The rise in population causes serious issues in larger cities since the electrical grid is becoming overloaded. Simultaneously, the demand on more sustainable energy production and the use of renewable energy sources increase. Renewable energy based off-grid electrical systems are a possible solution to decrease the magnitude of these issues. The purpose of this thesis is to compare solar cells, solar thermal collectors and PVT (Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collectors) and design the most suitable combination of solar panels for a selfsufficient multi-family house in Jönköping, Sweden. The solar panels were compared from a cost and energy production perspective, then a suitable renewable energy system with all three types of panels was constructed and optimized using Opti-CE, which is a MATLABbased software. During the course of this thesis, an interview was made with Hans-Olof Nilsson who is a co-founder of Nilsson Energy and owner of a self-sufficient off-grid house. The results show that PVT-panels have higher energy production per area and 22% higher LCC (life cycle cost) than regular solar cells in combination with solar thermal collectors. Optimization results indicate that the house cannot be self-sufficient by installing solar panels on the given roof area only, rather the area of installed solar collectors should be increased to a minimum of 1497𝑚2 . With the given roof area of 900𝑚2 the house can only be self-sufficient a maximum of 75% of the time. The results also indicate that the introduction of compact systems with the simultaneous decrease of cost will make renewable off-grid energy systems more attractive in the future.

Access to energy is an important part in the development of most countries and societies, linked to both social and economic growth. Nevertheless, 70% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa does not have access to electricity, which brings consequences to several of these areas. A country to which this largely applies is Mozambique, where the percentage of the country's population that had access to electricity in 2021 was only 31.5%. Working towards the goal of electrifying the least developed countries in a sustainable way, solar technology is believed to have potential to play a vital role, as 60% of the best terrestrial-based global solar resources of the world are located in sub-Saharan Africa. Mini-grids and solar off-grid solutions can further help address the issue of lack of electricity access, especially in rural areas. In previous studies carried out in the village Linga Linga in Mozambique, off-grid solar solutions have been implemented for a small energy demand. With the intention of giving a larger part of the village’s population access to energy services such as light, phone charging and computer access, this thesis will investigate and design an off-grid PV system for a community center in the village. The main research question that will be answered in this report is "How can solar energy be used to supply a community center in the village Linga Linga with a low-cost, reliable and sustainable electricity supply?". To answer the research question, relevant data and information were collected through a literature study on the situation in Mozambique, off-grid PV systems and on PV system components such as inverters, batteries, PV panels and charge controllers. Interviews were also carried out in the village to be able to calculate the expected energy demand of the community center. The community center’s daily energy demand for weekends was estimated to be the highest, at 7 544 Wh with a maximum power demand of 1 230 W. To meet this requirement, the main components were dimensioned so that the system had a maximum power of 2 000 W, a battery storage capacity of 750 Ah and a system voltage of 24 V. For this system, the approximate total cost of the main components was calculated to 56 120 SEK. / Tillgång till energi är en viktig del i utvecklingen av de flesta länder och samhällen, kopplat till både social och ekonomisk tillväxt. Ändå har 70% av befolkningen i Subsahariska Afrika inte tillgång till el, vilket får konsekvenser för flera av dessa områden. Ett land som detta till stor del gäller är Mozambique, där andelen av landets befolkning som hade tillgång till el 2021 endast var 31.5%. I arbetet mot målet att elektrifiera de minst utvecklade länderna på ett hållbart sätt tros solteknik ha potential att spela en avgörande roll, eftersom 60% av världens bästa jordbaserade globala solresurser finns i Subsahariska Afrika. Mininät och solenergilösningar utanför nätet kan ytterligare hjälpa till att lösa problemet med bristande tillgång till elektricitet, särskilt på landsbygden. I tidigare studier utförda i byn Linga Linga i Mozambique har off-grid solenergilösningar implementerats för att tillgodose energibehov för små system. Med avsikten att ge en större del av byns befolkning tillgång till energitjänster som ljus, telefonladdning och datoråtkomst, kommer detta examensarbete att undersöka och designa ett off-grid solcellssystem för ett kultur- och fritidscentrum i byn. Den huvudsakliga forskningsfrågan som kommer att besvaras i denna rapport är "Hur kan solenergi användas för att förse ett kultur- och fritidscentrum i byn Linga Linga med en låg kostnad, pålitlig och hållbar elförsörjning?". För att svara på forskningsfrågan samlades relevant data och information in genom en litteraturstudie om situationen i Mozambique, off-grid solcellssystem och om systemkomponenter såsom växelriktare, batterier, solpaneler och laddningsregulatorer. Intervjuer genomfördes även i byn för att kunna beräkna det förväntade energibehovet för kultur- och fritidscentrumet. Kultur- och fritidscentrumets dagliga energibehov för helger uppskattades vara högst, 7 544 Wh med ett maximalt effektbehov på 1 230 W. För att möta detta krav valdes huvudkomponenterna så att systemet hade en maximal effekt på 2 000 W, en batterilagringskapacitet på 750 Ah och en systemspänning på 24 V. För detta system beräknades den ungefärliga totalkostnaden för huvudkomponenterna till 56 120 SEK.

