Some people just like the idea of being self-reliant. There are also a variety of personal reasons to choose off grid electric energy. There are also many locations within each country that can be extremely expensive to tie to the grid. It can be expensive to connect to the main electricity grid in areas such as remote islands or tundra locations.
When referring to no choice, many remote off grid cabins do not have a lot of options. The other is when you have no choice due to location. There are generally two main reasons to consider off grid power. Why Consider Off Grid EnergyĪs most people know, it is easy enough to get electricity throughout much of North America, so why off grid energy? Watch out for a new post in the 2022 New Year to learn about our experiences with this new system.
MICRO HYDRO POWER FOR OFF GRID HOUSES GENERATOR
December 2021 UpdateĪs of April 2021, we have a new solar system, Kubota diesel generator and a Tesla 2 Powerwall. These are helpful when determining the best plan for your specific location. There are many online resources that will give you the average daily sunlight hours as well as wind speeds in your area. So keeping our generators running efficiently is key this time of year and an important part of our winter routine. Finally, there is apparent room for improvement not the least regarding the tariffs, which do not reflect market price and hence may affect the sustainability of the system.With our far north location (we're about 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle, at about 62 degrees North), daylight is under four hours mid-winter. The finite supply of energy however means that there are restrictions using electricity for certain productive use – there is a load shedding schedule in place for some of the power intensive machines - due to overload caused by the load and large number of connections. The study concludes that the minigrid has led to productive uses that are found elsewhere in grid-connected rural communities. Moreover, the minigrid faced a number of technical problems partly because of lack of adequate technical resources such as technicians and spare parts but also from the poor-planning and non-saving culture. A tentative conclusion is that subsidized electricity will not promote rural businesses unless other criteria are met. to only service the hospital, as the idea and need for building a minigrid developed much later. Major challenges are related to the initial set up of the mini-hydro power plant, i.e. The analysis shows that certain entrepreneurial activities emerged as an outcome of electricity access thru the minigrid barber shops, welding machines, mobile phone charging, salons, photo copy, and lighting business centres. The study applies an interdisciplinary approach consisting of a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, which included stakeholder and user interviews and measurements of output power and water flow. electricity as a direct input to the production of goods or provision of services. The approach was chosen to provide in-depth understanding on benefits and challenges facing a rural minigrid.
This paper presents a case study of a minigrid powered by a small hydro plant in the southern highlands of Tanzania.