A review of rural electrification through micro-grid approach: South African context

South Africa is Africa´s leading economy and yet in recent years, its steady growth has been restricted by energy crisis resulting from underinvestment and inadequate planning. This crisis coincides with the existing issue that over 3 million South African households are not connected to the national grid. Rural electrification by means of microsources (MS) and distributed generation through a microgrid (MG) approach presents itself as an attractive solution. This paper reviews the researches involving the models of MG implementation, future grid integration, and discusses the technical challenges involving rural electrification through MG.