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Despite a push by the United Nations to connect everyone on the planet with electricity by 2030, 20% of the world’s population is still without access to electricity, mostly in developing countries. Furthermore, 2.8 billion people still rely on hard fuels - including wood, coal and dung - for their cooking and heating needs, which results in more than a million deaths each year. There is a clear need to deliver affordable and sustainable energy to these communities to support economic initiatives and enhance quality of life.

While the goal is clear, the path to reach it is rife with often insurmountable obstacles. However, advances in solar-plus-storage technologies and rapid improvements in system affordability are putting renewable energy within reach for remote communities around the globe.

When it comes to off-grid solar, the developing world has much to teach the developed world. Even in largely grid-connected regions such as India and the U.S., electricity shortages and blackouts are common under conditions of peak loading. Communities that are able to sustain their energy needs through localized, independent power sources such as microgrids or renewable energy sources with backup point the way forward.

Moreover, as damaging weather events occur with more frequency, it is not unthinkable that people in many areas of the U.S. will adopt grid-tied or even off-grid solar power systems to supplement their utility electricity and provide backup power in the event of an outage. Just as remote communities around the world are benefiting from solar-plus-storage solutions, U.S. homes and even entire communities can enjoy the security and peace of mind that come from knowing the lights are going to stay on.

 

The path to solar

Connecting far-flung communities to available electricity requires geographic proximity, access to equipment, skilled technicians and funding. For many non-electrified communities, these challenges are impossible to overcome. If the utility grid is too far away, there’s really nothing a community can do to bridge the distance. However, several things have happened over the past decade that are making it easier and more affordable to bring solar energy to these areas, including advances in solar components such as charge controllers, more efficient batteries and the declining cost of photovoltaic solar.

With the steady decline in manufacturing costs for PV, the price of solar energy has now reached parity with other forms of electricity. This is making the biggest difference in the viability of off-grid systems. This shift has not only created a more affordable energy source, but also allowed for more efficient system design.

Not surprisingly, as solar has become more affordable, nonprofit organizations small and large are funding solar projects for communities in countries around the world. With a shared commitment to environmentally conscious and sustainable energy, nonprofit organizations are increasing their investments in solar energy systems to power local clinics and hospitals, support wildlife conservation efforts, and provide electricity for local schools.

Another effort that is furthering the success of solar electricity in remote areas is localized, on-site training provided by nonprofits that may sponsor new installations or by vendors that have sold or donated solar equipment for a new project. Training locals to sell, install and maintain solar systems provides critical, long-term benefits including longer system lifespans and satisfied users.

Carol Weis, a master PV trainer certified by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, has taught local distributors to install and maintain solar systems in non-electrified communities in Haiti, Mexico, Africa and Central America. In her experience, it doesn’t make sense for an outsider to go to a remote location to design and install a system. “If that system relies on that outside person, then it is susceptible to failure as soon as he or she leaves the community,” she says.

Overall, it is more sustainable for a community if a local distributor stocks and sells the equipment, because replacement parts are hard to come by otherwise. The community will also benefit from having a local installer that designs and installs the system, as that model keeps money in the community.

Furthermore, the system will have a longer life if there is a technician nearby who can perform monthly maintenance to the battery bank and inverter and identify potential problems before they lead to failures.

“Beyond designing and installing a robust and safe system, training end-users on how to live with and maintain a system is the most important part of system longevity,” Weis says. She stresses the importance of providing training in the native language, that all materials are translated and provisions are made for low literacy levels. Such training has been shown to improve the overall success of these systems and deliver greater satisfaction for the remote communities that rely on them.

 

Remoteness demands creativity

Location is everything, or so the saying goes. But location can pose a serious obstacle when it comes to accessibility. Imagine traveling for five days by plane, train, automobile and beast to reach a site in the south Gobi Desert. Now imagine transporting solar panels and 120 pounds of batteries, inverters and charge controllers, plus a myriad of related components and equipment, to the same location.

That’s one of the many challenges the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) faced when the organization sought to bring electricity to conservationists in Mongolia working to save endangered snow leopards. This is just one of many such projects WCN has undertaken over the years. With solar installations in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia and elsewhere, the organization has successfully introduced solar energy to local communities to support conservation efforts around the world.

“It’s not a simple matter to go back and get something if you forget it,” says volunteer Stephen Gold, who coordinates and specifies solar kits for various WCN projects. “You really have to try to think of everything and every eventuality - otherwise, the entire project could be stalled for weeks.”

Lengthy travel, combined with difficult terrain and extreme weather, makes for challenges unique to each site. Many locations experience extreme shifts in temperature, such as the Gobi Desert, where the temperature ranges from -40°F in the winter to 120°F in the summer months. Such environments require unique solutions to ensure equipment, such as lead-acid batteries, operates effectively. In the Gobi Desert, Gold and his team buried and covered the batteries in a gurt (yurt) - a hut of local design - to insulate them against the extreme cold.

In other areas, critical equipment is affixed to pole-mounted racks to protect against flooding, curious animals and even people. Based on her experience, trainer Weis says that security of the system is a big problem in many remote areas. Although many locations will hire security to protect the system from potential thieves, few can afford that level of protection, requiring system specifiers to integrate security into the design. In some instances, the issue is solved by a technology fix, such as hardware on a racking system, external alarms or even installing the solar on very high, pole-mounted racks.

 

Conditions constrain design

When designing a new solar project in a remote area, there are several critical elements to consider. The first is performance expectations. That is, what do users expect the system can provide in terms of energy output, and what do they realistically expect to use now and in the future? For non-electrified communities where there is no electricity, or where the only power available has been from a generator for a few hours a day, this can be difficult to accurately project.

