Rural Electrification Planning Research Articles

An Overview of Energy Access Solutions for Rural Healthcare Facilities

Quality in healthcare service is essential in giving rural dwellers a good standard of living. It has been established that many rural locations in Sub-Saharan Africa away from the grid connection have difficulty accessing electricity. The inaccessibility of reliable energy and essential medical equipment was the leading barrier to improved healthcare delivery in these rural locations. The deficiency of basic medical equipment to power essential services due to limited or unreliable electricity access has reduced rural healthcare workers’ care capabilities, resulting in higher mortality rates. This paper, therefore, reviews the existing energy solutions for rural healthcare facilities, thereby analysing different approaches and the geographical energy mix and ascertaining the effectiveness of various techniques and energy mix as solutions to effective healthcare delivery in healthcare centres. Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources (HRES) microsystems, like microgrids incorporated with solar panels and battery, is identified to ensure higher and more reliable energy access in rural healthcare centres. At the same time, the adoption of Demand Side Management (DSM) in the HRES deployment in countryside healthcare facilities is reported to decrease the initial cost of installation and improve efficiency. Lastly, in improving energy access, rural electrification planning is achieved through modelling tools related to energy access modelling.

A Rising Role for Decentralized Solar Minigrids in Integrated Rural Electrification Planning? Large-Scale, Least-Cost, and Customer-Wise Design of Grid and Off-Grid Supply Systems in Uganda

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.

Energy Security and Energy Poverty in Emerging Economies: A Step Towards Sustainable Energy Efficiency

This paper presents the energy security, energy poverty, and mediating role of environmental tax policy. The environmental tax policy affects energy consumption and energy poverty. The research applied multiple, comprehensive, and relevant sets of indicators to measure energy security, energy poverty, and environmental consideration of energy poverty through environmental tax. The study used a mathematical composite indicator and an econometric estimation to conduct an empirical estimation. The study used annual data from 1990 to 2018 and concluded that long-run associations between energy security, energy poverty, and environmental tax have been characterized by the linear and asymmetric association to specify hidden cointegration behavior among the trilemma. The results show how policymakers have clouded the decision to implement appropriate energy security to mitigate energy poverty in Vietnam through environmental tax.Results show that from 2001 to 2016 in Vietnam, energy security was low and energy poverty was high, but after 2016, it can be seen that there is a dramatic change in energy security and energy poverty. The year 2018 shows the highest energy security index score (0.92) and the lowest energy poverty index score (0.12). Since 2017, Vietnam’s rural electrification plan has provided electricity to 100% of Vietnam’s population. The plan provides electricity access to 82 million people who traditionally have no grid access.

Rural Electrification and Sustainable Planning of Sukuk Financing within the Isolated Communities in Nigeria: Using Investment and Blockchain Technology

The Renewable Energy system enhances rural communities' development in the country, specifically in North-East and North-West, Nigeria. The ability to overcome extreme poverty and improve their living conditions is related to the renewable energy technology available. The rural electrification planning approach consists of socioeconomic, environmental, and institutional sustainability dimensions. This study establishes specific objectives to achieve sustainability in rural electrification programs. Conceptual frameworks are proposed for achieving universal access anywhere with similar experiences. The methodology is proposed to 3000 isolated communities in North-East and North-West, Nigeria that lack electricity. Three different strategic approaches are formulated as a research-based investment analysis framework. Confirmatory Factor Analysis under Structural Equation Modelling is shown in Figure 2. While figure 3 addressed the technology aspect through blockchain technology. The findings of this work are intended to contribute to the improvement of rural electrification programs with Renewable Energy (RE) of the solar system.

Efficient two‐layer rural electrification planning and techno‐economic assessment integrating renewable sources

AbstractElectricity access is a critical factor for social and economic development. Microgrid becomes cost‐effective means to provide access to electricity for the rural community. Rural electrification demands high investment due to its low energy demand and population. Planning of rural electrification is a technical and financial challenge for policymakers. This paper proposes the grid‐connected electrification of the rural community of Uttarakhand (India). An integrated model formed with the solar photovoltaic system, wind energy, and battery. This research aims to provide the optimal cost‐effective solution for the electrification of the rural community. The suggested model is optimized using Differential Algorithm to determine the optimal system configuration, cost of energy, and net present cost. The effectiveness of the proposed DE algorithm is compared with genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization. The results confirm that the proposed renewable energy‐based microgrid has a total production cost of $5 185 367.04, with a per‐unit cost of energy is $0.20/kWh. The proposed microgrid is a more suitable option for electrification in rural communities with less dependence on the grid and conventional sources.

