Worldwide LCOEs of decentralized off-grid renewable energy systems

Recent events mean that the security of energy supplies is becoming more uncertain. One way to achieve a more reliable energy supply can be decentralised renewable off-grid energy systems, for which more and more case studies are conducted in research. This review gives a global overview of the costs, in terms of levelised cost of electricity (LCOE), for these autonomous energy systems, which range from $0.03/kWh to about$1.00/kWh worldwide in 2021. The average LCOEs for 100% renewable energy systems have decreased by 9% annually between 2016 and 2021 from $0.54/kWh to$0.29/kWh, presumably due to cost reductions in renewable energy and electricity storage. Our overview can be employed to verify findings on off-grid systems, and to assess where these systems might be deployed and how costs are evolving

A Renewable Energy Plan for Mozambique

Mozambique has among the lowest uses of electricity in the world. Yet virtually all of the electricity it does produce from Cahora Bassa Dam on the Zambezi is shipped to its wealthy neighbor, South Africa. As the government prepares to build another costly large dam on the Zambezi that will also power South Africa rather than homes and businesses in Mozambique, a new report lays out a saner plan for developing renewable energy sources across the nation that would share the energy wealth more equitably; diversify the national electricity grid to help the nation adapt to climate change (which is expected to significantly affect large hydro), and build a clean energy sector that would also spare the Zambezi

Renewables for Energy Access and Sustainable Development in East Africa

This short open access book investigates the role of renewable energy in East Africa to provide policy-relevant inputs for the achievement of a cost-effective electrification process in the region. For each country, the authors review the current situation in the domestic power sector, adopt a GIS-based approach to plot renewable energy resources potential, and review currently planned projects and projects under development, as well as the key domestic renewables regulations. Based on such information, least-cost 100% electrification scenarios by 2030 are then modelled and comparative results over the required capacity additions and investment are reported and discussed. The authors also inquire into some of the key technological, economic, policy, cooperation, and financing challenges to the development of a portfolio of renewables to promote energy access in a sustainable way, including a discussion of the challenges and opportunities that might stem from the interaction between local RE potential and natural gas resources currently under development in the region. To conclude, policy recommendations based on the book’s results and targeted at international cooperation and development institutions, local policymakers, and private stakeholders in the region are elaborated

Reviewing energy system modelling of decentralized energy autonomy

Research attention on decentralized autonomous energy systems has increased exponentially in the past three decades, as demonstrated by the absolute number of publications and the share of these studies in the corpus of energy system modelling literature. This paper shows the status quo and future modelling needs for research on local autonomous energy systems. A total of 359 studies are roughly investigated, of which a subset of 123 in detail. The studies are assessed with respect to the characteristics of their methodology and applications, in order to derive common trends and insights. Most case studies apply to middle-income countries and only focus on the supply of electricity in the residential sector. Furthermore, many of the studies are comparable regarding objectives and applied methods. Local energy autonomy is associated with high costs, leading to levelized costs of electricity of 0.41 $/kWh on average. By analysing the studies, many improvements for future studies could be identified: the studies lack an analysis of the impact of autonomous energy systems on surrounding energy systems. In addition, the robust design of autonomous energy systems requires higher time resolutions and extreme conditions. Future research should also develop methodologies to consider local stakeholders and their preferences for energy systems

Electricity Access, Decarbonization, and Integration of Renewables

This Open-Access-Book covers different aspects of the low-carbon energy transformation in a unique manner, with a particular focus on two regions, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The first part of the book provides useful insights on changes and reforms in the energy sector of Bangladesh, while the second part illustrates the low-carbon energy transformation in South Asia and the third part covers lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa. In all of these regions, the energy sector is undergoing major changes, driven by the four D’s: Decarbonization, decentralization, digitization, and democratization. Major overhauls are taking place at all levels: The country level, where energy mixes are rapidly changing, the corporate level, where large state-owned and private companies are challenged and new actors are emerging, and the local level, where technical and regulatory change has made citizen engagement and community power an option to replace or at least complement centralized supply structures

Analysis of Power System Options for Rural Electrification in Rwanda

Masteroppgave fornybar energi- Universitetet i Agder, 2015The development of modernized energy system for developing countries especially in rural areas is constantly a considerable problem to energy utilities. The progressive use of diesel generators in rural areas as main source of electrification is continuously becoming unsuitable because of the following reasons; the diesel generator requires the fuel at every single second of operation and the maintenance of every time is needed and it is very important to worry about the instability of power generated by those generators and the accessibility of fossil fuels is still a challenge for some communities. Whereas the introduction of new technologies by using Renewable Energy systems RESs has given a hope, confidence and security in electrification of rural communities. With a combination of RETs, a traditional diesel generation and batteries, a mini power system of the combination is adequate to manage harmony in operation, therefore granting a stable means of developing electrical power system to the developing countries especially those ones in rural areas. The target of this development is the analysis of a mini hybrid power system options to come up with the best techno-economic and optimum configuration of RETs for supplying electricity to one village in Rwanda. In this development, a hybrid system with a low cost of energy is presented for electrification of one of isolated village of Burera district, in Northern Province of Rwanda. First of all, the renewable resources are determined, an assessment of the predicted village energy demand is estimated, and using the software called HOMER, a best hybrid system types is described, elements measured, and the optimization of the system configuration is done to come up with the reliable and efficient operation in order to answer to the village demand with an economical cost. The system type is discovered as follows; a micro hydropower plant, diesel generator and a compound of batteries and this is found as the best option. In detail, for the case studied the best hybrid system has the following configuration: a micro hydro power plant (MHPP) of 20 kW, the diesel generator of 10 kW and the battery bank of 55.5 kWh. The MHPP generates 99.6 % of the total output, which is approximately 198,000 kWh/yr. The diesel generator is used to supply only 0.4 % of the total generation, resulting in 207 hours of operation annually. The obtained system configuration has a rough cost of energy of 0.2 $/kWh and may be further reduced to 0.13$/kWh, if state subsidies become available for covering 40 – 50 % of the capital investment. It clear that this hybrid system is more economically viable whether it is operated as off-grid or grid connected