The second - and no less important - consideration is cost. Purchasing equipment for a system is always a hurdle in poor countries. If people do not have a backup power supply, such as a generator, or if they don’t have the money to buy the fuel for their generators, it becomes critical to itemize which loads will be running, add in as much extra solar as can be afforded and perform stress load management during the training.

“The paradigm for building systems is starting to shift since solar has dropped in price, but storage prices remain high,” Weis says. “This shift can allow for more of the budget to finance a larger array and reduced battery size, which can eliminate the need for long generator run times and fuel.”

For off-grid systems such as those in most remote locales, battery technology is also an important consideration. While battery chemistries have been slow to change, lead-acid batteries are slowly maturing to the point of maintenance-free operation. On the other hand, lithium-ion battery technologies offer high energy density, which allows for an installation with a very small footprint.

In addition, for remote site installations, it’s important to consider the climate, security of the equipment, distance of the batteries from the PV array and much more. With all of these elements in mind, the next step in specifying a system is to choose the right equipment for the job.

One example of great design using reliable, climate-appropriate components is found in the remote Oriental region of Paraguay. Although utility electricity is accessible by 95% of the Paraguayan population, the remaining 5% - generally located in remote areas accessible only by dirt roads and wooden bridges - is without access to grid power. Among these remote users are a high number of schools reliant on diesel-powered generators for electricity needs.

Local company Tonina S.A. set out to bring reliable power to a school site in the country’s remote Oriental Region. Because site access is limited, Tonina knew the school would benefit from a redundant system, which would ensure a reliable supply of electricity in the event of component failure. A field-serviceable design would also reduce time and money spent on maintenance calls. The equipment would need to withstand potential user error, as it would be installed in an environment that historically lacked access to electricity and could be prone to unskilled handling, operations and maintenance. Finally, the school energy system needed high efficiency in order to make the most of the solar array and the battery bank.

To provide electricity to the school, Tonina designed and installed an off-grid system with a 1.4 kW solar array feeding an inverter/charger, selected for both its sealed construction and automatic generator start feature. The rest of the system uses a charge controller selected for its high efficiency, as well as communications and control components that allow remote system monitoring and service. The system is capable of powering the school’s fans, personal computers and networking, and lighting loads - even at night to let students study after daylight hours.

Because this system performs so well, Tonina replicated its design in 11 additional remote school projects, providing a model for an affordable, maintainable, renewable energy-based system that can transform the educational experience in the most remote locations imaginable.

 

Technology reduces barriers

Advances in solar components such as charge controllers, inverters and even batteries have made concerns about durability and efficiency a thing of the past. For instance, charge controllers, which first emerged in the early 1980s, have overcome the battery-damaging side effects of their original design. Early controllers were reliable, but their on/off charging style rapidly damaged batteries due to excessive heat or undercharging. Because backup batteries are one of the most expensive parts of energy systems, this was a big issue and led to many abandoned systems in remote areas where battery backup was critical.

The market addressed this problem in the 1990s with a “smarter” three-stage pulse width modulated design controller capable of shifting voltages more smoothly. Solar panels connected to these second-generation controllers could harvest more energy, and batteries lasted longer.

Current charge controllers build on earlier advances to locate the highest point of operating efficiency in a PV array and then convert that power to increased current at the lower battery voltage. This maximum power point tracking technology releases the most energy possible from the array and supports smaller, less expensive arrays that produce superior performance.

Modern charge controllers can also evaluate system performance and offer integrated communications capabilities for remote troubleshooting - a highly valuable feature for many remote systems. In addition, many charge controllers and inverters are built specifically to withstand external climate forces, such as high humidity, flooding and corrosive salt air, with weather-resistant sealed chassis and high operating temperatures.

In fact, when designing a system for remote sites, designers look for components that are highly reliable and also easily field-serviceable. Given the shortage of local skilled technicians, most rural or remote sites are dependent on an outside person to maintain or service their systems. The ability to access system performance information remotely via the controller or another component allows outside technicians to monitor for issues and maximize their time in the field.

Redundancy in design is another functional consideration when designing a system for a remote site. For instance, a system might use two smaller inverters versus one large inverter so that if one fails, half of the system will still function. This design helps keep maintenance costs down and ensures reliable energy production.

Because energy technologies and policies are constantly changing, solar procurers are also looking for another feature to address the shifting landscape: “future-perfect” systems - that is, the ability to adjust energy harvesting for the highest return on investment and to best suit the local mandates. For example, modern inverters plan for this need by adapting to advanced battery chemistries; on top of traditional types of batteries that inverters have used for decades, newer systems leverage smart components that can also charge lithium-ion, flow and other energy storage entrants. Furthermore, by continuously tracking available energy sources and managing surplus electricity, modern inverters can zero out the grid by directing renewable electricity to charge batteries on-site or stop sellback if the local utility will not honor net metering or other energy crediting.

There’s no question that solar energy benefits users. Whether the community has never had electricity of any kind, has used a generator to meet electricity needs in the past or is fed up with the unreliability of its nearby utility, the benefits of clean, sustainable solar energy are immediate and obvious.

From the school children in Paraguay who now have the ability to study at night, to conservationists in Mozambique who are able to charge their radios to communicate with anti-poaching scout camps to protect endangered lions, solar energy is enhancing their daily lives. Clinics and hospitals also benefit from the ability to refrigerate perishable foods and medicines and provide adequate lighting and electricity for medical procedures.

There is a clear need to deliver affordable and sustainable energy to remote communities to support economic initiatives, enhance quality of life, and support conservation and preservation efforts. The path to solar can be arduous, but with advances in solar components, even the most remote communities can reap the benefits of renewable energy. R

 

Matt James is field application engineering manager at OutBack Power. He is responsible for technical services, field-level diagnosis and troubleshooting of renewable energy power systems, as well as providing on-site training to installers and end-users.