Rural Electrification with Solar Powered Mini-Grids and Stand-Alone Solar System Installations: Case of Somalia

Abstract

Access to electricity still remains a distant dream in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. In the energy sector, Somalia is one of the most underdeveloped in the region. Especially in rural areas, the rate of electrification is the lowest with the high cost of power, for electricity generation, Somalia depends on imported petroleum products, and cooking relies on biomass resources, and only a small fraction of the population has safe, reliable, and affordable energy services. Generally, the population in rural areas is composed of a high percentage of poor households and low population density. For this reason, there are not attractive economic benefits for electricity supply utilities or private investors to offer electricity services to these villages. So, this work presented technical and economic challenges for introducing solar-powered mini-grid and stand-alone solar system installations in Somalia's rural areas. Solar-powered mini-grid and stand-alone solar system have been considered for supplying an electrical load in a rural area.to design an off-grid system a well-known freeware HOMER modeling tool has been used. To supply electricity directly to the load solar energy is considered as the primary source and when excess generation happens a battery bank is considered for electrical storage. During the design of this power system the community's load has been suggested for lighting, fan, school, and health clinic equipment load, television, radio, and the simulation and optimization of the system were done based on the electrical load, sources of climatic data, the economics of the power components and other parameters. Finally, a solar-powered mini-grid is developed for a collection of communities and a standalone solar system for clustered buildings is also developed. For further research, the limitations, availability, and areas have also been identified.