Analysing the impact of electrification on rural attractiveness in Senegal with mobile phone data.

Reliable and affordable access to electricity has become one of the basic needs for humans and is, as such, at the top of the development agenda. It contributes to socio-economic development by transforming the whole spectrum of people’s lives—food, education, healthcare. It spurs new economic opportunities, thus improving livelihoods. Using a comprehensive dataset of pseudonymized mobile phone records, we analyse the impact of electrification on attractiveness for rural areas in Senegal. We extract communication and mobility flows from call detail records and show that electrification is positively and specifically correlated with centrality measures within the communication network and with the volume of incoming visitors. This increased influence is however circumscribed to a limited spatial extent, creating a complex competition with nearby areas. Nevertheless, we found that the volume of visitors between any two sites could be well predicted from the level of electrification at the destination and the living standard at the origin. In view of these results, we discuss how to obtain the best outcomes from a rural electrification planning strategy. We determine that electrifying clusters of rural sites is a better solution than centralizing electricity supplies to maximize the development of specifically targeted sites.

Holistic geospatial data-based procedure for electric network design and least-cost energy strategy

The identification of the best electrification strategy is a fundamental step to increase energy access in rural areas of developing countries. The objective of the present work is to propose a new geospatial-based procedure for rural electrification planning, able to select and design an effective energy system for a defined geographical region. The least-cost solution among stand-alone mini-grids and connection to the existing national grid of non electrified communities is identified. Spatial information is exploited to compute renewable resources potential, to identify populated areas, subdivide them into clusters, and to design the electrical network connecting the clusters' consumers pursuing the minimization of costs. To this end, an iterative minimum-path algorithm has been developed by the authors. It is able to approximate the Minimum Steiner Tree also for graphs with many terminal points, accounting for a weighted cost surface, which represents the real cost of installing electric feeders in difficult areas. The performance of the procedure has been tested in the rural area of Namanjavira, in the Zambezia Province, Mozambique, where 6 microgrids and 2 interconnected grids were designed. The inclusion of distribution grid costs and penalties related to real terrain morphology lead to a significant increase (up to 200%) of the total cost, highlighting the cornerstone role of a spatial approach in the identification of the best electrification strategy.

Rural electrification planning using Geographic Information System (GIS)

Rural electrification plans are a means of enhancing electricity services in a given area within a given period of time in accordance with pre-defined strategies. Establishment of prioritization co...

Optimizing Off-Grid Generation in Large-Scale Electrification-Planning Problems: A Direct-Search Approach

Off-grid systems play a prominent role in rural electrification planning. The problem of optimizing the generation design of a single off-grid system has received a significant amount of attention in the literature, and several software tools and algorithms have addressed it. However, methods and tools designed for individual mini-grids are not directly applicable to regional planning, where it is necessary to estimate the generation cost of potentially thousands of mini-grids. Conversely, most regional planning tools estimate the generation cost of mini-grids with rules of thumb or analytical expressions. These estimations are useful, but they lack the accuracy necessary to develop a rural electrification plan. This paper presents a method to estimate the generation cost of any potential off-grid system in a large-scale rural electrification planning problem, which is currently implemented in the Reference Electrification Model (REM). The method uses a master-slave decomposition that exploits the structure of the problem and combines continuous and discrete variables. The algorithm is illustrated with a case study that shows that a direct application of a discrete model may lead to suboptimal results in large-scale planning.

Decentralized rural electrification in Kenya: Speeding up universal energy access

This paper undertakes a comprehensive spatial mapping of the existing energy infrastructure in Kenya. With the perspective of the current energy status and local resources, the study develops a rural electrification spatial model for Kenya (RE_RU_KE tool) to identify optimal strategies for the different locations. The model considers the potential of conventional approaches (diesel gensets), clean technologies (solar, wind, hydro mini-grids), hybrid systems and the option of central grid extension to electrify remote areas in Kenya at the lowest possible cost. The model output is contrasted to the national Rural Electrification Master Plan (REM) of Kenya. While both the REM and RE_RU_KE tool target the off-grid rural electrification options, their methodological approaches are intrinsically different. The comparison between both results aims to enable valuable synergies and highlight the potential complementarities that can create added value for stakeholders involved in rural electrification planning. In particular, RE_RU_KE model output highlights the substantial role that renewable energy systems can play in decentralized generation providing universal energy access to rural households at a competitive cost.

