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Energies
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Decentralized, Bottom-Up Electrification Approaches for Universal Energy Access
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Decentralized, Bottom-Up Electrification Approaches for Universal Energy Access

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "F: Electrical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 August 2021) | Viewed by 12044

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jelena Popovic

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Interests: energy access; decentralized renewable energy solutions; appropriate technology and socio-technical integration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Nishant Narayan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Program Lead Energy Access, TU Delft Global Initiative, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Interests: energy access; solar home systems; rural microgrids; socio-technical integration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ensuring universal, affordable and sustainable energy access is arguably one of the biggest societal challenges of our time. As of 2020, close to a billion people worldwide live without electricity, and another two billion have unreliable access. The centralized electricity grid is, due to cost, mismatch to the user needs and lack of financial feasibility, not always the optimal choice, especially for remote, rural contexts. Decentralized, bottom-up approaches, such as solar home systems and microgrids, have emerged as a response, but affordability, scalability, and path to growth remain a challenge.

A critical look at the experience with the existing approaches leads to an argument that technology innovation (along with business and financial innovation and deep involvement of the communities) has an important role to play. There is room for fresh thinking and new approaches with a better match to the user needs: lowering cost at a higher reliability and availability of supply; enabling growth through modularity, interconnectivity and interoperability; flexibility in accommodating various loads and sources; ultra-high efficiency appliances for consumptive and productive energy use and enabling new local economic and social opportunities. It is an opportunity to build a new kind of power system - decentralized, bottom-up and context appropriate. For long-term sustainability of any energy access solution, it is crucial that it takes into account the social, economic and cultural context.

This Special Issue invites researchers from academia, industry, government, NGOs and developing agencies to present their latest findings concerning technologies enabling universal energy access that are technically exciting, economically feasible and societally appropriate. It aims to provide an unbiased and scientifically sound overview of the recent research and technology developments relevant to academia, industry, policymakers, and society.

Dr. Jelena Popovic
Dr. Nishant Narayan
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Decentralized, ad-hoc microgrids
  • Solar home systems
  • Interoperability
  • Productive energy use
  • Ultra-efficient DC appliances
  • Renewable energy generation (PV, biomass, wind etc.)
  • Socio-technical integration
  • Co-creation and localization
  • Market mechanisms
  • Other contextual research topics

