Cost estimation of different electric systems for rural areas in developing countries

The aim of this paper is to present a new methodology to design the electric power distribution network for rural areas of developing countries. Thus, in the context of the current emergence of new generation and storage technologies, this paper describes different means to electrify developing countries; by MV systems or by autonomous systems with planned location of small generation and storage. There is also a cost quantification of these different architectures by the way of a cost calculation software which has been developed to size and compare the considered solutions. For each strategy, the authors calculate investment costs and yearly costs (maintenance and energy cost). So the updated assessment over 20 years can be calculated and the strategies comparison gives the best solution for each electrification problem.