FORTIS UNUM: CLUSTERING MINI-GRID NETWORKS TO WIDEN ENERGY ACCESS AND ENHANCE UTILITY NETWORK RESILIENCE

To support the requirements of the call, this application will utilise existing work related to five mini grids and their networks deployed previously in Uganda and Kenya. It brings together collaborations between researchers and research users that have interest in sustainable energy systems, resilient networks and energy access. To date, it is estimated that around 1.2 billion people, representing 16% of the global population, have no access to electricity with many more having no reliable electricity supply. Most of these people live in rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and south Asian countries. Overall access to electricity in SSA is estimated to be around 15.3%, decreasing to 4% in rural areas. As 80% of the SSA population lives in rural areas, extending the grid is prohibitively expensive and rural areas are unlikely to be served through this route in the near future. In addition, load-shedding and blackouts from unreliable national grids are estimated to lower GDP growth by 2%. The lack of access to electricity in the targeted countries and beyond hampers economic activity, trapping communities in poverty. Hence, innovative and less capital intensive solutions such as sustainable energy mini grid networks will be needed to alleviate these challenges, provide growth, and invigorate rural communities.

Expansion of rural electricity solutions is compromised by low population densities and very low incomes (affordability) coupled with low tariffs set by the subsidised utility network in urban areas. It is now widely accepted that mini-grids (electrical power generation, transmission and distribution) have an important role to play in delivering electricity access to rural communities. The focus of this project is sustainable energy driven electricity networks geared to promote the short and long-term sustainable growth in Sub Saharan Africa focusing on Kenya and Uganda. This project will build on our 10 years' experience of research and development in delivering modular solar photovoltaic (PV) driven power generation and distribution systems in rural areas on these countries. We will build on such collaborations to create new and appropriate knowledge, and capacity building, focussing on sustainable and resilient local energy networks, including off-grid networks and their transition to the national grid. This research will address mini grid networks in various modes - (a) isolated (b) connected to the national grid and (c) with multiple networks connected and working jointly. Clustering mini grids will form wider networks with greater stability and lower Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), while linking such clusters to the national grid could provide support the near end of line utility network. This research will be underpinned by field studies on the applicants' five existing mini grids in Kenya and Uganda and will consider over 400 mini-grids in planning in these countries.

Resilient and sustainable energy driven mini grids provide emission free power impacting health and reducing maintenance costs when compared to fossil fuels. This proposal targets poor rural households in Africa facilitating power for modern living including: healthcare, education, better nutrition and investment in income-generating activities. Such benefits directly contribute to poverty reduction, increasing hours of work and study, more productivity and better educational and literacy outcomes. The provision of electrical power increases economic activity; saves lives (especially maternal care and infants); and promotes health. Furthermore, higher levels of electrification provided through mini grids include among other things power availability for radio, TV and internet enabling access to more knowledge and information resources - impacting development and growth.

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) approximately, 600 million people mostly in rural areas have no access to electricity. Extending the national grid to sparsely populated and dispersed rural areas is prohibitively expensive and energy services are unlikely to be provided through this route, hampering achieving universal access by 2030 stipulated by the UK SDG #7 goal. As the grid grows more slowly than the population increases, rural electricity supply continues to rely in the main on diesel or gasoline generators for productive power and kerosene lamps for lighting, both of which are expensive and inefficient. This research is geared towards developing optimised and cost effective mini grid network technologies that are appropriately designed to alleviate these issues and benefit rural communities and their productive use of energy in an environmentally sound and resource efficient manner. It is our intention to generate knowledge, develop models of distributed off-grid power systems offering the potential for higher tiers of household electrification, and affordable services for off-grid businesses.
This project will expand our understanding and provide the basis for future modular and grid connected concepts to provide power for households and appliances, creating robust productive power use systems geared towards job creation, expansion of the local economy and profit generation to improve the quality of life and move communities out of subsistence living. Additional benefits can also be the deceleration and perhaps reversal of the migration of people from rural communities to overcrowded cities, through increased employment and business development opportunities in rural areas.