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 7061 KiB  
Article
Remote Microgrids for Energy Access in Indonesia—Part II: PV Microgrids and a Technology Outlook
by Desmon Simatupang, Ilman Sulaeman, Niek Moonen, Rinaldi Maulana, Safitri Baharuddin, Amalia Suryani, Jelena Popovic and Frank Leferink
Energies 2021, 14(21), 6901; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14216901 - 21 Oct 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3937
Abstract
This paper is the companion paper of Remote Microgrids for Energy Access in Indonesia “Part I: scaling and sustainability challenges and a technology outlook”. This part II investigates the issues of photovoltaic (PV) systems with respect to the planning, design, and [...] Read more.
This paper is the companion paper of Remote Microgrids for Energy Access in Indonesia “Part I: scaling and sustainability challenges and a technology outlook”. This part II investigates the issues of photovoltaic (PV) systems with respect to the planning, design, and operation, and maintenance phases in microgrids in Indonesia. The technology outlooks are also included as PV has an important role in providing electricity in the underdeveloped, isolated, and border areas. The data in this paper are from PV microgrids located in Maluku and North Maluku, which are two provinces where there is barely any grid connection available and thus very dependent on remote microgrids. The data are obtained from interviews with Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and NZMATES, which are an Indonesian utility company and a program for supporting role for the PV systems in Maluku funded by New Zealand respectively. Common issues with respect to reliability and sustainability are identified based on the provided data. Advanced technologies to increase reliability and sustainability are also presented in this paper as a technology outlook. Among these solutions are online monitoring systems, PV and battery lifetime estimation, load forecasting strategies, and PV inverters technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Decentralized, Bottom-Up Electrification Approaches for Universal Energy Access)
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23 pages, 2302 KiB  
Article
Remote Microgrids for Energy Access in Indonesia—Part I: Scaling and Sustainability Challenges and A Technology Outlook
by Ilman Sulaeman, Desmon Petrus Simatupang, Brandon Kristiano Noya, Amalia Suryani, Niek Moonen, Jelena Popovic and Frank Leferink
Energies 2021, 14(20), 6643; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14206643 - 14 Oct 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4312
Abstract
Although Indonesia’s electrification ratio reached 99.2% in 2020, it has shown stagnating electrification since 2018. This is because most of the remaining areas that need to be electrified are remote and have unique characteristics that hamper implementation of microgrids for providing energy access. [...] Read more.
Although Indonesia’s electrification ratio reached 99.2% in 2020, it has shown stagnating electrification since 2018. This is because most of the remaining areas that need to be electrified are remote and have unique characteristics that hamper implementation of microgrids for providing energy access. Furthermore, not only the deployment but also the long-term sustainability of microgrids is crucial for ensuring continuity of energy access. This paper aims to investigate the scaling and sustainability challenges of remote microgrid development in Indonesia by analyzing microgrids in the Maluku and North Maluku provinces. This study is a two-part publication; the first part focuses on identifying challenges in Indonesia’s remote microgrid development, while the second part focuses on potential technology solutions. In the first part, an assessment of energy access within a multi-tier framework was conducted, which was then analyzed using a multi-dimensional (institutional, social, technical, economic, environmental, and policy) approach adapted from the literature. The framework was expanded by mapping the challenges onto specific phases of the microgrid development, which is intended to be helpful for the parties involved in specific phases. It is shown that the challenges related to unclear land status, lack of social engagement, preliminary survey, technical and practical knowledge, and O&M procedures—especially for remote microgrids with renewable energy sources—are the most prominent issues. Additionally, issues caused by electrical events and environmental conditions such as relatively humid and high-temperatures, and uncontrolled vegetation, rodents, insects, and lizards are often found. Furthermore, a high-level technological outlook to address some of these issues is presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Decentralized, Bottom-Up Electrification Approaches for Universal Energy Access)
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26 pages, 2934 KiB  
Article
Participatory Impetus for and Forms of Citizens’ Co-Owned Power Plants: Cases from Higashi-Ohmi, Japan
by Hui-Tzu Huang and Rüdiger Glaser
Energies 2021, 14(7), 1843; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14071843 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2668
Abstract
Citizen-led local participation is considered the key to a successful energy transition, and citizens’ co-owned power plants are an alternative and representative form of local participation. The extent to which citizens’ co-owned power plants can embody “locality, democracy, participation, energy autonomy, poverty reduction, [...] Read more.
Citizen-led local participation is considered the key to a successful energy transition, and citizens’ co-owned power plants are an alternative and representative form of local participation. The extent to which citizens’ co-owned power plants can embody “locality, democracy, participation, energy autonomy, poverty reduction, and energy justice” has led to many controversial discussions. In response to these meaningful questions, this study argues for the focus to return to the impetus and driving forces of local participation in energy. This study proposes six possibilities for the impetus of local energy participation and the types of participation they may create. In the case analysis of the Higashi-Ohmi Model, in addition to the compound disaster of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and the transformation of the Japanese power grid, the driving factors depend on the self-consciousness of local promoters who insist on independence from policy influence. By linking local networks to discuss “local needs,” the residents form an integrated plan of “agricultural self-sufficiency, care system, and energy autonomy.” They promote the overall economic cycle of the region with energy regional energy currency, which inspired other rural forms of citizen energy participation. In addition, the simultaneous development of small-scale local enterprises and the ability of the local government to adjust policies centered on the needs of residents are important conditions for implementing the Higashi-Ohmi model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Decentralized, Bottom-Up Electrification Approaches for Universal Energy Access)
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