Publication: Mini Grids for Underserved Main Grid Customers
Loading...
Other Files
85 downloads
Date
2024-06-21
ISSN
Published
2024-06-21
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Can mini grids help to solve the problem of poorly served main grid connected communities A mini grid is an electricity generation and distribution network that supplies electricity to a localized group of customers. Mini grids can be isolated from or connected to the main grid. To date, most mini grids in Sub-Saharan Africa have been built in electrically isolated rural villages not connected to the main grid. Based on broad experience working with mini grid programs in more than 20 low- and middle-income countries and five detailed case studies, the authors offer observations and recommendations about mini grids in general and a new type known as “undergrid mini grids” being used in Nigeria and India to serve poorly served communities.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Tenenbaum, Bernard; Greacen, Chris; Shrestha, Ashish. 2024. Mini Grids for Underserved Main Grid Customers. Live Wire; 2024/135. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41752 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Publication Decarbonizing Ammonia and Nitrogen Fertilizers with Clean Hydrogen(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-12)Synthetic fertilizers are essential to sustaining the world’s population, but their production is responsible for 1.8–2.4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Clean hydrogen holds growing potential (amid falling costs) to decarbonize fertilizer production. Hydrogen produces synthetic ammonia, a building block of most fertilizers. With the fertilizer market as a reliable off-taker, this shift could support the overall expansion of clean hydrogen, even as it boosts global food security. However, this transition may require adjustments, including changes in fertilizer types and modifications to existing subsidy schemes.Publication Mobilizing Commercial Financing to Scale Up Energy Efficiency in the Public Sector(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-22)Scaling up energy efficiency is critical to the energy transition—and the public sector is a good place to start. Programs in public buildings, in particular, can introduce new models and thus help shape markets. Given the limits of public financing against huge investment needs, countries must unlock commercial financing. The first steps are to adopt international best practices and select financing mechanisms suited to local policy and regulatory frameworks, public agency characteristics, implementation barriers, and the maturity of financial markets.Publication Using Biomass or Green Ammonia to Replace Coal in Existing Thermal Power Plants(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-06)Finding fuel sources to replace coal in power plants is crucial in the march toward decarbonization. Biomass and ammonia are two options offering significant potential. Both can be used with coal or alone in newly constructed facilities or in modified power plants. Relatively new power plants are good candidates for modification. While work is underway demonstrating the feasibility of each material, there are logistical challenges to address, particularly in the case of ammonia.Publication Net Zero Energy by 2060(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-07)In the long term, both energy security and decarbonization in the region will depend on substantial increases in national climate ambitions. Achieving those increases will depend, in turn, on equally substantial increases in investment in low-carbon technologies, accompanied by timely policies and regulatory measures. The World Bank has developed a whole-energy-system model, data driven, technology rich, and bottom-up, to project optimal least-cost pathways for Europe and Central Asia to achieve a net zero energy target by 2060. This Live Wire is based on a report published in March 2024 (World Bank and ESMAP 2024).Publication Mobilizing Carbon Finance to Meet the Socioeconomic Costs of Reforming Energy Tariffs and Subsidies in Uzbekistan(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-07)Across the globe countries are looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions to reach carbon neutrality and combat climate change. But doing so can be complicated. Countries are putting a price on carbon emissions (or carbon equivalents for other gases). In a landmark pilot in Uzbekistan, the World Bank is testing a way to reward countries for improving their sustainable energy policies. The program monetizes carbon-cutting efforts and prepares the country to sell carbon credits on the international carbon market.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Mini Grid Solutions for Underserved Customers(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-02-21)Traditionally, mini grids have been viewed as “off-grid” systems that are built and operated solely for communities without electricity. The reality, however, is that millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa and India who are connected to the main grid suffer from poor grid reliability (“weak grid”), sometimes with a power supply of less than 4 to 8 hours daily and with frequent disputes over the accuracy of billing. As a backstop, these poorly served customers often find themselves forced to rely on small fossil fuel–powered generators that are noisy, polluting, and expensive to operate. "Mini Grid Solutions for Underserved Customers: New Insights from Nigeria and India" explores another option: undergrid mini grids. These are mostly solar hybrid–powered mini grids built and operated by private companies in areas already connected with the main electricity