Mashood Nasir

PhD Candidate
Energy and Power System Cluster
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering
Lahore University of Management Sciences

1
 Presentation Outline
1. Need For Rural Electrification
2. Overview of the Existing Technologies for Rural
Electrification
A. Rural Electrification Via interconnection with National Grid
B. Stand alone System e.g. Chief Minister Ujala Scheme
C. Microgrids based Electrification
3. Classification of SOLAR DC Microgrids on the basis of
Architecture
A. Central Generation Central Storage Architecture (CGCSA)
B. Central Generation Distributed Storage Architecture (CGDSA)
C. Distributed Generation Distributed Storage Architecture (DGDSA)
4. Financial Viability of Proposed DGDSA
5. Conclusion
2
 Impact of Reliable Access to Electricity on Standards of Living
 Worldwide 1.1 Billion People (15% of World population) are without Access to Electricity [1] and
84% of Non-Electrified population lives in rural areas [1]
 Around 30 million People and 30,000 Villages in Pakistan are not Connected to National Grid [2].
 United Nation’s SDG-7 aims to provide universal access to electricity by 2030.
 Projected electrification rate in India, Indonesia and other south east Asia is in line with SDG-7
 Developing Asia (including Pakistan) is behind the target while Africa is far away.
 Rural Electrification is the Need of the Hour to Attain the Socio-Economic Benefits Associated
with the Availability of Electricity
210
Unelectrified Population
195
Total Population
180
165
150

Million People
135
120
105
90
75
60
45
30
15
0
2000 2005 2010 2016 2018
Year

Figure 1: World Wide Rural Electrification Scenario [1] Figure 2: Rural Electrification Scenario in Pakistan [1, 2]

[1]. "World energy outlook 2017," International Energy Agency, vol. 1, 2017.
[2]. Electricity for All: Rural electrification – I by Syed Akhtar Ali, Business Recorder, 11-03-2018. 3
A. Electrification via Laying Three Phase AC Transmission and
Distribution Lines to Connect it with National Grid
Utility Grid Extension has
been the Predominant Rural
Electrification Scheme and
around 70 % of Electrification
during 2000 to 2016 has been
Achieved through Grid
Extension
These large scale
developments are generally
constrained by the limitation
of funding resources and
therefore, not Suitable for
developing Economies like
Pakistan
Figure 3. Schematics for Electrification through National Grid Interconnection
Table 1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Utility Grid Extension for
Rural Electrification Implementations
Advantages Drawbacks
Mature Technology High Cost for Building New Power
Generation Plants
Uninterruptable, Reliable and High Cost for Laying Long Distance
Stable Transmission Lines
Can support High Power Line Losses in Transmission and
Community Loads Distribution
Affordable for Consumers Power Quality Issues
4
B. Electrification via Stand-alone Systems
e.g. Chief Misniter Ujala Scheme

Infrastructure development company (IDCOL) by

government of Bangladesh has reported the
installation of 4.12 million SHS in the remote areas
up to May, 2017 through which 18 million people
i.e. 12% of Bangladesh population has been given
access to electricity. The projected target of IDCOL
is to install 6 million SHS by 2021.
Figure 4. Schematic of a standalone Solar Home System

Table 2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Standalone Solar System for Rural Electrification

Although, this technology
can provide a stop gap
measure for providing
rural occupants with very
basic electricity, however,
it is unlikely to bring
people out of poverty and
contribute for socio-
economic uplift
Advantages
Renewable, Clean and Noise Free
Operation
Cost Effective for Limited
Electrification
Simpler Design
Highly Efficient due to DC
Generation, storage and Loads
Drawbacks
Can not Provide Power beyond
Subsistence Living
Unable to Drive High Power
Community Loads (e.g. Filtration
plants, Agriculture Pumps or School)
Incapable of Resource Sharing
Can not Extract the Benefit of Usage
Diversity
5
C. Electrification Via Microgrids
A highly reliable localized
network of interconnected
generation, storage and loads.
In order to make it best fit for
Rural Electrification, Following
Power
parameters needs to be Processing
carefully selected:

1. Generation (Renewable/
Non-Renewable)
Figure 5. Schematics for Microgrid based Rural Electrification
 Solar PV (due to green
nature and naturally
Abundant Availability) Table 3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Microgrid based Rural Electrification
Advantages Drawbacks
2. Distribution Architecture
(AC/ DC) Resource Sharing Capability at a Top – Down Centralized Planning as
village scale per Peak Power Requirements
 DC due to higher efficiency
No need to Lay Long Distance Low Utilization Factor
Transmission Lines
3. Generation/Storage
Architecture Lower Line Losses in Comparison Higher Up-front Cost in Comparison
to Utility Grid Interconnection to Standalone System
(Centralized/Distributed)
 Distributed as discussed in Higher Power Quality Rigid in terms of Future Expansions
next slides
A. Central Generation Central Storage Architecture (CGCSA)
e.g. Mera Gao Power in India [3]

Power
Processing 24 V DC Distribution

Figure 6: Conventional Central Generation Central Storage Architecture (CGCSA)

