The role of microgrids & renewable energy in addressing Sub-Saharan Africa´s current and future energy needs

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has a rich mix of renewable energy sources (RES) most of which are massively underutilized in as far as electricity generation from them is concerned. This is largely attributed to the lack of adequate energy infrastructure and the high capital costs associated with the deployment of requisite infrastructure. In order to attract and justify investment in this area, there is need for sustainable demand with sufficient loads able to sink the generated power. However, this is not the case in the region as many communities are poor especially those in rural and remote areas. It is also worth noting that lack of electricity is closely correlated with poverty and thus the need to avail these communities with affordable electricity as to attain long-term mutual benefits. Since most of the RES in the region are wide spread and populations live in clusters, generation is expected to be distributed. This justifies the use of standalone autonomous systems., i.e. Microgrids that are able to connect to the grid. Microgrids offer an affordable and reliable solution as compared to grid extension to areas that are located far from the grid. They also allow for renewable and fossil fuel incorporation thus serving as the most ideal solution to addressing SSA´s source, storage and load interconnection needs. In this paper, the effects of lack of electricity in SSA are investigated, the challenges facing rural electrification in the region are analyzed and some feasible technical and financial solutions needed to avert these shortcomings are proposed. HOMER simulation results for optimal micro grid configurations in Nyakabanda, Rwanda as a test case are also documented.