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Access to electricity is a key indicator of a country's development. In developing nations like Ethiopia, this metric is particularly crucial for assessing progress. Currently, about 45.8% of Ethiopia's population lacks access to electricity, with rural areas experiencing even higher rates, reaching 57.2%. The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's (SNNP) region faces the greatest challenge, with 62.1% of its population lacking electricity. Ethiopia aims to achieve universal electricity access by 2030, and microgrid (MG) development is expected to play a pivotal role in meeting this goal. This study employs a multi-tier framework (MTF) to categorize village households based on electricity access, considering factors like income level and willingness to pay, to support the MG development process. Three villages—Toba, Koza, and Womba—in the SNNP region were selected for optimal MG sizing. Sensitivity variables such as global horizontal irradiance (GHI) variation, photovoltaic (PV) and battery prices, battery usage limits, and capacity shortage levels were analyzed for their impact on net present cost (NPC), initial capital cost, and cost of energy (COE) using HOMER Pro software. For example, in the Toba MG, increasing the capacity shortage from 0 to 10% reduced the COE from 0.1195 $/kWh to 0.09104 $/kWh, a 23.82% decrease. Additionally, fluctuations in PV and battery prices had a direct impact on the system's NPC. The study also explored the impact of clustering the microgrids by interconnecting the three individual systems and conducting a techno-economic analysis. The comparison between standalone MG operation and clustered microgrids revealed that, despite the added cost of interconnection, the benefits in terms of technological, economic, and reliable operation of the clustered system were comparable to standalone microgrids. Finally, a feasibility study was conducted for the potential grid extension of the Toba MG, which is located 130 km from the nearest substation in Sawla. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Access to electricity is a key indicator of a country’s development. In developing nations like Ethiopia, this metric is particularly crucial for assessing progress. Currently, about 45.8% of Ethiopia’s population lacks access to electricity, with rural areas experiencing even higher rates, reaching 57.2%. The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s (SNNP) region faces the greatest challenge, with 62.1% of its population lacking electricity. Ethiopia aims to achieve universal electricity access by 2030, and microgrid (MG) development is expected to play a pivotal role in meeting this goal. This study employs a multi-tier framework (MTF) to categorize village households based on electricity access, considering factors like income level and willingness to pay, to support the MG development process. Three villages—Toba, Koza, and Womba—in the SNNP region were selected for optimal MG sizing. Sensitivity variables such as global horizontal irradiance (GHI) variation, photovoltaic (PV) and battery prices, battery usage limits, and capacity shortage levels were analyzed for their impact on net present cost (NPC), initial capital cost, and cost of energy (COE) using HOMER Pro software. For example, in the Toba MG, increasing the capacity shortage from 0 to 10% reduced the COE from 0.1195 $/kWh to 0.09104 $/kWh, a 23.82% decrease. Additionally, fluctuations in PV and battery prices had a direct impact on the system’s NPC. The study also explored the impact of clustering the microgrids by interconnecting the three individual systems and conducting a techno-economic analysis. The comparison between standalone MG operation and clustered microgrids revealed that, despite the added cost of interconnection, the benefits in terms of technological, economic, and reliable operation of the clustered system were comparable to standalone microgrids. Finally, a feasibility study was conducted for the potential grid extension of the Toba MG, which is located 130 km from the nearest substation in Sawla.

Hybrid renewable energy systems with electric vehicle charging stations can provide reliable and environmentally friendly power output for telecom Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). This paper provides an optimized BTS telecom deployment method. The proposed framework uses actual load profiles to conduct a techno-economic assessment of 26 independent sites in North, South, and Central regions to reduce NPC, operational costs, LCOE, and diesel generator running hours. To complete this study’s financial model, these 26 BTS sites are connected to the grid for net metering and environmentally friendly electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, and incentives (bonus depreciation and investment tax credit) are added. Finally, numerous uncertain elements are sensitively analyzed, and a carbon emission reduction environmental evaluation is done. When connected to a grid for net metering, freestanding hybrid systems (diesel generator-photovoltaic-wind-battery) have a significantly lower LCOE. Standalone hybrid systems have LCOEs between 0.1096 and 0.2325 $/kWh. On-grid hybrid systems have an average LCOE of 0.004065 to 0.03559 $/kWh. After adding electric vehicle charging stations and incentives, the average LCOE drops further. Optimization and comparative studies reveal that the best grid expansion hybrid charging station is cheaper, greener, and more sustainable than the stand-alone hybrid system. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and governments and corporate investors can utilize the suggested studies to make decisions and optimize policies.

