Finally, we'll talk about how to get two results: one is to choose a few microgrid-based loads to link to the electrical distribution network, and the other is to show that each microgrid has the power needed to support both its local loads and the system's vital loads in the event of a natural disaster. In this paper, the use of community microgrids for energy access against natural disasters in Indonesia is investigated by considering the case study of microgrids on Lombok Island. The study results, using the proposed framework, show that the presence of a microgrid structure in the distribution network expansion planning helps to improve operating conditions and supply critical loads in natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has increased the challenge of freshwater provision for the urban population. Modelling water balance can help visualizing the occurrence in a hydrological system due to urbanization that is beneficial for future water-resource management. A hybrid distributed monthly water balance model adopted from Xinanjiang model and TOPMODEL by (Chen et al. 2007) has succeeded to simulate the distributed water storage in a catchment area and applied to the water resources change assessment by districts in peri-urban area of Yogyakarta City, Indonesia. The hybrid model was modified to include water uptake in urban area. The optimized model estimated monthly river discharge with R = 0.77. The model demonstrated the saturation distribution change by the intensified water uptake in expanded urban area especially in dry season. The model simulation could point out the sensitive districts of which water storage possibly decrease caused by the urbanization progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raising the electrification ratio to 100% is still a formidable challenge in Indonesia, especially in the remote areas of the eastern part of the archipelago. A DC microgrid system is one of the most viable solutions to increase the electricity supply in remote areas, taking advantage of various renewable energy sources that are located near the rural load centers. A DC–DC power converter for a rural DC microgrid system needs to have a high voltage gain to facilitate the power conversion from low-voltage PV output to a high-voltage DC microgrid bus, a very low input ripple current to help maintain the PV or battery lifetime, and be highly modular for ease of transport and assembly. Many topologies have been proposed to obtain high voltage gain, very low ripple current, and modularity. However, they usually use either bulky and lossy magnetic components, are sensitive to component parameter variance and need special voltage-balancing techniques, or have different component ratings for their multilevel configuration which weakens the modularity aspect. This paper proposes a new modular multilevel DC–DC converter that is very suitable for rural DC microgrid applications based on a modified buck–boost topology. The proposed converter is easily stackable to achieve high voltage gain and does not require any voltage balancing techniques, thus enhancing the modularity characteristics and simplifying its control method. Moreover, the ripple current can be reduced by employing a multiphase configuration. This converter can also facilitate bidirectional power flow to serve as a battery charger/discharger. A comprehensive analysis of voltage gain and ripple current are presented to explain the inner workings of this converter. Finally, the performance of this converter is verified through simulation and experiment, showing the converter's modularity, bidirectional power capability, and potential to achieve voltage gain and ripple-current requirements of the DC microgrid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abundant use of solar energy in Indonesia has the potential to become electrical energy in a microgrid system. Currently the use of renewable energy sources (RESs) in Indonesia is increasing in line with the reduction of fossil fuels. This paper proposes a new microgrid DC configuration and designs a centralized control strategy to manage the power flow from renewable energy sources and the load side. The proposed design uses three PV arrays (300 Wp PV module) with a multi-battery storage system (MBSS), storage (200 Ah battery). Centralized control in the study used an outseal programmable logic controller (PLC). In this study, the load on the microgrid is twenty housing, so that the use of electrical energy for one day is 146.360 Wh. It is estimated that in one month it takes 4.390.800 Wh of electrical energy. The new DC microgrid configuration uses a hybrid configuration, namely the DC coupling and AC coupling configurations. The results of the study show that the DC microgrid hybrid configuration with centralized control is able to alternately regulate the energy flow from the PV array and MBSS. The proposed system has an efficiency of 98% higher than the previous DC microgrid control strategy and configuration models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather conditions and natural disasters (ND) are the main causes of power outages in the electric grid. It is necessary to strengthen the electrical power system's resilience during these catastrophic occurrences, and microgrids may be seen as the best way to achieve this goal. In this paper, two different energy system scenarios were proposed for increasing the resiliency of the electric power system during random outages. In the first scenario, a diesel generator (DG) was used to deliver energy to key loads during grid disruptions, in conjunction with a utility electric grid (UEG) and local electric load (ELL). A grid-connected ad hoc microgrid (MG) with a photovoltaic (PV) system, a battery energy storage (BES) system, and local electric loads made up the second scenario. The PV system and the BES system were used to supply the key loads with electricity during the outage. The major aim of this research was to compare the two resilient-based systems from the perspectives of technology, economics, and the environment. Given that it requires greater resilience than the other loads during severe weather, a hospital load on Indonesia's Lombok Island was chosen as the critical load. The objective function considers the system's predefined constraints to reduce the overall net present cost (NPC) and the cost of energy in order to maximize the system resilience (COE). The Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) Grid