Solar Nano-Grids: An appropriate solution for meeting community energy needs?

近年来，太阳能家庭系统越来越成功（就安装数量而言）。现在有相当多的文献记载了不同商业模式在促进该部门增长方面的成功和局限性，还有越来越多的文献记载了通过社会科学及人文科学获得电力对卫生、教育、安全、获得信息/通信和收入等各种问题的直接影响。然而，有一点是清楚的，虽然家庭无疑从购买或租用社会科学及人文科学服务中获得了发展方面的好处（消除煤油灯造成的空气污染，为儿童或家庭其他成员学习提供照明，加强安全，获得信息等），这在多大程度上解决了家庭成员的贫困问题，例如解决了他们的创收能力问题，这一点还远不清楚。事实上，证据往往表明，它并没有，在某些情况下，实际上造成了额外的财政负担。此外，社会科学及人文科学与其他获得照明和电力以运行小型电器的手段相比，特别是对小规模用户而言，其经济优势尚未得到证实，而且社会科学及人文科学的成本仍然超出了许多最贫困者的口袋。在此背景下，该提案背后的研究团队开发了太阳能纳米电网的概念，作为解决SHS某些局限性的一种潜在方法。纳米电网的概念是基于SHS的想法，即满足家庭的基本电力需求，但同时它提出了一些小规模农业或工业应用（如灌溉）的集成。这是因为农村地区的房屋往往集中在一起，每15至20间房屋一组，直径不到150米。在拟议的纳米电网系统中，一个基本的，比如1.5到3 kWp的光伏系统安装在一个小的家庭集群中，这些家庭之间的距离很短（理想情况下为60- 70米），电力从这个系统分配给家庭。整个项目被设计成一个明确的跨学科项目，将社会科学家和工程师聚集在一起，在项目的所有工作包中共同工作。该方法的基本原理是开始彻底审查这一领域的现有知识，这些知识涉及：（一）本项目所设想的那种规模的社区能源系统的现有经验;（二）涉及小规模并网太阳能项目及其成果的技术和社会经济文献。随后将在两个国家开展详细的工作（该项目将在肯尼亚和孟加拉国开展，这两个国家的社会科学及人文科学市场特别发达），探索在社会科学及人文科学计划方面经验水平不同、经济或环境特征差异很大的社区的经验。随后将在选定的社区内进行广泛协商，设计系统并就将采用的商业模式达成协议，最终安装和运营纳米电网，并进行为期两年的观察和评估。

The increasing success of Solar home systems over recent years (in terms of the number of installations) is undoubted. There is now a relatively wide literature documenting the successes and limitations of different business models in facilitating the growth of the sector, as well as a growing literature documenting the immediate impacts of access to electricity via SHS upon issues as diverse as health, education, security, access to information/communications and income. What is clear, however, is that, whilst a household undoubtedly gains developmental benefits from purchasing or hiring an SHS (removing the air pollution caused by kerosene lamps, providing light for children or other members of the household to study, enhanced security, access to information etc.), the degree to which this addresses the poverty of the members of the household and, for example, their ability to generate income is far less clear. In fact, the evidence tends to suggest that it does not and in some cases actually imposes additional financial burdens. In addition, the economic advantages of SHS over other means of accessing lighting and electricity for running small appliances especially for low-scale users is not yet proven and the costs of SHS still put it beyond the pockets of many of the poorest. Within this context, the research team behind this proposal has developed the concept of Solar Nano-grids as one potential way of addressing some of the limitations of SHS. The nano-grid concept is based on the idea of the SHS, where the basic electricity needs of the households are met, but at the same time it proposes the incoorporation of some small scale agricultural or industrial applications (like irrigation). This takes advantage of the fact that houses are frequently clustered together in rural areas in groups of 15-20 houses within a diameter of less than 150m. In the proposed nano-grid system, a basic, say 1.5 to 3kWp, PV system is installed in a small cluster of households within a short radius of each other (ideally 60-70m) and power is distributed to the households from this system. This whole project has been designed as an expressly inter-disciplinary project bringing together social scientists and engineers to work together across all work packages in the project. The basic rationale for the methodology is to begin with a thorough review of current knowledge in this field relating to (i) existing experiences with community-based energy systems of the kind of magnitude envisioned in this project and (ii) the technical and socio-economic literature dealing with small-scale grid-connected solar projects and their outcomes. This will then be followed by detailed work in the two county contexts (the project will be developed in Kenya and Bangladesh, two countries with particularly well developed SHS markets) exploring experiences amongst communities with different levels of experience with SHS programmes, with very different economic or environmental characteristics etc. This will lead to confirmation of the four specific communities where nano-grid projects will be installed. This will be followed by extensive consultation within the chosen communities, the design of the system and agreement over the business model to be employed and the eventual installation and operation of the nano-grids themselves and a two year process of observation and evaluation.