Planning methods for DC lateral electrification in rural Africa

DC microgrids are gaining momentum worldwide to tackle rural electrification challenges, whether they adopt for centralized or decentralized topologies. The lateral electrification model, based on the progressive building of electric infrastructure in a bottom-up manner, relies on the development of DC microgrids with decentralized production and storage. The high number and the geographic dispersion of those resources within a microgrid necessitate planning methods to optimise the use of those hardware resources and to facilitate the grid installation and operation. This will help rural electrification operators to be economically viable and to scale to reach a broader public. This paper presents planning issues for decentralized DC microgrids, a DC load flow tool and preliminary results for microgrid topologies, based on the activity of a Malagasy rural electric operator