Design and optimization of the energy supply for the Global Interactive Village Environment : Techno-economic feasibility of an off grid solution for electrification in India

Abstract: In a energy scenario moving fast towards the deployment of renewable energy technologies and the need of reducing CO2 emissions, hybrid energy systems for rural electrification are a feasible alternative solution to the utilization of conventional Diesel generators. The project focuses on the design and optimization of an off-grid hybrid energy system for a village of around 250 inhabitants in Gujarat, India. The energy system is part of a bigger project, “G.I.V.E. Center of Excellence”, which has an innovative concept on a more sustainable rural lifestyle. The system, which has to depend mainly on locally available resources, intends to serve three main services: electrical demand, water purification and thermal energy for cooking. Two system configurations were designed and optimized to supply the estimated demand. The main outcome is a techno-economic analysis of the different system performances, which leads to a conclusion: dealing with the services individually has lower costs of implementation, less than half if compared to the implementation of a conventional Diesel generator. Furthermore, CO2 emissions are drastically reduced. A sensitivity analysis was performed to address the different uncertainties such as the cost of the fuel. The result shows that if enough biomass resource would be available, a system based only on renewable energy technologies is economically profitable.