CIGRE Working Group C6-07 on Rural Electrification

CIGRE Working Group C6-07 on Rural Electrification Report on Working Group Activities Joseph Mutale 6 October 2004

Overview • Motivation • Social-economic characteristics of rural areas • Main issues in rural electrification • WG Terms of reference • Deliverables and Time schedule • WG Membership • Task forces • Review of activities – past and future • Concluding remarks

Motivation Why is Rural Electrification an issue? • About half the world's population lives in rural communities (between 2 and 3 billion people) • Electrification plays a vital role in poverty reduction and improvement in the quality of life in rural communities • Electricity is essential in the development of rural industry as well as agribusiness and associated income generation • It is also essential for sustainable development

Socio-economic characteristics ofrural environments • Low population density • Low consumption levels • Marginal cost of serving rural load is high compared to urban load • Low-income levels (typical UN statistic of people subsisting on less than a dollar day)

Main issues • How to design cost effective rural electrification programmes • Seek low cost electrification options/solutions • SWER – single wire earth return • Ready boards to avoid cost of wiring • Revision of wiring standards? • Relaxing of voltage quality standards? • Innovative financing of RE • How to involve private sector • Management of subsidies • Organisation of RE programmes  social dimensions

Terms of reference…1 Scope • Review the methodologies and practices for electrification of villages and residential areas, including services and craft industry. • Assess the impact of electrification on the generation and transmission system

Terms of reference … 2 Work Programme • A review of the existing situation concerning rural electrification; • A detailed analysis of the related loads, supply alternatives and organisations, to be possibly performed by dedicated task forces: • Load characterization: typical loads considered, on basis of the primary needs requirements and including corresponding load profiles, main influencing parameters, quality and reliability requirements, DSM possibilities, etc.; • Cost-effective load supply alternatives, including energy generation, distribution configurations and storage capabilities. Co-generation, possible use of distribution network for communication and consumer interface should also be reviewed;

Terms of reference…3 Work Programme • Organisation: organisational structures, planning, operation and maintenance principles, losses minimisation, metering and billing, financing, etc… • An analysis of the impact of electrification on system development (review of the methodology for realistic system load forecast and establishment of the corresponding development strategy) • The preparation of checklists, guidelines and methodologies to be used for the realisation of rural electrification programmes • A symposium on rural electrification for results dissemination

Deliverables • Deliverables will consist of: • Checklists, guidelines and methodologies for rural electrification programmes • A paper for Electra; • A symposium; • A presentation to the 2006 Cigré Session and • A tutorialat 2006 Cigré Session • Time Schedule • Start: 2003 • End of work: 2006

Membership by Country • Nigeria • Australia • Croatia • France • Belgium • Algeria x 2 • South Africa x 2 • Italy • Canada • Australia x 2 • Zambia/UK • Japan • Sweden • Finland • Germany x 3 • Norway • The Netherlands Convenor: Jean BOUCKAERT - Belgium

Task forces…1 • Task 1: Classification of loads • Modelling and forecasting, price elasticity, • Loads and international standards • Task 2: Network infeed • Local MV and LV distribution • Isolated systems with local generation • Integration with ICT Working Group is organised in 4 Task forces

Task forces…2 • Task 3: Organisational aspects • Institutional aspects (rural development, sector reform, national capability), • Demand and supply side aspects • Financing policy and subsidies • Task 4: Impact on power system • Load Forecasting • Planning & Development of T and D • Data management

Review of past WG activities • Kick off meeting – Brussels, March 2004 • Agreed on tasks and work programme • Appointed task leaders and members • Agreed a short term work programme preparation of keynotes on each task • Paris meeting – August 2004 • Review of keynotes on each task • Agreed on content deliverable • Presentation by Sten Bergman on World Bank activities in RE focus on low cost electrification schemes • Agreed on next steps Draft Task reports

Schedule of future activities • Beginning 2005: progress meeting including description and discussion of the content of the draft report. • Circa March 2005: Abstracts for 2006 Session. • Distribution of sections of the draft report. • October 2005: present draft final report, Cigré Southern Africa Regional Conference; South Africa • August 2006: Cigré Session, tutorial - Paris

Concluding remarks • There has been a lot work done on RE worldwide • CIGRE working group will avoid duplicating existing work • WG will aim to produce work that is useful to people in involved in RE planning (Government, utility, private sector investors, consultants) Focus on developing a methodology and good practice guide for rural electrification

CIGRE Working Group C6-07 on Rural Electrification