Limitations of CGCSA
 Higher Line Losses due to central Placement of Resources
 Lower Distribution Efficiency
 Higher Voltage Drops at the Rear End
 Higher Up-front Cost
 Lower Scalability
 Suitable only for Limited Power Allocation per house (0.2 amps at 24 V)
 No Provision of Communal Load
 Can not Contribute towards Significant Uplift of the Society
[3]. D. Palit, G. K. Sarangi, and P. Krithika, "Energising Rural India Using Distributed Generation: The Case of Solar Mini-Grids in
Chhattisgarh State, India," in Mini-Grids for Rural Electrification of Developing Countries, ed: Springer, 2014, pp. 313-342. 7
B. Central Generation Central Storage Architecture (CGDSA)
Presented by Maduri et.al UC Berkley, USA [4]

Power
Processing 380V DC Distribution

Figure 7: Central Generation Distributed Storage Architecture (CGDSA)

Characteristics and Limitations of CGDSA

 Relatively Lower Distribution Losses due to High Distribution voltage

 Distributed Storage at each household reduces the over all distribution losses,
however distribution losses associated with generated energy still exists.
 Communication via GSM among various households
 Multiple Conversion Losses

[4]. P. A. Madduri, J. Poon, J. Rosa, M. Podolsky, E. Brewer, and S. R. Sanders, "Scalable DC Microgrids for Rural Electrification in Emerging Regions,"
IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. PP, pp. 1-1, 2016. 8
An Architecture having
 Low Cost Deployment

 Lower Distribution and Conversion Losses

 Higher End to End Efficiency

 Reliability

 Scalability

 Resource Sharing Feature

 Capability to Drive High Power Communal Load

An architecture with above characteristics is a true Rural

Electrification Architecture that can provide beyond subsistence
level power provisioning and can genuinely contribute towards
the socio-economic uplift of the society.

9
C. Distributed Generation Central Distributed Architecture
(DGDSA) proposed by Mashood et. al LUMS [5]

120 V DC Distribution

Community Centre/School

Figure 10: Schematics of Distributed Generation Distributed Storage Architecture (DGDSA)

 A Self Sustaining Network purely based upon Solar Energy

 Nanogrid (Household) as a basic building block
 Each Nanogrid has its own PV generation, battery storage and connected with DC bus
 Each nanogrid can work independently as well as in coordination
 Bidirectional power flow capability is realized via bidirectional flyback converter

[5]. M. Nasir, H. A. Khan, A. Hussain, L. Mateen, and N. A. Zaffar, "Solar PV Based Scalable DC Microgrid for Rural Electrification in
Developing Regions," IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, 2017. 10
D. Distributed Generation Central Distributed Architecture
(DGDSA) Continued… proposed by Mashood et. al [5]

Characteristics of DGDSA
 Lower Distribution Losses due to distribution of generation/storage resources
in individual nanogrids
 Higher efficiency and Lower Voltage Dips
 Scalable in Design and Planning (Bottom–up planning)
 Resource Sharing/can extract the benefit of usage diversity
 Each house can consume more than its own generation
 Overall structure Can aggregate power for Community Loads
 Communication-Less Coordination among the distributed Resources through
droop control [6].

[5]. M. Nasir, H. A. Khan, A. Hussain, L. Mateen, and N. A. Zaffar, "Solar PV Based Scalable DC Microgrid for Rural Electrification in
Developing Regions," IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, 2017.
11
[6]. M. Nasir, Z.jin, H.A. Khan, N.A. Zaffar, J.C. Vasquez and J. M. Guerrero, ‘’A Decentralized Control Architecture Applied to Cluster of
Multiple nanogrids for Rural Electrification of Developing Regions”, IEEE Transactions of Power Electronics, 2018.
• Survey for the Estimation of Willingness to Pay for three level of services
1. Light only +charging load (5W/household)
2. Lights, Fan and Charging Load (30W/household)

3. Lights Fan Communal and Charging Load (30W+500W)

• Microgrid Cost Calculation for a Village with 40 Houses.

Table 4. Mapping of Willingness to Pay on Estimated Cost of the Microgrid for the Calculation of Payback time [7]
Load per house Capital Cost Capital + 25 years Subscription Charges Per user per Average
(24/7 provision to O&M Cost Month for payback in (PKR/Month) Willingness
subscribers) (PKR) (PKR) to Pay
(PKR/month)
3 years 6 years 9 years 12
years
3 Lights, 956300 2614900 665 445 330 270 340
1 fan, charging
unit
3 Lights, 1000000 2678700 695 473 350 325 435
1 fan, charging
and Communal
load

• Mapping Shows that pay back time for microgrid investment is almost 9 years.
[7]. H.F. Ahmad, H. A. Khan, F. Nadeem, M. Nasir and N. A. Zaffar, "Decentralised Electric Power Delivery for Rural Electrification in Pakistan “,
12 Energy
Policy, 2018 (Under Review).
Distributed Generation Distributed Storage Architecture (DGDSA) based
Scalable Solar DC Microgrids offer:

‘’A COMPREHENSIVE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION STRATEGY THAT CAN

SUBSTANTIALY CONTRIBUTE FOR IMPROVED STANDARDS OF LIVING FOR
DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES’’

13
 Mashood Nasir
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Electrical Engineering
SBASSE – LUMS
mashood.nasir@lums.edu.pk