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ESCoBox: A Set of Tools for Mini-Grid Sustainability in the Developing World

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Neal WadeORCiD, Dr David Greenwood, Dr Peter Davison

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

Mini-grids powered by photovoltaic generators or other renewable energy sources have the potential to bring electricity to the 17% of the world’s population, mainly in rural areas, that are currently un-served. However, designing and managing a mini-grid so that it is reliable and economically sustainable is difficult because of the high variability of demand that arises from the small population of consumers. We describe an integrated set of four tools to assist mini-grid operators to predict and manage demand. These comprise a decision support tool to predict peak and average demand from a consumer population, a demand disaggregation tool that allows the key statistical properties of connected electricity-consuming appliances to be identified, a battery condition modeling tool which allows the impact on battery life of a planned operating regime to be predicted and a demand control sub-system which limits the operating time of high demand appliances to intervals when they can be supported. Results from application of the tool set to mini-grids in Kenya and The Gambia are presented. We conclude that accessible, usable and low cost tools of this form can improve mini-grid sustainability.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Boait P, Gammon R, Advani V, Wade N, Greenwood D, Davison P

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Sustainability

Year: 2017

Volume: 9

Issue: 5

Pages: 1-15

Online publication date: 03/05/2017

Acceptance date: 28/04/2017

Date deposited: 03/05/2017

ISSN (print): 2071-1050

ISSN (electronic): 2071-1050

Publisher: M D P I AG

URL: http://doi.org/10.3390/su9050738

DOI: 10.3390/su9050738


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
EP/L002566/1EPSRC

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