Enhancing Electricity Network Efficiency in sub-Saharan Africa through Optimal Integration of Minigrids and the Main Grid

In the past two decades, grid extension and off-grid solutions, such as autonomous minigrids, have become main conduits for improving energy access in developing countries. Once universal energy access is mostly achieved in these countries, efficiency, reliability, quality of supply and flexibility will become increasingly prominent objectives in the planning and operation of their electricity networks. Some of these objectives, such as network efficiency, will be strongly influenced by the approach taken for the integration of the main grid and autonomous minigrids. This paper applies optimization techniques to investigate the impact of residual generation and load factor of an autonomous minigrid in the selection of an optimal point of grid connection to minimize energy losses.