The move towards addressing two pertinent energy challenges that is access to electricity and climate change has seen the transition towards sustainable forms of energy including Ocean Based Renewable Energy (OBRE). However, much work remains to be done in understanding the critical success factors that could enable such potential transition, especially in the area of OBRE electricity generation. This research addresses this concern by drawing on transition theory and frameworks to critically evaluate the prospects towards OBRE development in Nigeria. The rationale for the study stems from issues around the inadequate supply of electricity, which has become a profound concern and, where its absence is mostly observed in rural and remote areas including coastal communities. Based on an interpretative philosophical stance, the study adopted a qualitative approach for conducting the research. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from twenty-seven research participants. The research findings revealed that there is scope for transitioning towards OBRE electricity generation. However, this potential may be hindered by key features of the incumbent socio-technical regime: inconsistency of statements in formal policy documents; unclear institutional arrangements to foster renewable energy development; and lack of regulatory and market support mechanisms, which keep renewable energy development at the margins. Nevertheless, the study found certain perceived critical success factors that when considered could aid in facilitating OBRE development in Nigeria. These included, in particular, meaningful stakeholder engagement that aimed to harmonise the diverse interests of key actors’ and the role of adequate political governance to facilitate OBRE design and implementation. The research concludes by developing a conceptual intervention model called the OBRE Transition Model. This model argues that through more meaningful engagement with pertinent stakeholders’ and stronger political commitment, the prospect for a transition towards OBRE development in Nigeria could be accomplished. This thesis is the first of its kind to study the prospects for a transition towards OBRE innovation in West Africa. Additionally, the model that has been developed is now going to be corroborated in an OBRE project in Nigeria, thus, forming the evidence on the model’s potential applicability for future study.

Universal access to electricity stands high on the global agenda and is regarded as essential for positive development in sectors such as health care, education, poverty reduction, food production and climate change. Decentralized, off-grid electrification is deemed an important complement to centralized grid extension. By utilizing a renewable energy source, solar technology for the generation of electricity, photovoltaics (PV) is being considered as a way forward to minimize the environmental problems related to energy use. This thesis aims to contribute to improving the technical and social feasibility of PV and PV-diesel hybrid micro-grids for the purpose of providing access to electricity to people in rural areas of countries with low level access to electricity. In line with these general aims, the focus has been to address three questions related to challenges in three phases of rural electrification. The work has a multi-disciplinary approach, addressing mainly technical and social aspects of long-term sustainability of micro-grids, in a local context, and the changes these are intended to generate. One specific micro-grid in Tanzania has been used as a major case study. The thesis is developed through three papers, all presenting methodologies or aspects for investigation in rural electrification projects and studies in general, and for PV-diesel hybrid micro-grids in particular. Paper I puts forward a methodology to facilitate non-social scientific researchers to take social aspects increasingly into consideration. Paper II is a guideline to support system users to increasingly apply an evaluation based system operation. Paper III specifically highlights the importance to consider blackouts when investigating how an existing off-grid PV-diesel hybrid system shall be utilized when a national grid becomes available.

This thesis aims first to investigate whether solar panels on the container can provide the process of desalination with energy at the desired location, as well as to dimension a photovoltaic system and battery storage that can run the facility off-grid. Then investigate whether solar cells can be an effective energy solution for Millennium Desalination Device (MDD). The results of this study show that the most annual solar production from containers is 11 510 kWh in Gobabeb, Namibia with a modular efficiency of 22,8 %, which corresponds to 8,2 % operating time per year and is the longest operating time that can be obtained from the all three scenarios. This means that with existing technology and only solar panels on the container, desalination plant is impossible to drive all year round off-grid. The installed power for driving 100 % operating time for one year is 141 kW in Gobabeb and 270 kW in Visby, the corresponding module surface will be lowest 618 m2 and 1184 m2 with modular efficiency of 22,8 %, but there are no additional spaces for all equipment like MDD, solar cells and battery in the container. If the operating time drops to 50 %, the installed power will be 71 kW in Gobabeb, the corresponding module surface will be lowest 415 m2 and battery storage capacity will be at least 160 kWh. Net volume with all equipment will be less than the volume of the container. The cost will be at least 0.2 Swedish kronor per liter of pure water produced with a life of 25 year for solar modules. Usage fee per liter of pure water is 0.03 Swedish kronor based on Gotland’s water and wastewater agency and it means MDD is not a cost-effective solution for Gotland at nowadays. But costs may fall in the future with the price reduction of solar cells and batteries. For water shortage areas, this can be a valuable way to solve the water crisis, but it also depends mostly on the area’s water price.