simulated a 3-day outage in August 2021, and the results demonstrated that the resiliency enhancement for both scenarios was nearly identical. The first scenario resulted in fewer CO2 emissions; however, the second scenario delivered lower operating costs and COE. The simulation's findings showed that system 1 created an annual emission of 216.902 kg/yr while system 2 only produced an emission of 63.292 kg/yr. This study shows that since RES-based MGs don't burn fossil fuels to generate power, they are more environmentally friendly resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the economic feasibility of hybrid microgrid power system for three remote islands of Sumatra, Indonesia. The microgrid system simulated and analysed using Homer Pro software. Optimization results showed that the combination of photovoltaic (PV), diesel generation (G) and batteries (Batt) for microgrid power system in Mandeh and Lagundri Island area were the most economical configuration. Meanwhile, for Mentawai area, the combination of PV, Wind Turbine (WT), G, Batt was the most optimal since it has higher wind speed then the other two areas. The Mandeh area has the highest solar radiation compared to the other two areas, resulting in the lowest CoE of $0.096/kWh as well as the lowest investment and operational costs. For the fixed PV 100 kW scenario, the optimal configuration is obtained with 86 kW supplied by WT for the Lagundri location, and 67 kW supplied by WT for the Mentawai area, while the WT installation area is not recommended for Mandeh location. The power management analysis showed that the average and patterns of weather parameters including solar radiation and wind speed effect both PV and Wind electrical power production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Integration of renewable energy generators with existing electrical power systems is an effective strategy to strengthen energy security in islands and remote areas. However, in the case of high penetration of renewable energy sources (RES), operations and economic aspects must be considered. One of the power plant integration schemes is the Unit Commitment (UC), a daily scheduling method to achieve optimization goals while still meeting various operational, environmental, and technical constraints. However, the existing UC method is a generic one, therefore it is necessary to develop an optimization method with a new approach based on improved PL-GA to manage the generation scheduling in microgrid power systems. The proposed solution method is the PL-GA Algorithm, an improvement from the previous studies, with optimization on economic dispatch using GA. This algorithm uses a simple and fast PL technique for the generation scheduling and dispatch stages to obtain the initial population. Then, an accurate and more flexible GA technique is used for the economic dispatch stage to avoid local optima to get the lowest total operating costs. This method has been simulated on the electricity system in Eastern Indonesia, a developing electricity system with intermittent RES power plants with good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) can supply backup power for a remote island microgrid that generates power from tidal energy, photovoltaics (PV), and wind turbines. Since SOFCs need high temperature operation, though, the possible output adjustments are relatively slow. Therefore, SOFC with renewable energy requires the electricity compensation by a storage battery. This paper reports the analysis results using MATLAB/Simulink 2016b simulations of a microgrid with tidal energy, photovoltaics, and SOFC generators. The dynamic characteristics of the modeled SOFC are estimated from experimental tests of a product in Japan, and the suitable battery capacity for such a microgrid is determined. Furthermore, proposed system stores surplus electricity using a hydrogen energy carrier, energy supply can be carried out only in renewable energy. The remote tropical islands of Ternate and Pulau‐Tidore served as a case study area for the proposed microgrid. Proposed microgrid for a remote island was modeled using MATLAB/Simulink 2016b. The simulations clarified the suitable combination of tidal power generation, PV, and SOFC capacity assuming a maximum load. The required capacity of a Li‐ion storage battery in the example case of Indonesia's remote Ternate and Pulau‐Tidore Island needs to be 3.2% of the maximum hourly load if the maximum load on the microgrid is 1200 kW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural off-grid electrification systems powered by renewable energy have become popular in the Global South. Unfortunately, many microgrids have experienced trouble during their first years of operation, leading to premature system deterioration. In this paper we trace these problems to institutional issues associated with goal displacement in implementing organizations and, relatedly, ineffective programme upscaling, which have remained under-researched in the rural renewable energy literature thus far. Using literature about implementation of large infrastructure projects, political economy of policy making, and replication of innovations as our conceptual lens, we examine a government-initiated microgrid programme in Indonesia. Early project failure was found to be linked to a one-sided policy focus on expanding the number of installed systems, instead of ensuring service quality. This focus is driven by political campaign strategies in which microgrid technologies are used as instruments for political legitimation, and pressure from aid donors to achieve early quantifiable results. It leads higher governmental echelons to care about reaching pre-set installation targets rather than ensuring that lower-level governments face incentives to focus on maintenance and repair. The focus on quantitative expansion also explains a lack of incentives or pressures to address a persistent lack of clarity about responsibilities of each government level, local communities, consultants, and contractors. Similar patterns can be noted in other countries, suggesting the findings have broader relevance for understanding key determinants of microgrid unsustainability in the Global South. To improve governance, pressure needs to be brought on the government by the general public, academia, NGOs and the press through increased public exposure of early system deterioration. These actions should be grounded in research that seeks to understand the complex causes of the