Abstract
This chapter concentrates on the potential role of renewable energy systems as a part of a community power generation scheme. It describes a decision making tool that matches the current power demand with the local energy resources so that the opportunities for wind, solar, and small hydro can be evaluated. Rural communities are concerned for the future security of their power supplies. Maintaining the lines is no longer commercially viable for the newly formed lines companies. The options are for the community members to pay higher supply charges, purchase the lines back to a commercial node and then maintain them, install individual domestic power supply systems or develop a community owned independent power supply system. There could be a grid connection where there would be a benefit for the local lines company by encouraging embedded generation, for example, at the end of a line where power quality is poor or where a growing load will soon exceed the available line capacity. Wind turbines, solar panels, bio-energy plants, and micro-hydro systems are common components of many existing small schemes. The reliability of the technology needs to improve in future years, and the installed price is to be reduced.
Published Version
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