Democratic Republic of Congo

Utility-Scale Minigrid

August 2017

muGrid Analytics performed a techno-economic feasibility analysis of a 5 MW hybrid power plant which would provide electricity for 6000-8000 residential and small commercial customers that currently lack access to utility power. We used our Redcloud energy optimization platform to determine the optimal sizing and dispatching of battery energy storage to pair with a 5 MW solar array and diesel generation. This would optimize the economic return for the project developer, which included considering all capital, operating, and fuel costs of the solar, storage, and diesel generation equipment.

Using historical time-series solar radiation data from SolarGIS, we also analyzed how the proposed system configuration would have performed given the specific weather conditions which occurred at the site over the past 25 years. This analysis indicated that the year-to-year variability in solar production at this location is actually modest and thus the hybrid power plant should be expected to have a consistent financial performance.