Military Forward Operating Base Camps (FOBs) support and enable sustained military operations abroad by providing safe locations for soldiers and supporting contractors to eat, sleep, and maintain personal hygiene. FOBs need some amount of energy and water to provide these services but are often located in austere environments that do not have access to grid utilities. Off-grid FOBs are not self-sufficient; they are dependent on supply chains for the services they provide to camp occupants. The challenge of supplying FOBs with fuel and water and removing waste (resource resupply and waste removal comprise logistical requirements) is associated with very high human, monetary, strategic, and environmental costs. There are many research efforts across the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that seek to reduce FOB logistical requirements, but it is currently very difficult to identify the research efforts that are most beneficial to DoD goals. There are also many factors that make designing FOBs to be more self-sufficient challenging including varying missions, environments, and legacy equipment at currently-fielded FOBs, a lack of baseline data on FOB logistical requirements, an unclear relationship between design changes and resource use behavior, and an unclear valuation of saved resources. This research seeks to develop computer tools and contribute to a methodology that can be used to design FOBs that are more self-sufficient. More self-sufficient FOBs provide high quality services to occupants but do so with mitigated logistical requirements. To this end, a detailed computer model of specific type of FOB (a single 150-person Force Provider module) is developed, and baseline levels of resource requirements are established. Potentially resource-saving devices and other design changes are incorporated into the FOB model and simulated to assess each design change's effect on resource use and waste production. Then, estimated resource savings are weighed against required investment for each design change to arrive at design recommendations. The results of this research effort are specific design recommendations for making the Force Provider system more self-sufficient, as well as computer tools and a methodology that are applicable to other off-grid habitation redesign problems. / text

The importance of access to modern energy has been well understood by governments and donor agencies in many developing countries, and significant effort has been made in recent years to address energy access challenges. However, despite these efforts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that the energy access problem will remain unresolved by 2030. Therefore, adequate and appropriate action is needed to resolve this problem more quickly. This dissertation analyses policies and their impacts and will help researchers and policy makers in developing countries to (i) understand the impact of policies in the formation of a renewable energy (RE) market, (ii) consider the determinants of technological choices when promoting access to energy services and, (iii) better appreciate the sustainability performance of rural energy. For the purpose of analysis, several country cases from Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa region were carried out as these are the two main regions where the energy access problem are most acute. To understand the impact of policies in the formation of RE based rural electrification market, a case study was conducted in Nepal. The study has shown that rural electrification has been expanding as a consequence of market-oriented policies. When it comes to selection of electrification path-ways, different technological alternatives are analysed in Afghanistan and Nepal, taking levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) as the means to select cost effective options. The analysis has presented best-fit conditions for these various technological pathways in the two countries and verified whether they are following the appropriate and cost effective course in their efforts to expand rural electrification. For understanding the determinants of cooking fuel choices and to analyse policy implications in the transition of large populations from traditional to modern fuels, fuel choices are modelled in the case of China. Choices are modelled (using MESSAGE–ACCESS mod-el) with standard economic variables such as income, technology costs and fuel prices, along with some unique variable such as inconvenience costs. Future access scenarios are designed considering different policy options to accelerate the transition. Sustainability is one of the key concerns in terms of energy access. This dissertation introduces methods for evaluating (i) the sustainability performance of energy technologies and (ii) the status and progress of developing countries in providing sustainable energy access. Different sets of sustainability indicators are considered for the rural energy sector and aggregated to form a single composite index. The energy technology sustainability index (ETSI) is used for assessing the performance of different energy technological systems in the case of India. The analysis reveals that mature technologies such as biomass gasifiers, biogas and micro hydro have relatively better sustainability performance among the options considered, while solar and wind, though showing fairly good improvement in sustainability performance, still have difficulties competing with more mature and conventional technologies without policy support. The Energy Sustainability Index (ESI) has been applied to China, India, South Africa, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh and Ghana between 1990 and 2010 to evaluate the status and progress made by these countries in rural energy sustainability. The analysis suggests that South Africa’s rural energy sustainability index is highest followed by China, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Ghana respectively. The rural energy sustainability has improved relatively over time in all countries except Ghana. The dissertation shows that policies are helping the rapid expansion of the RE market though with uneven penetration in rural Nepal. Access to credit and cumbersome subsidy delivery mechanism are perceived as the major factors affecting the expansion of rural electrification, requiring innovation. The electrification pathways taken by Nepal seem functional and moving in the right direction but some flaws in the delivery mechanisms require attention. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, pathways are not well defined and the country lacks a clear-cut national policy framework for the expansion of rural electrification. The analysis on fuel transition shows that even a fast developing country such as China will continue to have serious problems guaranteeing the access to solid fuels for cooking for one third of its rural population by 2030. The problem could be more severe in poorer nations. There-fore, further policy intervention addressing the high implicit discount rate of the poorer section of the population, reducing the upfront cost of more efficient technology (stoves) or the costs of cleaner fuels with subsidies must be considered to promote energy transition. Overall, this dissertation has analysed key issues in the global discussion about sustainable energy access. The methods for sustainability assessment suggested have been specially designed for rural settings in developing countries and are instrumental to assess the performance of rural energy technologies and track the progress of sustainable energy access efforts among rural households. / <p>QC 20140210</p>

