The cost and emissions advantages of incorporating anchor loads into solar mini-grids in India

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition

Muriel Hauser¹  Clementine L. Chambon¹  Ajay Gambhir¹  Sheridan Few²  Jenny Nelson³  Hamish Beath³  Philip Sandwell³ 

[1] Medicine, London, United Kingdom;;Department of Physics, Imperial College of Science, Technology &;The Grantham Institute, Imperial College of Science, Technology &

关键词: Anchor loads;    Solar PV;    Mini-grid;    Rural Electrification;    Energy for Health;    India;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Renewables-based mini-grids have the potential to improve electricity access with lower emissions and better reliability than national grids. However, these systems have a challenging cost to revenue ratio, hindering their implementation. Combining residential loads with an anchor load, a relatively large non-domestic user, can help to improve mini-grid economics. Using measured electricity demand data from India and energy modelling, we assess the cost and emissions advantages of integrating health clinics as anchor loads within domestic solar mini-grids. For comparison, we also assess the ability of the national grid to meet our demand scenarios using monitored grid data. We apply a scenario-based approach, using separate domestic and anchor load demand profiles, and both in combination; we test meeting two levels of energy demand, 95% and 100%; and compare systems using PV and batteries, diesel, and hybrid generation. We find that the national grid has poor availability, at just over 50% at the most comparable monitoring site; and that it would meet a lower fraction of energy demand for our anchor load scenarios than the domestic only ones. For the off-grid systems, we find substantial cost and emissions reductions with anchor loads relative to demand scenarios without anchor loads. At 95% of demand met, we find PV and battery systems are 14-22% cheaper than diesel-only systems, with 10 times lower carbon intensity. Our findings illustrate the role off-grid systems can play in the provision of reliable low-carbon electricity and highlight the advantages of incorporating anchor loads like health centres into such systems.

【 授权许可】

Unknown