problem, considering the whole scope of interlinked incentives and policies, before trying to tackle it. • Failure of government initiated microgrids is due to focus on system numbers, not service quality. • Focus on quantitative expansion explains a lack of incentives to address lack of responsibilities. • Similar patterns are seen in the Global South on key determinants of microgrid unsustainability. • To improve, the government needs to be pressured by the general public, academia, NGOs and press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of new and renewable energy sources explicitly based on biomass needs to be increased to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. One of the potential biomasses of plantation waste in Indonesia that can be utilized is oil palm plantation waste in the form of fronds and trunks that are converted with multi-stage downdraft gasification technology. This study aimed to conduct a technical analysis, economic analysis, investment risk analysis, social analysis, and an environmental impact assessment of power plants fueled by oil palm plantation waste. The method used was the upscaling of a prototype of a 10 kW power plant to 100 kW. The results showed that it was technically and economically feasible to apply. The economic indicators were a positive NPV of USD 48.846 with an IRR of 9.72% and a B/C ratio of 1.16. The risk analysis predicted a probability of an NPV 49.94% above the base case. The study of the social aspects suggested that the construction of power plants has a positive impact in the form of increased community income and the growth of new economic sectors that utilize electricity as a primary source. An analysis of the environmental effects is critical so that the impacts can be minimized. Overall, the construction of small-scale power plants in oil palm plantations is worth considering as long as it is carried out following the applicable regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the companion paper of Remote Microgrids for Energy Access in Indonesia "Part I: scaling and sustainability challenges and a technology outlook". This part II investigates the issues of photovoltaic (PV) systems with respect to the planning, design, and operation, and maintenance phases in microgrids in Indonesia. The technology outlooks are also included as PV has an important role in providing electricity in the underdeveloped, isolated, and border areas. The data in this paper are from PV microgrids located in Maluku and North Maluku, which are two provinces where there is barely any grid connection available and thus very dependent on remote microgrids. The data are obtained from interviews with Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and NZMATES, which are an Indonesian utility company and a program for supporting role for the PV systems in Maluku funded by New Zealand respectively. Common issues with respect to reliability and sustainability are identified based on the provided data. Advanced technologies to increase reliability and sustainability are also presented in this paper as a technology outlook. Among these solutions are online monitoring systems, PV and battery lifetime estimation, load forecasting strategies, and PV inverters technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Indonesia's electrification ratio reached 99.2% in 2020, it has shown stagnating electrification since 2018. This is because most of the remaining areas that need to be electrified are remote and have unique characteristics that hamper implementation of microgrids for providing energy access. Furthermore, not only the deployment but also the long-term sustainability of microgrids is crucial for ensuring continuity of energy access. This paper aims to investigate the scaling and sustainability challenges of remote microgrid development in Indonesia by analyzing microgrids in the Maluku and North Maluku provinces. This study is a two-part publication; the first part focuses on identifying challenges in Indonesia's remote microgrid development, while the second part focuses on potential technology solutions. In the first part, an assessment of energy access within a multi-tier framework was conducted, which was then analyzed using a multi-dimensional (institutional, social, technical, economic, environmental, and policy) approach adapted from the literature. The framework was expanded by mapping the challenges onto specific phases of the microgrid development, which is intended to be helpful for the parties involved in specific phases. It is shown that the challenges related to unclear land status, lack of social engagement, preliminary survey, technical and practical knowledge, and O&M procedures—especially for remote microgrids with renewable energy sources—are the most prominent issues. Additionally, issues caused by electrical events and environmental conditions such as relatively humid and high-temperatures, and uncontrolled vegetation, rodents, insects, and lizards are often found. Furthermore, a high-level technological outlook to address some of these issues is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most inhabited islands in Indonesia are powered by expensively known diesel generators and isolated from the primary grid due to either geographical or economic reasons. Meanwhile, the diesel generator can be combined with a photovoltaic (PV) system and Battery Energy Storage (BES) system to form a hybrid power generation system to reduce the energy cost and increase renewable energy penetration. For this, proper sizing of each power generation component is required, one of which is influenced by the applied control strategy. This paper proposes an optimal BES dispatch (OBD) control strategy that optimizes the power generation components' sizing. The method examines the shortcomings of the other popular control strategies, such as load following, cycle charging, or combination. The optimization objectives are to minimize the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and maximize the renewable energy (RE) penetration, which can be achieved by prioritizing the BES to supply the load over other available generations and charge the BES every time the generator operates. The proposed method is implemented at two different systems with different load profiles. As a result, the proposed control strategy provides lower LCOE while maintaining higher RE penetration than the other control strategies in both locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]