Microgrid Based Hybrid Energy Co-Operative for Grid-Isolated Remote Rural Village Power Supply for East Coast Zone of India

The rural villages situated in the east coast zone of India are facing acute shortage of electrical power which considerably affects the overall development of the region. Major sources of energy poverty in this locality are from low voltage and intermittent power supply from the existing utility systems. Mismatch between the demand and supply for the long transmission and distribution systems is the major cause of such situations. In this paper, an attempt has been made to solve this long standing problem economically, using a feasible energy co-operative based wind-solar hybrid generation system. This generated power will be distributed among co-operative registered designated loads through a standalone hybrid microgrid system within the scope of the regulations in the national deregulated electricity market. Besides, both technical and nontechnical power losses associated with the existing utility systems can be significantly curbed through the proposed energy co-operative scheme. The scheme has been satisfactorily implemented using MATLAB/Simulink and HOMER Pro-3.2 simulation tool and validated through a prototype experimental setup. The laboratory testing is carried out through a 10 kW generation and utilization system, which can be customized further for the wide-area rural power supply.