Technical and economic aspects of the viability of SIRES (Smart Integrated Renewable Energy Systems) for sustainable development of remote and rural areas of the world are discussed. The hallmark of the proposed SIRES is the smart utilization of several renewable resources in an integrated fashion and matching of resources and needs a priori with the ultimate goal of "energization", not just "electrification". Historical background leading to this approach is succinctly presented along with a comprehensive schematic diagram. Modeling of various components and their collective use in optimizing SIRES with the aid of genetic algorithm are presented using a typical hypothetical example. SIRES is also compared with various approaches for rural development based on Annualized Cost of System (ACS) and installation costs. Implementation of SIRES will lead to overall sustainable development of rural communities.

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Rural and remote communities are more vulnerable to damage caused by extreme events as compared to urban areas. Natural disasters can disrupt basic supplies such as domestic water supply and cooking needs in addition to electricity outages. The recognition of the interlinked nature of food, water and energy has gained momentum over the past few years. Smart Integrated Renewable Energy System (SIRES) has been proposed to handle basic needs such as cooking, domestic and irrigation water supply, and electricity to remote rural areas in an efficient and sustainable manner. Critical needs and non-critical needs for a typical rural community are discussed. The proposed approach is studied for two different scenarios: wind subsystem is inoperable and hydropower is inoperable due to the destruction caused by a natural disaster. In this paper, it is shown that employing SIRES could improve overall resiliency as compared to microgrids.

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