Electrical power generation in Oman depends mainly on natural gas, while in rural areas it is based mainly on diesel fuel. Oman has committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. The objective of this paper is to propose an optimal energy mix model for electricity generation from various energy sources, such as gas, diesel, wind, and photovoltaic, that considers more renewable sources in the energy mix. The optimization model minimizes various costs such as construction cost, operation cost, fuel cost, and carbon emissions, while satisfying the load demand. In this paper, Masirah Island is selected to perform our analysis. Several scenarios are contemplated, including grid extension to the island. The results found that gas-powered generators with 20% PV and storage are the best option in terms of the levelized cost of electricity. The grid extension is an economically feasible option if the existing load is more than doubled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this investigation is to propose a comprehensive decision-making checklist to evaluate the utilization of hybrid renewable configurations in each remote area. By considering the exergetic performance, financial, environmental, and social perspective approaches, the decision-making between the grid extension and the use of local renewable resources is performed, and the optimal solutions are recognized. To create this novel checklist, the methodologies of Geographic Information System (GIS), exergy evaluation, and HOMER Pro software are integrated. The proposed checklist also includes several sensitivity analyses to generalize the obtained findings to other remote villages. To investigate the extension of the central grid based on the geographical analysis, the breakeven point for each village is obtained. After that, by computing the value of the Cost-Effective Index (CEI), the most cost-efficient solar tracker mode could be introduced. For instance, the PV/DG/BG/Bat option with a cost of energy of 0.138 and CO2 emission of 30,917 kg/year is found as the optimum configuration for the village related to cold & dry climate. The overall exergetic proficiency is calculated to be 37.27%, as well as it was determined that about 92% of overall irreversibility belonged to the PV modules. The highest value of CEI is related to the vertical tracker mode (40.17), as well as the breakeven distance is gained as 6.21 km. By employing the vertical tracker system, the overall exergetic efficiency reached 41.31%. Evaluation of the outcomes illustrated that the presented checklist could be a powerful tool for feasibility investigation of applying combined renewable systems and grid extension for each remote rural anywhere in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several geospatial factors influence the suitability of national power grid expansion, especially in remote areas. Since previous studies have neither explicitly examined the level of influence of these factors nor provided a clear spatial representation of their impact, this paper examines how geospatial factors (distance from substation and road, terrain slope, elevation, and land cover) influence grid extension suitability to unelectrified settlements in the context of Ethiopia. Open-access and remote-sensing datasets are used together with OnSSET geospatial modeling analysis methodology. A spatial grid extension suitability map is developed to display areas that are most suitable, semi-suitable, and less suitable for grid extension. Results show that terrain slope is the most significant contributor to grid extension suitability, accounting for 40.8 % of the total score. The findings reveal that the geospatial factors studied, aggregately, might increase the total investment cost of grid extension by 2.3 %–29 % across Ethiopia. The results also show that 45 % and 85 % of Ethiopia's population live within 10 km distance from high-voltage and projected medium-voltage lines, respectively. The study underscores that rather than focusing exclusively on distances from existing grid infrastructures, it is important to take into account the aforementioned geospatial factors affecting investment costs for grid extension planning.

In Saudi Arabia, the energy sector is presently the most significant contributor to carbon emissions, followed by the transportation sector, which contributes about 26% of the gross greenhouse gas emissions. The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the transportation sector worldwide is one way to bring about a global green solution that can support the decarbonization of the environment, which now constitutes a new electric power demand for the utility grid network. To preserve the environment, and reduce the pressure on the existing grid network, we propose the utilization of EV charging stations (EVCSs) in off-grid locations. It is essential to have an alternative stand-alone renewables-based electrification framework to secure the charging demand needed for the electric vehicles. The present study performs a techno-economic investigation of a novel off-grid scheme that combines renewable energy resources to provide clean electricity for EV charging stations. The optimized system for the EVCS is compared with the alternative option of grid extension using economic criteria evaluation metrics and distance limitations. The optimization and comparative analysis results reveal that the option of an optimum stand-alone hybrid charging station is an economical, sustainable, and eco-friendly alternative to the option of grid expansion.

