Weakly coupled DC grid for developing countries: “Less is more”

Micro-grid for villages using renewable energy is becoming a trend for developing countries like in Africa. Commonly, ac microgrids are used for the simple reason of ac household equipments and protection abilities. DC microgrid is a better choice in terms of efficiency, control simplicity and converter prices. However, whether it is an AC or DC, the demand-supply management is the most basic problem in developing countries which causes more outage due to overloads and/or equipment failures. This paper proposes, a weakly coupled dc grid, a systematic approach to building electrical grid with the consideration of social behavior, future power system considerations and social participation in decision making.