Brugia Malayi - Clark Science Center - Smith College

Wind-Diesel Microgrid System for Remote Villages in Kenya
June Lukuyu
Electricity has proven to be a major contributor of global socioeconomic development. It is the foundation for urbanization
and industrialization, which results in a higher standard of living for the people who have access to electricity. Electricity has
been confined to urban areas and for this reason several countries, especially less developed ones are lagging behind in terms of
socioeconomic development. Kenya, like most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, is faced with the problem of limited electricity
access especially in rural areas. To address this issue, my research proposed the use of wind-diesel microgrid systems to achieve
rural electrification.
A microgrid is a small-scale power supply network that is designed to provide energy for a small community. As used
in this project, a wind-diesel microgrid system combines diesel generators and wind turbines alongside additional equipment
such as batteries, power converters and various control systems to generate electricity. A remote village in Northern Kenya,
Marsabit, which is currently being served by an off grid wind-diesel system was used as a case study. A power flow model of
the hypothetical Marsabit wind-diesel generation, transmission and distribution network was developed to simulate and analyze
the reliability of the system. The percentage of wind capacity and diesel energy going into the system to serve the 17 % annual
increase in demand for electricity in Marsabit town over a period of eight years was examined as an indicator of system reliability.
Using the power flow model, system reliability for different scenarios based on different sizes of diesel generators and different
wind capacity were analyzed.
Results from the comparison of the different scenarios showed that the wind-diesel microgrid system tends to be more
reliable if the diesel generator capacity is increased as opposed to wind capacity during power system expansion to meet the
growing demand. This is owing to the fact that wind power tends to have a low capacity factor and has an intermittent nature.
Nonetheless, these technical issues can be dealt with through grid control but this consequently increases the cost.
The findings of this research will be presented at the annual North American Power Symposium at the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in September 2012. (Supported by the Schultz Foundation)
Advisor: Judith Cardell
References:
1
H. Ibrahim, R. Younès, T. Basbous, A. Ilinca, M. Dimitrova, Optimization of diesel engine performances for a hybrid wind–diesel system with compressed air
energy storage, Energy, May 2011. Vol 36, Issue 5, Pg 3079-3091
2012
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