Rural Area Microgrid Implementation Repository (RAMIR): A tool for Integrating Economic, Environmental, and Societal Aspects of Microgrid Systems Implementation.

Authors

Presenter(s)

Jada Williams

Files

Description

Installing an efficient power generation infrastructure requires sensible selection strategies to consider significant variations of planning requirements for specific geographical regions. There has been a growing effort of research to provide a technically sounds and economically feasible source of electricity to underdeveloped regions through microgrid systems. However, there has been little effort to provide information through easily accessible web spaces or repositories to locate relevant research for rural area microgrid development. The main intention of this research project is to generate an open source web based tool named the Rural Area Microgrid Implementation Repository (RAMIR) to support microgrid implementation for rural cities and towns. RAMIR is intended to compile, track, and present relevant and useable information about the intended site for policymakers and student researchers in academia while aiming to facilitate decision making process on planning the implementation of the rural microgrid system. In order to show the efficacy of the tool, a case study of Sourou, Burkina Faso is presented. Energy demand of the city was calculated by interpolating values from a renewable energy installation project. HOMER software was used to select the size of the system and other inputs such as energy generation, conversion, and storage technologies. In order to evaluate impacts outside of the technical aspect of the optimized microgrid system, a decision making software (DMS) is used to compare the environmental and societal impacts of the candidate systems. This effort bridges the gaps where HOMER lacks in functionality and allow decision makers to consider the broader impacts of microgrid implementation projects within a community.

Publication Date

4-9-2015

Project Designation

Graduate Research

Primary Advisor

Jun-Ki Choi

Primary Advisor's Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Business | Education | Engineering | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Recommended Citation

"Rural Area Microgrid Implementation Repository (RAMIR): A tool for Integrating Economic, Environmental, and Societal Aspects of Microgrid Systems Implementation." (2015). Stander Symposium Projects. 667.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/667