One of the biggest issues impeding a country's progress is the lack of power. To overcome this issue, hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) play an important role. Due to rising consumption and diminishing resources globally, sustainability has recently attracted more attention. Bangladesh has access to renewable energy sources, including solar, micro-hydro, biomass, wind, and others. The objective of this research is to minimize the net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE), and CO2 emissions of the suggested electricity network using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) Pro Software. This investigation explores the possible use of a hybridized energy system (i.e., solar, wind, and diesel) with battery storage in Bangladesh's northern area. Utilizing HOMER Pro software, an optimal grid-connected system is chosen after evaluating the techno-economic viability of several configuration options. For the Rangpur metropolitan region, seven distinct grid-connected solutions with stationary renewable sources are simulated. The HRES is designed to meet demands for hospital, diagnostic, school, and operation theatre loads of 3250.00 kWh, 250.00 kW maximum requirement, and 570.00 kWh, 71.25 kW maximum electricity demand, respectively. Multivariate linear regression (MLR) is used to assess the suggested optimal combination in terms of system size, cost, technical performance, and environmental stability. The findings show that the metric real-time rate (annual) has emerged as the most advantageous option since economic criteria like total NPC and COE are preferred above others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is the most fundamental need for better yield in agriculture. Worldwide, diesel and electricity are typically used to pump water which contributes to atmospheric pollution. Besides, a power outage affects the irrigation process badly. Without water, the crop may wither away, causing a substantial economic loss. This paper discusses the resilience of a solar PV system during a power outage. HOMER Pro software was used to perform the techno-economic analysis of solar-based irrigation for four major divisions of Bangladesh, while 1-hour power outage was assigned in REopt lite to model the survivability of the system against the grid outage. The simulation outcomes showed that the energy cost is $0.1496/kWh, $0.1502/kWh, $0.1557/kWh, and $0.1576/kWh for Rajshahi, Sylhet, Dhaka, and Chattogram, respectively. About 45% of excess electricity can be stored after fulfilling all requirements. The system is more economical than a microgrid-based water pumping system and a diesel-based system, and the photovoltaic system is technically and economically suitable to pump water if the nearest grid connection is impossible. When connected to the main utility grid, the system can survive without grid power for several hours, subject to daytime outages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review of research undertaken, and subsequent policy change enacted, in the years 2018 to 2022 regarding the integration of cooking loads and needs into modern energy planning. Building on an earlier paper which described how the dominant global approaches to tackling the enduring problem of biomass-fuelled cooking was failing, and how a new UK Aid programme (Oct 2018) would be seeking to intentionally change international energy policy towards cooking and enable a significant transition in energy use, in this paper we review whether this strategy is being adopted by researchers, governments, and the private sector across the world and whether it is likely to make a significant contribution to the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goal 7. In particular, the call is for integrated planning of modern energy inclusive of cooking loads—the potential 'Mutual Support' that both can lend to each other. The review considers the international commitments made by donors and governments to this end, the research that positions the use of modern energy as a cost-effective proposition, the urbanisation and societal changes reinforcing such planning, and positions the review in the light of climate change and the need to reach net zero carbon by 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing Uganda's low electrification rate is one of the country's major challenges. Power service is essential to achieve socioeconomic development and poverty reduction, especially in rural areas. This paper shows the advantages of using an integrated (grid and off-grid) electrification model with high geospatial, temporal, and customer-class granularity as the Reference Electrification Model (REM). In universal electrification strategies, REM will help better ascertain the role of minigrids, jointly with grid extension, solar kits, and stand-alone systems. REM has been applied to the Southern Service Territory (SST) to determine the least-cost mix of electrification modes—grid extension, off-grid minigrids, and standalone systems—that satisfies the hourly demand requirements of each customer—residential, commercial, or industrial—considering its individual location. REM incorporates the existing grid layout, the hourly solar local profile, and the catalogs of actual components for network and generation designs. The paper shows that minigrids can provide grid-like service at a significantly lower cost in many circumstances and to a considerable extent. Therefore, minigrid strategies should play a more important role in electrification planning, both transitorily and on a permanent basis, particularly when the central grid suffers from frequent and prolonged blackouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable-diesel hybrid systems are increasingly common as remote communities, powered primarily by diesel fuel, seek alternatives to reduce costs and emissions while improving energy autonomy. This study goes beyond plug loads to include options for a northern remote community to eliminate imported fuels used in stationary combustion by displacing diesel electricity while electrifying heating loads. Four scenarios are developed using HOMER for a case study in the Kivalliq region of Canada to examine high renewable penetration potential energy systems, including heating loads. A 1200 km power line extension from a hydroelectricity grid in southern Canada has been proposed in the region. The powerline is compared to on-site renewables, such as wind and solar, and to the base case with increasing carbon prices. The highly seasonal nature of heating loads, and the acute risks