Using Earth Observations to Help Developing Countries Improve Access to Reliable, Sustainable, and Modern Energy

In this review paper, the authors identify priority areas and opportunities for electric utilities in developing and emerging economies to incorporate Earth observation (EO) data into rural electrification planning, renewable energy resource assessment, distributed generation, grid operation and reliability, and disaster risk reduction and recovery efforts. Using a methodological framework, the authors conducted a comprehensive literature review of primary and gray literature. This paper reviews the many existing applications for EO data, such as the use of nighttime lights imagery for estimations of rural electrification, EO-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products for vegetation monitoring for overhead transmission line management, solar radiance data for renewable energy project planning, and nowcasting for extreme weather events and other disaster monitoring. These and other applications can enhance energy security through improved access to modern and reliable electricity, renewable energy management, and disaster risk assessment in developing nations, paving the way for more sustainable social and economic development. Real-world examples of EO data use by utilities in developing and emerging economies, as well as barriers and opportunities for EO technology transfer, are discussed. Recommendations for stakeholder engagement, future EO training opportunities, and human capacity building are also presented.

Sustainable rural electrification planning in developing countries: A proposal for electrification of isolated communities of Venezuela

Small-scale renewable energy technologies offer impoverished rural communities in developing countries the ability to overcome extreme poverty and improve their living conditions. Unfortunately, most presented frameworks for rural electrifications have not adequately addressed the three cores of energy trilemma. This paper proposes a methodology of rural electrification planning to overcome the three cores of the energy trilemma (environment, security and equity), considering four sustainability dimensions: environmental, technical, socioeconomic and institutional. The proposal is based on a review of the Venezuelan program “Sembrando Luz” (“Sowing Light”), developed between 2005 and 2013, through visits to 28 beneficiary communities. A set of lessons learned were used to define the methodological proposal developed here. This proposal establishes specific objectives for the achievement of sustainability in rural electrification programs, through a novel conceptual framework, valid for the achievement of universal access anywhere in the world. In addition, hierarchical criteria and a projects classification are proposed, which finally enables a projects portfolio to be designed according to the technical and financial conditions available in each country. As a case study, the planning methodology is applied to 2,269 isolated communities in Venezuela that still lack electricity. The methods and conclusions of this work are intended to be a contribution to the improvement of rural electrification programs with renewable energy in other countries of the developing world.

Time use impacts of rural electrification: Longitudinal evidence from Guatemala

This paper examines how obtaining a household electric connection affects the time allocation of rural, indigenous Guatemalans during 2000–2011. Following the end of a thirty-six year civil war, a Rural Electrification Plan substantially expanded electricity access, and subsidized use. This public-private partnership pays companies a fixed fee for connecting households. Causal impacts on time use of individuals are identified using initial geospatial inequalities in public goods provisions within municipalities and this large change in the cost of electrifying households more distant from the electric grid. Women increased time spent working for money by about 2–3 h per day.

Distributed power generation in national rural electrification plans: An international and comparative evaluation

As the cost of distributed power generation continues to decrease, technologies such as solar home systems and micro-grids become increasingly attractive in the quest for energy access. Here we show, however, that national rural electrification planning mostly continues to ignore distributed power generation. A detailed review of the national rural electrification plans of the twenty countries with the largest numbers of non-electrified households shows that distributed power generation is usually absent or at best a minor component of the strategy. Our original contribution is thus to show where and how national rural electrification planning lags behind technology and business models, with guidelines for future research on explaining these patterns.

Rural electrification and expansion planning of off-grid microgrids

This paper presents the past and current practices for rural electrification and the current trend in using off-grid microgrids to provide energy to the customers with no access to the central electricity network. The challenges correspond to the capacity expansion of off-grid microgrids including the financial and business models for establishing these technologies, the economic and reliability considerations, the environmental issues, the expansion and feasibility studies, and the uncertainties in the operation horizon were presented.