grid but facing poor technical and commercial service. This comprehensive book examines how undergrid mini grids can create win-win-win outcomes for retail customers, distribution enterprises, and mini grid developers. Drawing on extensive discussions with pioneering developers, the book showcases detailed case studies from Nigeria and India, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities of interconnected and non-interconnected undergrid mini grids. The authors address technical issues of grid interconnection and delve into the policy and regulatory considerations crucial for the financial sustainability and success of undergrid mini grids. The book is an invaluable resource for policy makers, energy practitioners, and researchers seeking practical insights to bridge the electricity access gap, empower communities with reliable and affordable electricity, and drive environmentally and commercially sustainable development. • “The report is rich with insight, not least because the authors have been able to contrast the Nigeria and India approaches taken by the respective private sectors in each country. The five case studies are very valuable. The authors have powerfully illustrated the importance of the policy and regulatory framework and how that translates into investor behavior.” — Mohua Mukherjee, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute of Energy Studies • “This great report represents a pivotal turning point in the history of energy and has global implications for the role of mini grids for communities that have been poorly served by main grid utilities.” — Peter Lilienthal, Founder HOMER Energy • “This is a tremendous addition to the literature on mini grids and an important guide for all of us practitioners working in this area.” — James Sherwood, Director of Research & Innovation, RMI | Global South Program • “This refreshingly honest and open report provides an excellent overview of interconnected and isolated mini grids, as well as a thorough analysis of key ground-level implementation issues in regulation, business, and engineering.” — Joanis Holzigel, Chief Operating Officer, INENSUSPublication Five Government Approaches to Promote Solar Hybrid Mini grids in Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-02-14)Different private sector-led and government-led approaches to the development of solar hybrid mini grids are found around the world. Five approaches used in Africa are reviewed here. Each works better in some contexts than in others; each has advantages and disadvantages. In private-sector-led approaches, private developers choose mini grid sites based on their own criteria; in government-led approaches, governments conduct competitive procurements to award individual sites or zonal concessions. In a variant of the government-led approach, utilities help private companies create and operate mini grids that are later absorbed into the utility’s power system. All approaches involve capital subsidies. What is at stake here Rapid expansion of access to electricity depends on finding the best way to promote mini grids in countries with different starting conditions.Publication From the Bottom Up : How Small Power Producers and Mini-Grids Can Deliver Electrification and Renewable Energy in Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014-01-15)Most Sub-Saharan African countries try to promote rural electrification through both centralized and decentralized approaches. This guide focuses on the decentralized approach, providing practical guidance on how small power producers and mini-grid operators can deliver both electrification and renewable energy in rural areas. It describes four basic types of on- and off-grid small power producers, as well as several hybrid combinations that are emerging in Africa and elsewhere. The guide highlights the ground-level regulatory and policy questions that must be answered by electricity regulators, rural energy agencies, and ministries to promote commercially sustainable investments by private operators and community organizations. Among the practical questions addressed is how to design and implement retail tariffs, quality of service standards, feed-in tariffs, and backup tariffs. The guide also analyzes the regulatory implementation issues triggered by donor grants and so-called top-up payments. It provides a primer for nonengineers on interconnection and operating standards for small power producers connected to main grids and isolated mini-grids. It analyzes whether the option of small power distributors, used widely in Asia, could be employed in Sub-Saharan Africa, and addresses two often ignored questions: what to do “when the big grid connects to the little grid” and how to practice light-handed regulation. Finally, the guide considers the threshold question of when to regulate and when to deregulate tariffs. All these implementation issues are presented with specific ground-level options and recommendations rather than just general pronouncements. In addition, to make the discussion more useful to practitioners, the guide provides numerous real-world examples of successful and unsuccessful regulatory and policy actions taken in Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania, as well as Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Many of the decisions are inherently controversial because they directly affect the economic interests of investors and consumers. The guide highlights rather than hides these real-world controversies by drawing upon candid comments of key stakeholders—national utility managers, mini-grid operators, government officials, and and consumers.Publication Mini-Grids and Arrival of the Main Grid(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-12)One of the key concerns raised by the