Type of On-Grid Activities

Overview

Access to electricity is among the lowest in the world, especially in rural areas. Often many district capitals depend on expensive and often unreliable power generation with diesel generators. Outside these towns, the situation is even worse. The overwhelming majority of rural households, most rural schools, health centres and administrative posts are without access to electricity. Energy solutions must consider this reality and combine extension and densification of the national electricity grid along with the adoption of modern technological solutions and energy services.

Type of Grid Activities

Grid Extension

Grid extension means to connect the facility to the local utility grid. If a grid system is available, the grid power is typically the most cost effective power supply. Grid extension is therefore a network expansion from the national power transmission system to new areas and communities. The cost of extending lines to rural facilities can be prohibitively expensive.

Grid extension: Benin, Ghana, Nicaragua, Nepal

Grid Densification

New grid connection expecially for households living close to the local utility grid but who are not yet connected. Grid densification divided into two categories: Grid densification by transformation, if villages which are located in close proximity to an existing transmission line will be connected, change of voltage level. Densification within an existing low-voltage distribution grid, connection of additional households.

Grid densification (with and without transformation): Bolivia, Peru, Mozambique, Uganda Grid densification (with and without transformation) - 2: Bolivia, Peru, Mozambique, Uganda

Costs

	Benin	Ghana	Nicaragua	Bolivia	Peru	Mozambique
Costs/ Connection (€)	2000	5540	220-588	62	90	134
Tariff	Social tariff	Social tariff	Social tariff	Social tariff	Social tariff	Social tariff
Security of energy supply	Medium	Medium	High	High	High	high

Financial Support

	Benin	Ghana	Nicaragua	Bolivia	Peru	Mozambique
EnDev subsidy	70%	99%	100%	20%	22%	100%
Government	30%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Utility	0%	0%	0%	0-80%	0%	0%
Customer	0%	1%	0%	0-80%	78%	0%

Additional Support

• Procurement support
• Developing local standards for grid connection
• Facilitating group applications for grid connections
• Training of local electricians for in-house wiring
• Training of consumers in energy use and efficiency
• Ex-ante savings for connection fees
• Introduction of installment payments of the connection fee linked to the electricity bills

Lessons Learned

• Some utilities are not interested in grid densification
• Poor households are often excluded in extension projects
• Some utilities have great difficulties to organize efficient procurement processes causing severe delays
• Free rider effect difficult to avoid (efficient selection process or accept the effect)
• Detailed monitoring is considered a burden and not always implemented
• In several countries power generation capacity cannot keep up withgrid extension
• In rural areas several households are connected to a meter to save the connection fee which can be legal or illegal according to national and local regulation. In some of these case voltage drop can be a severe problem

-> Lessons Learned Category on energypedia

Further Information

• Grid Portal on energypedia
• Grid Extension / Densification Approaches:Community Rural Electrification Programme (CREP), Nepal
• Reducing the Cost of Grid Extension for R ural Electrification, NRECA International, Ltd.