Analysis of Rural Electrification with Low Carbon Options in Nigeria

The lack of access to electricity in rural Nigeria is a decades-old issue. This study provides a basis for rural electrification plans by projecting the plausible future supply and demand for electricity in the rural residential sector, using three alternate scenarios: EE; RE; and CP. Based on the projection, the feasible options are analyzed in terms of the total cost and CO₂ emissions. The MAC curve was drawn to suggest policy priorities. Among these scenarios, the CP scenario is the most viable option in terms of both cost and CO₂ emissions. This scenario saves USD 1.07 billion compared to the BAU, and has the lowest CO₂ emissions among the scenarios. The MAC curve provides further insight in that the residential sector should purchase efficient cooking and lighting appliances, which requires USD 6.57 per tCO2e on average. On the supply side, the renewable energy technologies require USD 38.32 per tCO2e on average. Based on the findings, the policies balanced between CO₂ reduction and social developments are suggested to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Selection of the Most Appropriate Off-Grid Hybrid System for Rural and Coastal Areas in Bangladesh Using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

The objective of this study is to select the most appropriate hybrid system for reliable and affordable electricity generation for sustainable development. To reach this goal Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model was applied. The methodology was developed and applied considering experts and stakeholder’s judgment based on six criteria such as resource availability, Net Present Cost (NPC), Cost of Electricity (COE), Technical, Environmental and social to determine and prioritize the best alternative among PV-Battery-Wind-Diesel, PV-Battery-Diesel, Wind-Battery-Diesel and PV-Wind-Battery. After the experts and stakeholder’s pair-wise comparison and considering relative weights the most prioritized hybrid system measured is PV-Battery-Wind-Diesel by receiving 31.49% priority. Later an environmental analysis showed that emission from the selected system is around 52% less, compared if, the electricity drawn from the national grid. The second most prioritized system is PV-Wind-battery. Although it is totally environment friendly but due to the magnitude of the alternative resources it cannot reach the goal. In addition, ranking and prioritizing outcomes of these hybrid systems can be implemented in renewable energy policy as a long-term rural electrification plan.

Trigeneration Based on Biomass - Specific Field Case: Agricultural Residues from Smallholder Farms in Ghana

Many remote rural communities are ignored in rural electrification plans due to their remoteness or their relatively low demand potential. Many of those communities are rural agricultural villages that cultivate crops whose residue is a potential solid biomass fuel for power generation using appropriate technologies. This research proposes a feasibility study of trigeneration (heat, power and cold) from small farm typologies with enough clustered crop residue in selected communities in Ghana, as well as definition (prototype level) of the best generation technology. A sample of 11 districts in Ghana were surveyed in order to assess the levels of agricultural waste produced in small holder farms and their possible clustering for supplying these wastes to a hypothetical centralized trigeneration plant. The results obtained in terms of plant capacity, biomass waste yields, energy output flows and economic analysis indicate good prospects for the deployment of trigeneration as a solution in rural agricultural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa

Race, Space, and Electric Power: Jim Crow and the 1934 North Carolina Rural Electrification Survey

Some scholars have recently put forward the concept of energopower—the harnessing of electricity and fuel—as a way to rethink the energetic basis of biopower. In this article, I refine this idea by tracing the use of race in rural electrification planning in North Carolina during the New Deal 1930s. Drawing on archival fieldwork that examines and reconstructs the 1934 North Carolina Rural Electrification Survey, I chart the ways in which race was used to readjust and reshape projections of electricity consumption and the planning of electricity distribution line construction. This is particularly clear in the use of a metric called the correction factor that allowed electricity planners to negotiate the contradictions between the materiality of networked electricity service, based on connections, and the prevailing attitudes toward race, which were built around disconnection. Although the overall influence of the 1934 Survey on the location of electricity distribution in North Carolina remains an open question, this work highlights the ways an energopolitical project—rural electrification—intersects with a key biopolitical technology—state racism, thus providing a better understanding of the relationship between energy and social power.

Institutional barriers to a ‘perfect’ policy: A case study of the Senegalese Rural Electrification Plan

This paper investigates the political and institutional factors that have influenced the success of the Senegalese Rural Electrification Action Plan (Plan d׳Action Sénégalais d׳Électrification Rurale, PASER). PASER is of interest because its innovative design attracted extensive offers of finance from donors and independent power providers, however it has had limited effect on electrification levels. This paper examines PASER׳s progress and problems in detail, with the aim of informing rural electrification policy internationally.An extensive literature review was combined with 26 semi-structured stakeholder interviews, to produce a snapshot of the Plan׳s status after its first decade of operation. PASER׳s experiences are compared with other reform-based rural electrification initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa.PASER has faced significant institutional and political barriers, with delays arising from organisational opposition, inconsistent ministerial support, protracted consultations and the inherent challenges of implementing an innovative policy framework in a country with limited institutional capacity. The development of human and institutional capacity has been compromised by inconsistent political commitment. Such experiences mirror those of electrification initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa. Whilst PASER׳s successes in garnering external support and fundraising are noteworthy and won praise from early reviews, in terms of delivery the Plan has failed to resolve common institutional barriers.