of power loss in the winter results in high capacity, but low usage back-up infrastructure requirements. District heating is considered as a novel way to assist in increasing the renewable fraction in remote contexts to minimize fossil fuel back-up requirements. Assuming the grid extension can be developed on budget and that diesel prices inflate, this analysis shows the powerline presents the lowest cost path to full decarbonization, and lower costs than business as usual. Using a combination of local renewables and district heating, 60% renewable penetration could be achieved with comparable net present costs to the powerline. In high priced diesel fuel scenarios, increasing renewable energy either with onsite generation or the power line extension present lower cost options than continued reliance on imported fossil fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the biggest issues impeding a country’s progress is the lack of power. To overcome this issue, hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) play an important role. Due to rising consumption and diminishing resources globally, sustainability has recently attracted more attention. Bangladesh has access to renewable energy sources, including solar, micro-hydro, biomass, wind, and others. The objective of this research is to minimize the net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE), and CO2 emissions of the suggested electricity network using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) Pro Software. This investigation explores the possible use of a hybridized energy system (i.e., solar, wind, and diesel) with battery storage in Bangladesh’s northern area. Utilizing HOMER Pro software, an optimal grid-connected system is chosen after evaluating the techno-economic viability of several configuration options. For the Rangpur metropolitan region, seven distinct grid-connected solutions with stationary renewable sources are simulated. The HRES is designed to meet demands for hospital, diagnostic, school, and operation theatre loads of 3250.00 kWh, 250.00 kW maximum requirement, and 570.00 kWh, 71.25 kW maximum electricity demand, respectively. Multivariate linear regression (MLR) is used to assess the suggested optimal combination in terms of system size, cost, technical performance, and environmental stability. The findings show that the metric real-time rate (annual) has emerged as the most advantageous option since economic criteria like total NPC and COE are preferred above others.

In the context of last-mile electrification of rural communities, stand-alone solutions like Solar Home Systems are often considered an equivalent option for access to electricity as other technologies, such as minigrids and connection to the main grid. In this work, the authors question this paradigm and propose an alternative approach that takes into account the limited service, and in turn, limited development possibilities, that Solar Home Systems grant to their users. A monetary penalty is applied to this technology based on the missed services. The conceived approach is applied to a case study in the district of Cochabamba, Bolivia, thanks to the cooperation with a local NGO. Results show how the inclusion of shadow costs influences the optimal electrification strategy in terms of users connected to the main grid by up to 33%, highlighting how standard approaches tend to overlook key aspects of access to electricity linked to the possibility of development. • Different electrification strategies are not equivalent in adequacy of service. • Least-cost methods cannot effectively compare grid connection and Solar Home Systems. • We define a method to make technologies economically comparable through shadow costs. • A two-stage MILP is applied to the case study of Omereque, Bolivia. • Through this methodology more equitable electrification planning can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review of research undertaken, and subsequent policy change enacted, in the years 2018 to 2022 regarding the integration of cooking loads and needs into modern energy planning. Building on an earlier paper which described how the dominant global approaches to tackling the enduring problem of biomass-fuelled cooking was failing, and how a new UK Aid programme (Oct 2018) would be seeking to intentionally change international energy policy towards cooking and enable a significant transition in energy use, in this paper we review whether this strategy is being adopted by researchers, governments, and the private sector across the world and whether it is likely to make a significant contribution to the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goal 7. In particular, the call is for integrated planning of modern energy inclusive of cooking loads—the potential ‘Mutual Support’ that both can lend to each other. The review considers the international commitments made by donors and governments to this end, the research that positions the use of modern energy as a cost-effective proposition, the urbanisation and societal changes reinforcing such planning, and positions the review in the light of climate change and the need to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

Increasing Uganda’s low electrification rate is one of the country’s major challenges. Power service is essential to achieve socioeconomic development and poverty reduction, especially in rural areas. This paper shows the advantages of using an integrated (grid and off-grid) electrification model with high geospatial, temporal, and customer-class granularity as the Reference Electrification Model (REM). In universal electrification strategies, REM will help better ascertain the role of minigrids, jointly with grid extension, solar kits, and stand-alone systems. REM has been applied to the Southern Service Territory (SST) to determine the least-cost mix of electrification modes—grid extension, off-grid minigrids, and standalone systems—that satisfies the hourly demand requirements of each customer—residential, commercial, or industrial—considering its individual location. REM incorporates the existing grid layout, the hourly solar local profile, and the catalogs of actual components for network and generation designs. The paper shows that minigrids can provide grid-like service at a significantly lower cost in many circumstances and to a considerable extent. Therefore, minigrid strategies should play a more important role in electrification planning, both transitorily and on a permanent basis, particularly when the central grid suffers from frequent and prolonged blackouts.