In Canada, more than 1.11 TWh of energy per year is generated by diesel generators in off-grid remote areas. Delivering energy to these territories always has a high cost for the local and federal governments both financially and environmentally. Substituting fossil fuels with clean energies is the solution. However, the unreliability and intermittency of renewable energies (RE) are always challenging issues that need to be solved. Zinc air flow battery (ZAFB) with decoupled power and energy capacity can bring sustainability and reliability for microgrids. In this study, an efficient model was developed for ZAFB, which is applicable for large-scale modeling, and incorporated in microgrid modeling. A bilevel optimization approach was implemented in the microgrid model to find the optimal size and control of the microgrid simultaneously over the project lifetime. Using model predictive control (MPC) and based on user-defined foresight horizon and known information like energy demand and RE resources, the control model decides the future changes in microgrid components. This tool is used to propose the best microgrid design for these communities to reduce or eliminate their dependency on fossil fuels. The functionality of this tool was evaluated by three case studies in British Columbia: Blind Channel, Hot Springs Cove and Moresby Island. Zero CO2 emission and zero fuel consumption were achieved by a 100% RE microgrid consisting of wind and tidal turbines and large ZAFB. The net present cost (NPC) of this system and cost of energy are 39 – 46 % and 55 – 60 % less than the base case costs in which diesel is the main energy source. ZAFB with a longer storage duration (50 – 60 hours) satisfies 17 – 23% of annual energy demand in these case studies. / Graduate

Universal access to electricity stands high on the global agenda and is regarded as essential for positive development in sectors such as health care, education, poverty reduction, food production and climate change. Decentralized, off-grid electrification is deemed an important complement to centralized grid extension. By utilizing a renewable energy source, solar technology for the generation of electricity, photovoltaics (PV) is being considered as a way forward to minimize the environmental problems related to energy use. This thesis aims to contribute to improving the technical and social feasibility of PV and PV-diesel hybrid micro-grids for the purpose of providing access to electricity to people in rural areas of countries with low level access to electricity. In line with these general aims, the focus has been to address three questions related to challenges in three phases of rural electrification. The work has a multi-disciplinary approach, addressing mainly technical and social aspects of long-term sustainability of micro-grids, in a local context, and the changes these are intended to generate. One specific micro-grid in Tanzania has been used as a major case study. The thesis is developed through three papers, all presenting methodologies or aspects for investigation in rural electrification projects and studies in general, and for PV-diesel hybrid micro-grids in particular. Paper I puts forward a methodology to facilitate non-social scientific researchers to take social aspects increasingly into consideration. Paper II is a guideline to support system users to increasingly apply an evaluation based system operation. Paper III specifically highlights the importance to consider blackouts when investigating how an existing off-grid PV-diesel hybrid system shall be utilized when a national grid becomes available.

Remote hybrid power systems (RHPS) serve local off-grid loads or various island grids when no grid extension is possible. They combine renewable resources, conventional generators and energy storage systems in order to balance the load at any moment, while ensuring power quality and energy security similar to large centralized grids. Modelling such a complex system is crucial for carrying out proper simulations for predicting the system’s behavior and for optimal sizing of components. The model should include an estimation of the renewable resource availability over the period of the simulation, a prediction of the load consumption and time variation, the choice of technologies, a prior dimensioning approach, an energy dispatching strategy between the components and, finally, the behavioral model of all components. This study limits its scope to the simulation of a RHPS composed of solar PV panels, a diesel generator set, and a Li-ion battery bank supplying a dynamic isolated load with a daily demand variation between 10 kW and 80 kW. Methods for building load scenarii are explained first and then, rules of thumbs for selecting the technologies and pre-sizing the components are reviewed. Commonly used dispatching strategies are described before detailing the algorithm of a Matlab behavioral model for the system’s components with an emphasis on the proper prediction of performance and aging for the Li-ion battery model. Finally, a 10-year simulation is carried out over a case study and the results are analyzed.