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The group “Off-Grid Power Supply” at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has experience on design and evaluation of numerous Hybrid PV systems worldwide, principally on cost-effective and reliable solutions. Furthermore, the group develops system components like inverters or charge controllers, energy management systems that have been developed and transferred to industry and field applications.
The “Off-Grid Power Supply” team takes into account other legal, social and economic aspects of rural electrification such as financing instruments and local operation models. The strength lies in the combination of knowledge gained during more than twenty-five years of applied research and development, and practical experience obtained on site worldwide.
The financing of “off-grid” renewable energy technologies (RET) remains a challenge. Financing instruments such as the “Feed-in Tarriff (FiT)” regulation in Ecuador would provide a “long-term” solution for RET projects, yet the institutional framework along with technical issues on measurement and monitoring makes the benefit of FiT impractical. Technical solutions would certainly support this regulation and scale-up not only RETs, but also their benefits in local rural communities.
Stand-alone PV systems, such as Solar Home Systems (SHSs) and PV-lighting, hybrid PV systems, PV backup systems (grid-connected). Today’s practices in RETs for off-grid systems in Latin America are quite well known. In order to scale- up the successful experiences, it is necessary to bring forward energy policies, legislation and market conditions. At the local level, supporting the new stakeholders and especially the “village” system operators, which are the turn key to provide long-term solutions of energy services is essential.
The project DOSBE “Development of Electricity Service Operators in Ecuador and Peru” was co-financed under the COOPENER action of the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.
Within the project, 3 main guidelines have been developed:
1. Service models
2. Technical specifications for photovoltaic, wind and hydropower systems
3. Basic methodology for economic evaluation:
