In Nigeria and Kenya, many small to medium farms and rural grain-milling businesses are not connected to the national electricity grid. They still use petrol or diesel generators for power. Energy, agriculture and development researchers Temilade Sesan, Lucy Baker and colleagues set out to discover how these agribusinesses could get electricity from renewable energy mini grids at a price that would make the mini grids commercially viable, affordable for the farmers, and able to provide an electricity supply for low-income rural households.
What are mini-grids and why are they important?
Mini grids are small networks that generate and distribute electricity. They are often powered by renewable sources, such as solar photovoltaics, hydro-electricity, or a mixture of diesel and solar power. The networks are sized to generate between 10 kilowatts and 10 megawatts of electricity for homes and businesses in a community. For example, one megawatt of electricity can power about 2,000 homes in Nigeria.
