Development of a smart monitoring and evaluation framework for hybrid renewable mini-grids

Abstract

Hybrid renewable mini-grids have emerged as a viable solution for providing reliable, environmentally friendly electricity to remote communities. An affordable and grid-quality supply of energy can open new possibilities for socioeconomic progress. As part of a joint project between South Africa's Eastern Cape province and Germany's state of Lower Saxony a Photovoltaic (PV) hybrid mini-grid is developed in the municipality of Upper Blinkwater in Eastern Cape for a rural community of 70 households with 90% living off of social grants and no access to the main national grid. The aim of this work is to develop a smart Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (MEF) for hybrid renewable mini-grids by integrating cutting-edge technologies in a scalable platform of replicable solutions towards connecting the mini-grid with diverse stakeholders with enhanced observability of both generation and consumption profiles. The MEF provides the opportunity to streamline the flow of real-time energy data (generation, consumption, and storage) from the system to generate accurate and high-resolution data-driven load profiles for rural households. Simultaneously, the interrelation between energy access and social development will be studied and analyzed.