Parametric Analysis of Centralized DC Microgrids for Rural Electrification

Many solar photovoltaic (PV) based DC microgrids have been deployed in the recent past for supplying electricity facilities to the rural areas in developing regions. In this work, we assess various parameters that may impact the operational efficiencies of centralized DC microgrids. Primarily, we evaluate distribution losses in a typical system with varying critical system parameters such as a) distribution voltage b) distribution conductor size c) amount of load to be delivered at each connected rural house and d) system size (number of subscribing houses). The losses are evaluated using Newton-Raphson method modified for DC power flow and a general framework is given for loss evaluation in custom distribution architectures. Quantified system performance for a typical microgrid system from the perspective of distribution losses and maximal voltage dips will be highly useful for future solar PV-based microgrid installations.