Assessment of load profiles in minigrids: A case in Tanzania

Over 500 million people lack access to modern energy sources in sub-Saharan Africa as of today. Many of these people live in remote rural areas. Improving access to modern energy sources is considered an important goal towards reaching the Millennium goals. Minigrids are seen as an important technology to increase electricity access in non-electrified rural areas. There is currently a lack of measured load data from minigrids in developing countries. This paper investigates the differences between daily load profiles created from measurements and from appliance data collected through interviews. The paper reports differing results from the two methodologies. Specifically the interview data largely underestimate the base load from household. However, the study also concludes that measurements require special equipment and knowledge that can obstruct the access to data. Interview based load profiles can furthermore be used in previous non-electrified areas to indicate electricity usage before minigrids are constructed.