Optimal Electrification Planning Incorporating On- and Off-Grid Technologies: The Reference Electrification Model (REM)

Ciller, Pedro; Ellman, Douglas; Vergara, Claudio; González-García, Andrés; Lee, Stephen J.; Drouin, Cailinn; Brusnahan, Matthew; Borofsky, Yael; Mateo, Carlos; Amatya, Reja; Hielscher, Rafael Palacios; Stoner, Robert; Cuadra, F. de; Pérez-Arriaga, Ignacio J.

doi:10.1109/jproc.2019.2922543

Cited by 42 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…We also provide a short description of the sequential workflow that the model follows to obtain the electrification solution in a case study. A thorough explanation of the inputs and outputs of the model and its sequential workflow is available in reference [46]. Appendix A.1.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We use the Reference Electrification Model (REM) to run the cases presented in this paper. REM is a mature large-scale planning tool that finds the least-cost electrification solution, usually a combination of standalone systems (SAs), microgrids (MGs), and grid extensions (GEs), for an underserved region using heuristic optimization [46]. To date, REM has been used in planning projects at the country level in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and South America [47,48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Joint Optimal Planning of Electricity and Modern Energy Cooking Services Access in Nyagatare

et al. 2021

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In 2019, there were 759 million people globally without access to electricity and 2.6 billion people lacked access to clean cooking. Cooking with electricity could contribute to achieving universal access to energy by 2030. This paper uses geospatially-based techniques—a computer model named REM, for Reference Electrification Model—to show the impact of integrating electric cooking into electrification planning. Three household scenarios were analyzed: one for providing basic electricity access with no electric cooking; another for cooking with electricity; and the third for cooking half of the meals with electricity and half with another fuel, with a clean stacking process. Results of the application of REM to the three scenarios were obtained for the Nyagatare District, Rwanda. The case study showed that electric cooking substantially changes the mix of technologies and the total cost of the least-cost electrification plan. It also showed that electric cooking can be cost competitive compared to LPG and charcoal in grid-connected households and can reduce greenhouse emissions. Stacking with energy-efficient electric appliances provides most of the benefits of full electric cooking at a lower cost and is a pathway worthy of further consideration.

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Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Joint Optimal Planning of Electricity and Modern Energy Cooking Services Access in Nyagatare

et al. 2021

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“…This section provides a context for generation sizing in the rural electrification problem as implemented in REM, which is described in detail in reference [32].…”

Section: The Role Of Generation Designs In Remmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reference [30] introduces an early version of REM, and several improvements are presented in [31]. Reference [32] describes the current state of REM, and reference [33] applies REM to study the importance of demand in planning. This paper presents the novel approach to optimize generation designs that was developed for REM.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2019

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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.

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“…The Reference Electrification Model (REM) operates with a very high level of modeling detail. REM works with individual consumers instead of villages or cells, and calculates detailed network designs that go down to the building level for grid extensions and mini-grids [15]. The model also obtains precise generation designs for mini-grids and standalone systems [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network Cost Estimation for Mini-Grids in Large-Scale Rural Electrification Planning

Ciller¹,

Lumbreras²,

González-García³

2021

Energies

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Universal access to electricity is a crucial challenge in many developing countries. Establishing the electrification agenda of an underserved region is a complicated task where computer models play a critical role in calculating geospatial plans that efficiently allocate resources. Such plans should include—among other things—reasonable estimations of the designs and economic costs of standalone systems, mini-grids, and grid extensions. This implies that computer models need to estimate the network cost for many potential mini-grids. To that end, most planning tools apply quick rules of thumb or geometric methods that ignore power flows and electric constraints, which play a significant role in network designs. This paper presents a methodology that rapidly estimates any low-voltage mini-grid network cost without neglecting the impact of electrical feasibility in such cost. We present a case study where we evaluate our method in terms of accuracy and computation time. We also compare our method with a quick estimation similar to the ones most regional planning tools apply, showing the effectiveness of our method.

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Optimal Electrification Planning Incorporating On- and Off-Grid Technologies: The Reference Electrification Model (REM)

Cited by 42 publications

References 48 publications

Joint Optimal Planning of Electricity and Modern Energy Cooking Services Access in Nyagatare

Joint Optimal Planning of Electricity and Modern Energy Cooking Services Access in Nyagatare

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

Network Cost Estimation for Mini-Grids in Large-Scale Rural Electrification Planning

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