Applications, planning and socio-techno-economic analysis of distributed energy systems for rural electrification in India and other countries: A review

Abstract

Electricity is significant for acceleration of economic growth, employment generation, poverty alleviation and human development especially in rural areas. With advent of mobile phones and computer systems, electricity has become human’s basic necessity. Renewable energy sources driven decentralized energy systems have gained attention to satisfy the electric needs of rural communities. This paper attempts to present an exclusive literature review for application of decentralized energy system for development of rural microgids. Comparative analysis in terms of governing principle, installed capacity, performance parameters, operating efficiency, and GHG emissions for both renewable and non-renewable energy Distributed Energy Systems (DES) technologies has been presented. Optimization algorithms developed for optimal planning, sizing and citing of DESs and storage has been studied. Socio-techno-economic studies for assessing the feasibility of developed rural microgrids has been presented. Inferences based on the literature study to attract significant attention of microgrid developers and operators has been notified.