Performance assessment and resilience of solar mini-grids for sustainable energy access in Ghana
Mini-grids are increasingly adopted as a solution to extending electricity to remote communities in Africa. However, the system's resilience to meet increasing demand amidst degrading performance over time continues to be challenging. This study assessed mini-grid performance and explored facto...
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| Published in: | Energy (Oxford) Vol. 285; p. 129431 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier Ltd
15-12-2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Mini-grids are increasingly adopted as a solution to extending electricity to remote communities in Africa. However, the system's resilience to meet increasing demand amidst degrading performance over time continues to be challenging. This study assessed mini-grid performance and explored factors that should be considered in scaling up mini-grids for sustainability in five island communities in Ghana's Volta Lake. Power generation and load data, visual inspection and thermal imaging data, and electrical systems performance characteristics data were collected and analysed using data loggers installed on site, the IEA PVPS Task 13 guidelines, and the IEC-TS 61724-3: 2016 guidelines, respectively. The study's findings indicate that the solar power conversion efficiency of the mini-grids was generally low and had a 25 % - 45 % performance ratio. This low efficiency was due to inefficiencies in the battery bank, distribution losses, and unused losses. The overall system efficiency of the mini-grids ranged from 4 % to 7 %. This is consistent with the literature, which reports that PV power systems in tropical climates have an efficiency of 5 %–15 %. The research emphasises the importance of system maintenance, load management, and considering climate change's impact on mini-grid reliability and sustainability.
•Electricity consumption primarily occurs in the evening on the island communities, relying heavily on batteries and rendering the system redundant during the daytime.•Low-performance ratio for solar mini-grid can be caused by a poor match between the PV system's installed capacity and electricity demand.•Mini-grids on Lake Volta Island communities have low solar power conversion efficiency (25 %–45 %) and overall system efficiency (4 %–7 %) due to various losses and inefficiencies.•Resilience and sustainability of mini-grids can be enhanced by using alternative sources of sustainable energy, reducing system redundancy, and addressing climate change risks and challenges to mini-grid systems. |
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| ISSN: | 0360-5442 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.energy.2023.129431 |