The cost and emissions advantages of incorporating anchor loads into solar mini-grids in India

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Title: The cost and emissions advantages of incorporating anchor loads into solar mini-grids in India

Renewables-based mini-grids have the potential to improve electricity access with lower emissions and better reliability than national grids. However, these systems have a challenging cost to revenue ratio, hindering their implementation. Combining residential loads with an anchor load, a relatively large non-domestic user, can help to improve mini-grid economics. Using measured electricity demand data from India and energy modelling,  we assess the cost and emissions advantages of integrating health clinics as anchor loads within domestic solar mini-grids. For comparison, we also assess the ability of the national grid to meet our demand scenarios using monitored grid data. We apply a scenario-based approach, using separate domestic and anchor load demand profiles, and both in combination ; we test meeting two levels of energy demand, 95% and 100% ; and compare systems using PV and batteries, diesel, and hybrid generation. We find that the national grid has poor availability, at just over 50% at the most comparable monitoring site ; and that it would meet a lower fraction of energy demand for our anchor load scenarios than the domestic only ones.

Category: Renewable energy