Several geospatial factors influence the suitability of national power grid expansion, especially in remote areas. Since previous studies have neither explicitly examined the level of influence of these factors nor provided a clear spatial representation of their impact, this paper examines how geospatial factors (distance from substation and road, terrain slope, elevation, and land cover) influence grid extension suitability to unelectrified settlements in the context of Ethiopia. Open-access and remote-sensing datasets are used together with OnSSET geospatial modeling analysis methodology. A spatial grid extension suitability map is developed to display areas that are most suitable, semi-suitable, and less suitable for grid extension. Results show that terrain slope is the most significant contributor to grid extension suitability, accounting for 40.8 % of the total score. The findings reveal that the geospatial factors studied, aggregately, might increase the total investment cost of grid extension by 2.3 %–29 % across Ethiopia. The results also show that 45 % and 85 % of Ethiopia's population live within 10 km distance from high-voltage and projected medium-voltage lines, respectively. The study underscores that rather than focusing exclusively on distances from existing grid infrastructures, it is important to take into account the aforementioned geospatial factors affecting investment costs for grid extension planning. • Five geospatial factors influencing grid extension suitability in Ethiopia explored • The OnSSET methodology, open access datasets and remote sensing data are used • 85 % of Ethiopia's population lives within 10 km distance from medium-voltage lines • The geospatial factors combined may increase grid expansion cost by up to 29 % • Spatial suitability analysis is key to prioritize grid extension based electrification [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Additional renewable energy and storage reduce the cost or rural electrification compared to pure grid extension. • The reliability of the central power grid and of the microgrid are introduced as important parameters. • Results on 20 test cases show that these parameters influence the choice of rural electrification strategy. • Local, renewable energy generation reduces drastically the grid losses: from 23.2% to 8.7% in the best scenario. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past 40 years, the dominant ‘policy’ on cooking energy in the Global South has been to improve the combustion efficiency of biomass fuels. This was said to alleviate the burdens of biomass cooking for three billion people by mitigating emissions, reducing deforestation, alleviating expenditure and collection times on fuels and increasing health outcomes. By 2015, international agencies were openly saying it was a failing policy. The dispersal of improved cookstoves was not keeping up with population growth, increasing urbanisation was leading to denser emissions and evidence suggested health effects of improved stoves were not as expected. A call was made for a new strategy, something other than ‘business as usual’. Conventional wisdom suggests that access to electricity is poor in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), that it is too expensive and that weak grids prevent even connected households from cooking. Could a new strategy be built around access to electricity (and gas)? Could bringing modern energy for cooking to the forefront kill two birds with one stone? In 2019, UK Aid announced a multi-million-pound programme on ‘Modern Energy Cooking Services’ (MECS), specifically designed to explore alternative approaches to address cooking energy concerns in the Global South. This paper outlines the rationale behind such a move, and how it will work with existing economies and policies to catalyse a global transition.

Energy poverty, in particular, the lack of access to electricity, is a chronic impediment to sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa, affecting over one billion people. Recently, electrification efforts have bifurcated into two pathways: grid extension/enhancement and off-grid. Expanding and enhancing the existing national grid is the de facto approach, but is struggling to keep up with growing populations and demand in many countries. Off-grid solutions such as solar home systems and mini-grids are seen as a way to 'leap frog' the national grid, but face distribution, affordability, and regulatory challenges. This article explores each electrification pathway through the lens of a traditional power system planner. This perspective shows that implicit planning assumptions about cost recovery, procurement, reliability requirements, economic benefit, what entities are involved, and the role of renewable energy require re-visiting and re-invention in the sub-Saharan African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some 630 million people representing two-thirds of all Africans have no access to electricity, which is identified as a key barrier towards further development. Three main electrification options are considered within our work: grid extensions, mini-grids and solar home systems (SHS). A methodology is applied to all sub-Saharan African countries to identify in high geospatial resolution which electrification option is appropriate taking into account datasets for night light imagery, population distribution and grid infrastructure. Four different scenarios are considered reflecting grid development and electrification constraints due to low population density. The results clearly indicate a dominating role of SHS for achieving a fast electrification of the not supplied people. The share of supplied people by mini-grids is found to be rather low while grid extension serves a large share of the population. The decisive factors for these distinctions are population density and distance to grid. We applied several scenarios and sensitivities to understand the influence of these key parameters. The highest trade-off happens between SHS and grid extension depending on the selected thresholds. Mini-grid deployments remain in the range of 8 to 21%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing population and technological developments have led to irregular houses and especially industrial facilities in developing cities. Furthermore, due to social and economic factors and the increasing massive migrations, undeveloped rural projects make irregular