Hybrid micro-grid experimental application in Tanzania

Abstract

This paper is intended to introduce the project Energy4Growing that aims at studying and setting up a hybrid micro-grid to supply power to a school in rural Tanzania. It describes the results of the early project actions which concerned in: (i) analysing the actual school power supply system through locally metered data; (ii) developing the first step of a new electro-mechanical model which addresses the simulation of operation and dynamics within an off-grid power system; (iii) validating the new model. In particular the paper focuses on describing the development and the first step implementation of the new modelling approach which address: (i) voltage and frequency analyses over medium term period by means of simplified electromechanical models of power sources and power electronics, (ii) the analysis of different dispatch strategies and their consequence on voltage and frequency trends, (iii) the effects of dispatch strategies on the energy performances of particular components such as battery bank or dump loads. The new approach has also been applied in modelling the current school power supply system.