developers of mini grids is "what will become of my mini grid when the main grid arrives?" This report presents detailed case studies of what happened to isolated mini grids in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia when the main grid reached their villages. Six possible outcomes are described: 1) conversion to a small power producer (SPP), 2) conversion to a small power distributor (SPD), 3) conversion to a combined SPP and SPD, 4) side-by-side operation of the mini grid and main grid without any physical connection between the two systems, 5) compensation and exit, and 6) abandonment. Each case study describes the regulatory, commercial, and technical characteristics that affected the observed outcomes for the community-owned hydro mini grids in Sri Lanka and Indonesia and the privately-owned diesel mini grids in CambodiaPublication Policy and Governance Framework for Off-grid Rural Electrification with Renewable Energy Sources(Washington, DC, 2008-10)The objective of the study was to develop an adequate policy and governance framework for off- grid rural electrification by: assessing the effectiveness and key socio-economic factors and governance structures in present off-grid electricity supply schemes; and exploring and testing sustainable decentralized service-delivery models for future large-scale off-grid rural electrification in Pakistan. This study has attempted to develop a policy and governance framework for implementing sustainable large-scale off-grid rural electrification in Pakistan. This was done by assessing the effectiveness of existing policy, governance, and institutional frameworks in actual implementation of off-grid supply (OS) projects in the country; examining regional and global models for off-grid supply which have worked; and exploring which combination of these experiences might work to scale-up access in Pakistan to reach the roughly 7,000 villages which are not likely to be supplied by grid electricity in the near future. Pakistan has in place, with the 'policy for development of renewable energy for power generation' (2006), a policy framework for renewable energy development, with a particular emphasis on attracting the private sector investments. One of the goals of the policy is to 'help ensure universal access to electricity in all regions of the country.' The RE policy spells out the financial and fiscal facilities to be provided to private sector investors who wish to set up off-grid and dispersed RE power generation. However, experience in Pakistan as well as globally shows that OS for rural electrification, to any large scale, will be unlikely to attract investment from the private sector without support from the government.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.Publication Tanzania Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2024-12-12)The Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Tanzania identifies the impact of climate change on the country’s economy. The CCDR uses macroeconomic, climate, sectoral, institutional, and financial models to identify the economy’s exposure to climate risks and the opportunities to integrate climate action and development. High poverty levels and dependence on rainfed, low-productivity agriculture leaves Tanzania’s economy vulnerable to climate risks. By 2050, climate change could push an additional 2.6 million people in poverty and force up to 13 million Tanzanians to migrate internally. The CCDR presents how implementation of three multisectoral intervention areas could generate climate-positive, resilient, and inclusive growth in Tanzania by 2050. These are: integrating climate considerations when strengthening human capital and social protection; optimizing land and water use and management to boost agriculture and rural productivity, augment climate resilience, and lower greenhouses gas emissions; and prioritizing resilient and low-carbon transport, energy and digital infrastructure systems in urban areas and different sectors. The CCDR details governance arrangements for effective climate change action, presents investment needs, and describes options for mobilizing financing. Action is needed both to reduce vulnerabilities of Tanzania’s current economy and realize the country’s Vision 2050 goal of a more inclusive and sustainable growth trajectory. Targeted climate action could boost private investment and job creation, enabling Tanzania to meet its development objectives in the face of global risks. Technical background reports prepared for the CCDR are available upon request.Publication World Bank Annual Report 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25)This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)—collectively known as the World Bank—in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Madagascar Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25)Climate change has made delivering better development in Madagascar ever more urgent. This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) finds that Madagascar’s aspiration to evolve into an emerging country by 2040 will be derailed unless it can bolster its resilience to intensifying climate shocks to safeguard its modest development gains and boost economic growth. The high frequency of extreme climate shocks since the 1970s has led to significant macroeconomic disturbances and weak growth. This CCDR examines the implications of future climate change for Madagascar’s growth, and the potential benefits of both structural reforms and adaptation investments. It outlines three priority areas for building resilience to climate change, and calculates the costs needed to achieve this. It provides detailed recommendations for finding the finance required, as well as for implementing the policy challenges identified.