settlements worse. Thus, the expensiveness caused by the deterioration of the supply-demand balance makes establishment or production capacity increase of industrial facilities difficult. In this study, supplying the industrial urban facilities' demand with only grid or on-grid/off-grid HPS scenarios were investigated considering expanding and relocation outside the city. Twelve industrial cities in Turkey with various climates have been evaluated using Homer ® Pro, considering the effects of RES potential on the techno-economic parameters. The results showed that the RES potentials changed break-even distance for grid extension between 0 and 25 km. Furthermore, it has been determined that the change in the discount rate and the grid extension costs, which vary depending on the regional geographical conditions, seriously manipulate break-even distance. Particularly, it can be extended up to 55 km depending on RES potentials and grid extension capital cost. In contrast, high RES potential make unnecessary grid extension, especially where the discount rate was less than 4%. Finally, sensitivity analyses are also presented in detail. • Decision-making between the hybrid power systems and grid extension is conducted. • A circular break-even distance map offers an optimum HPS depending on the DR. • The break-even distance is 35 km for the only grid and 55 km for integrated HPS. • Increases in DR can lead to CO 2 emissions rising 1.87–3.54 times. • The renewable fraction rises from 85 to 97%, causing an apparent increase in NPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrification of rural areas is one of the major challenges in countries of the Global South. A proper electrification planning requires comprehensive electrification modelling to understand the least-cost supply options. Within this paper we apply a literature review on the requirements of comprehensive electrification modelling. This is extended by research on and testing of existing modelling tools (HOMER Energy, Network Planner, GEOSIM). This analysis reveals that still none of the existing tools can fulfill all requirements combining geospatial and detailed power system modelling especially for hybrid mini-grids. Thus we present our newly developed electrification modelling approach which overcomes identified gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand for electricity in rural India has been met by extending the grid electricity distribution network. But the costs of extending lines to rural facilities are prohibitively expensive. Grid extension varies in cost on the distance to be covered, the land, utility and the size of the load. Considering these challenges, rural electrification will require considerable skill in the selection and implementation of technical and economic strategies for electrification. In rural places where the condition and quantity of grid power is expensive or insufficient, renewable energy alternatives may be the only option. So this paper estimates the domestic, industrial, agricultural, BTS load in a remote village called Kadayam, Tamilnadu, South India, identifies the optimal option for RE based electrification and compares it with conventional grid extension using HOMER software. The solution obtained from HOMER software shows that a hybrid combination of solar/wind/hydro/battery is a cost effective, sustainable, techno-economically and environmentally viable alternative to grid extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Due to the rapidly decreasing costs of small renewable electricity generation systems, centralized power systems are no longer a necessary condition of universal access to modern energy services. Developing countries, where centralized electricity infrastructures are less developed, may be able to adopt these new technologies more quickly. We first review the costs of grid extension and distributed solar home systems (SHSs) as reported by a number of different studies. We then present a general analytic framework for analyzing the choice between extending the grid and implementing distributed solar home systems. Drawing upon reported grid expansion cost data for three specific regions, we demonstrate this framework by determining the electricity consumption levels at which the costs of provision through centralized and decentralized approaches are equivalent in these regions. We then calculate SHS capital costs that are necessary for these technologies provide each of five tiers of energy access, as defined by the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All initiative. Our results suggest that solar home systems can play an important role in achieving universal access to basic energy services. The extent of this role depends on three primary factors: SHS costs, grid expansion costs, and centralized generation costs. Given current technology costs, centralized systems will still be required to enable higher levels of consumption; however, cost reduction trends have the potential to disrupt this paradigm. By looking ahead rather than replicating older infrastructure styles, developing countries can leapfrog to a more distributed electricity service model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some 630 million people representing two-thirds of all Africans have no access to electricity, which is identified as a key barrier towards further development. Three main electrification options are considered within our work: grid extensions, mini-grids and solar home systems (SHS). A methodology is applied to all sub-Saharan African countries to identify in high geospatial resolution which electrification option is appropriate taking into account datasets for night light imagery, population distribution and grid infrastructure. Four different scenarios are considered reflecting grid development and electrification constraints due to low population density. The results clearly indicate a dominating role of SHS for achieving a fast electrification of the not supplied people. The share of supplied people by mini-grids is found to be rather low while grid extension serves a large share of the population. The decisive factors for these distinctions are population density and distance to grid. We applied several scenarios and sensitivities to understand the influence of these key parameters. The highest trade-off happens between SHS and grid extension depending on the selected thresholds. Mini-grid deployments remain in the range of 8 to 21%.

