Solar Mini-Grids Prove Key To Universal Electrification

Electricity access is essential for people’s lives and livelihoods: from using fridges to store food and medicine; charging mobile phones to stay connected; lighting up households and schools at night; to powering local businesses.

Applications include:

• Village power supplies
• Island power supplies
• Hotels & mountain resorts
• Remote farms
• Lodges & Cabins
• Hospitals & Schools
• Telecommunication and radio stations
• Mobile applications

Solar mini-grids could play a critical role in providing electricity to rural communities and businesses and in helping to connect the 789 million people worldwide who currently do not have access.

However, the mini-grid market is currently nascent, despite it being the least-cost option for electricity access in many areas.Mini-grids are the most suitable option for many low- and medium-density areas and can address a larger number of low-income families more economically than the alternative options.

New technologies are making it possible for electricity to be provided through more decentralised networks. The costs of PV modules and lithium-ion batteries have continued to fall sharply by 86% and 85% respectively between 2010 and 2020, and remote connectivity, control and data analysis have expanded the range of available options.

Solar hybrid mini-grids that integrate PV and other decentralized energy resources such as diesel generators and energy storage can complement and compete with main grid extensions in terms of the cost of electricity and the speed of deployment.

Grid extension is still the predominant approach for providing electricity access in remote areas. However, the areas that the main grid can reach more economically than off-grid alternatives are slowly being exhausted, and in some places the incremental costs of adding new rural customers via this route are becoming prohibitive.

It’s not just about having lights and charging phones. If people use electricity for productive use, it can earn more money.