A community electrification project: Combination of microgrids and household systems fed by wind, PV or micro-hydro energies according to micro-scale resource evaluation and social constraints

Abstract

When electrifying isolated rural communities, usually standardized solutions have been implemented using the same technology at all the points. However these solutions are not always appropriate to the community and its population. This article aims to describe the technical design of the electrification system of the community of Alto Peru (in the region of Cajamarca, Peru), where the adequate technology was used at each area according to micro-scale resource evaluation and the socioeconomic requirements of the population. Specifically four technologies were implemented: wind microgrids in highlands, a micro-hydro power plant in the presence of a waterfall, a PV microgrid in a group of points sheltered from the wind and individual PV systems in scattered points with low wind potential. This project brought electricity to 58 households, a health center, a school, a church, two restaurants and two shops.

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

“…This would allow them to be more competitive and productive and improve their income in the long run, which could be reinvested in education [69,70]. The sustainability of RES projects can also receive the benefits of education because education can empower community inhabitants, making them more knowledgeable of the benefits of the technology and more able to operate and maintain the technologies themselves [71,72].…”

“…. /extends the daily productive hours, allowing children to study in the evenings and obtain a better education through the use of new technologies at schools" [69] (p. 275).…”

“…Level of education [3,5,[68][69][70][73][74][75][76][77][78] "Among other benefits, access to electricity/ . .…”

“…Providing communities longer hours of lighting can lead to an increase in education because people could spend more hours at night studying, and schools could invest in internet and computers to gain access to global information [65,[67][68][69] (See R4 and R6 in Figure 3). This would allow them to be more competitive and productive and improve their income in the long run, which could be reinvested in education [69,70].…”

Off-grid community electrification projects based on wind and solar energies: A case study in Nicaragua

“…However, diesel generators have some clear 96 disadvantages and limitations, such as the high and variable fuel cost, the continuous 97 requirement of fuel transportation to the community that could be highly expensive and time 98 consuming specially in rural areas, and the inherent carbon dioxide and other pollutant 99 emissions . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 3 Under these circumstances, stand-alone electrification systems that use renewable energy 102 sources are a suitable alternative to provide electricity to isolated communities in a reliable and 103 pollution-free manner (Domenech et al, 2014;Nandi and Ghosh, 2010). Moreover, one of their 104 main advantages is that they use local resources and do not depend on external sources, which 105 can promote the long-term sustainability of the projects.…”