Distributed power generation based on renewable energy sources brings new life and hope to electrify remote villagers. The proposed work suggests the techno-economic feasibility of three different energy-supplying alternatives namely the solar photovoltaic (SPV) system, diesel generator system and extending the grid connection for energy supply to a remote village located around 15 km away from the place where grid supply is available. Design of all the above three systems along with their economic analysis is carried out in this paper. A comparison on the basis of economic indicators like unit cost of electricity, net present value and payback period among the three systems is also discussed. The results show that the SPV system is economically more viable among the three options apart from environment benefits. This study may provide a new direction for energy planners to supply energy in remote non-electrified areas of India through SPV systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Binalood region in Iran enjoys an average wind speed of 6.82m/s at 40m elevation and an average daily solar radiation of 4.79kWh/m2/day. Within this perspective, a remote rural village in Binalood region, called Sheikh Abolhassan, can readily be expected to have more than enough potential for its load demand to be supplied with a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system. Yet the local state-run electrical service provider extended the utility grid to the village in 2006 to boost the already present diesel generator. This study aims, firstly, to explore how economical it would have been to keep supplying the electricity of the village by the diesel generator and add renewable energy generators to increase the renewable fraction of the system. On a second stage, we tried to investigate how renewable energy sources (RESs) can still be added to the current utility grid power supply in Sheikh Abolhassan to achieve a more economical and environmentally friendly system. The software HOMER is used in this study to evaluate the feasibility of various hybrid diesel-RES and grid-RES energy systems. Findings indicated that the addition of renewable power generators to the system both before and after the grid extension could and still can result in a more economical power system, which is obviously cleaner and more climate-benign. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The study presents an analysis aimed at choosing between off-grid solar photovoltaic, biomass gasifier based power generation and conventional grid extension for remote village electrification. The model provides a relation between renewable energy systems and the economical distance limit (EDL) from the existing grid point, based on life cycle cost (LCC) analysis, where the LCC of energy for renewable energy systems and grid extension will match. The LCC of energy feed to the village is arrived at by considering grid availability and operating hours of the renewable energy systems. The EDL for the biomass gasifier system of 25kW capacities is 10.5km with 6h of daily operation and grid availability. However, the EDL for a similar 25kW capacity photovoltaic system is 35km for the same number of hours of operation and grid availability. The analysis shows that for villages having low load demand situated far away from the existing grid line, biomass gasification based systems are more cost competitive than photovoltaic systems or even compared to grid extension. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Rural electrification is an integral component of poverty alleviation and rural growth of a nation. In India, electricity has not played effective role in the socio-economic growth of village. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is increasing with 8% where as contribution of agriculture sector is 1.9%. Government of India has ambitious target of providing electricity to all villages by 2008 and all rural households by 2012. Steps are already initiated with Rural Electric Corporation, Rural Electricity Supply Technology mission, State Electricity Boards, Reforms in Power sector. An attempt has been made in this paper to assess the features of rural electrification in India and the feasibility of Photovoltaic Solar Home Systems (PV SHS). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines and compares the cost-effectiveness to energize pumping systems in remote areas on northern Chile by means of photovoltaic systems, diesel engines and grid extension. Variables such as the distance to the power grid, the voltage grid, the prices of electricity and fuel, and the required investments, are taken into account. The comparison is made for wide range of variable values, distances and pumping requirements. The results obtained are useful for choosing the best alternative for the power supply of pumping systems in wells in Northern Chile. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effective rural electrification method varies with economic status and geographical location, and the benefits of decentralized generation differ for each energy system depending on its characteristics. This paper evaluates the most effective generation strategies with rural electrification in an optimized power system of Papua New Guinea (PNG) using a linear programming model. The energy system model developed for the study includes decentralized generation, centralized generation, and grid systems of electricity and gas with consideration for the current energy system and infrastructure. Two methods of rural electrification, decentralized generation and grid extension, are compared with and without the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The results of simulations show that extending the power grid that allows economical generation such as coal-fired power and hydropower to supply rural electricity is a more cost effective way for rural electrification. Although grid extension is more capital intensive than decentralized generation, the former reduces the total system cost through reduction of the fossil fuel use. Extending the power grid is also effective at attracting CDM investments, since it makes the power system flexible and provides opportunities to advance low emitting energy such as hydropower. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Electricity access remains a challenge for the majority of the West African countries, wherein 5 out of 16 have an electrification rate of less than 25%, with Burkina Faso having only 9% of the rural population with electricity access in 2017. This study presents a techno-economic feasibility analysis of solar PV system integration with conceptualized Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) and electric batteries for Burkina Faso. The study explores two cases (a) an off-grid PV with a storage system for rural areas and (b) a grid-connected PV system for an urban location. The least-cost configuration of PV with feasible storage is investigated using HOMER. The results show that Solar PV with PHS remains the optimal system configuration for both rural and urban cases even when the construction costs of lower and upper reservoirs are considered. Battery energy storage systems remain an economically expensive solution even when the added costs of pumped hydro storage are included, owing to the low lifetime and high capital costs of battery storage. The capital cost of PV remains to be the most dominating factor for both cases, signifying the importance of policy interventions for cost reduction of PV for increased green electrification in West African countries. • Analysis of hybrid energy systems with battery and pumped hydro storage is performed. • Scenarios for rural and urban electrification are developed for Burkina Faso. • Pumped hydro is cost competitive even when reservoir construction costs considered. • Capital cost of PV is the most dominating factor for both urban and rural cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A two-stage multi-attribute analysis method for optimal design of sustainable energy system is proposed. • Different alternatives are optimized based on energy, environmental, economic, and social attributes. • Effect of uncertainty parameters on the designed system structure and cost is examined. • PV-WT-BAT-CONV mini-grid is the most sustainable alternative in El-Qsier urban city, Egypt. • Load growth and battery cost have high impacts on investment decision rather than RE resources. This paper proposes a two-stage multi-attribute analysis method in conceptualizing the feasible electrification strategy with optimal capacities for a mid-rise building situated in El-Qsier urban city, Egypt. The proposed model measures the implementation practicability of hybrid mini-grid against stand-alone diesel and the utility grid extension systems. The model takes into consideration, simultaneously, a total of 12 attributes covering technical, economic, environmental, and socio-political sustainability aspects. First, an accurate Energy-Enviro-Economic (3E) optimization analysis is performed to determine the set of feasible configurations using HOMER Pro software. Second, a Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) model is established based on AHP, TOPSIS, VIKOR, CODAS, WASPAS methods to identify the unique best alternative. The results of the 3E optimization and decision making analyses confirm the non-viability of the reference site for grid extension against other off-grid systems. Also, the 100 % hybrid renewable mini-grid system is nominated as the most sustainable design, and it yielded optimal capacities of 196 kW, 72 kW, 587 kW h, and 75 kW for photovoltaic, wind turbine, converter, and battery. The system has total life-cycle and energy costs of 751,597$ and 0.2374$/kWh, respectively, with a zero-emission value and maximum social benefits equals 0.6089 jobs/year. Meanwhile, the sensitivity analysis elucidates that the load growth and battery cost have a high impact on investment decisions rather than solar irradiance and wind speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation presents a powerful and useful platform for the feasibility study of hybrid renewable systems for rural electrification and potable water supply, which can be used in each country with different values of economic inputs and local renewable potentials. The main objective of present investigation is to introduce feasible solutions in remote villages with different climate zones. Since Iran is a country with different climates, five remote villages are selected as case studies. The selected villages have different values of prime and deferrable loads. In continue, the decision-making between the utilization of hybrid renewable energy systems and grid extension is conducted. To assess the feasibility of grid extension scenario, the distance from the central grid for selected villages is determined using the Geographic Information System (GIS). To supply the required potable water, the Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination system is employed. By employing HOMER Pro software, several energy configurations for each village are simulated. The results illustrate that for all selected villages, the stand-alone (off-grid) system is the most cost-effective option. The pure grid extension scenario due to the high values of Net Present Cost (NPC) is not recommended for small and large villages. The CO 2 emissions of pure extension are more than 105 kg/year for all selected villages. By using pure extension option, about 25–43% of the share of overall NPC is related to the grid extension cost. With the use of stand-alone systems instead of pure extension, about 10–19% of energy losses and 100000–200000 kg/year of CO 2 emissions reduce. Finally, to determine the breakeven distance for each village, the sensitivity analysis on load demand and extension distance is implemented. For instance, for selected villages with the climates of Semi-Arid and Cold, the breakeven distance is computed to be 13.5 km and 10.3 km, respectively. Image 1 • Decision-making between the hybrid renewable energy systems and grid extension is conducted. • When the load demand of a remote village is high, the integration of grid extension and renewable system is cost-effective. • The pure grid extension scenario due to the high values of NPC is not recommended for small and large villages. • The CO 2 emissions of pure extension are more than 105 kg/year for all selected villages. • For selected village with the climate of Semi-Arid, the breakeven distance is computed to be 13.5 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]