Simple Measurement Technique of the Electricity Demand in Developing Countries

For rural and remote electrification in developing countries, the proven concept of renewable off-grid power plants, such as small-scale hydropower or solar home systems, is the way to go. Grid extension is often difficult due to several reasons. Especially for properly designing small-scale stand-alone energy systems, load profiles are essential and required data. However, in today’s research, load is often modelled by simulation-generated profiles or simply empirically estimated instead of being validated through measurements. As the current literature is lacking such data, the present study’s objective is to present a method on how to measure the electricity demand of consumers through recording load time series using simple, cost-efficient and highly portable equipment. In this way, simulation-based data can be tweaked and validated. The used hardware only consists of two handheld digital multimeters, one AC current clamp adapter and a terminal device that allows to log and save the measured data. This method was tested in Manang Valley, a rural region in the Himalayas of Nepal. 24-hour load measurements of two households, two schools and three basic hotels were performed. During application afield, the method proofed to be suitable. The measurement results show patterns that allow drawing generalised conclusions on the electricity demand in Nepal’s rural and remote areas.     «

For rural and remote electrification in developing countries, the proven concept of renewable off-grid power plants, such as small-scale hydropower or solar home systems, is the way to go. Grid extension is often difficult due to several reasons. Especially for properly designing small-scale stand-alone energy systems, load profiles are essential and required data. However, in today’s research, load is often modelled by simulation-generated profiles or simply empirically estimated instead...     »