A redesign method for rural electrification projects, case study in Yutaho, Colombia

Despite the need for off-grid electrification and the existing knowledge of the technologies involved, many electrification projects fail by not keeping up as the community’s needs increase over time. Rural electrification projects must be redesigned to avoid this, and more power generation and distribution equipment should be added. When doing so, some redesign constraints are needed in the reused equipment (movements of equipment to new points of the community or changes to the distribution schemes). This work proposes a methodology for redesigning rural electrification projects, which analyses new electrification alternatives and proposes a new power installation. The methodology is organised into four stages: (1) demand assessment, (2) redesign alternatives, (3) evaluation of supply quality, and (4) redesign selection. The methodology is applied to the Yutaho community (northeast Colombia). • Electrification projects must be redesigned to meet the increasing demand. • A methodology analyses different demand scenarios and redesign constraints. • Redesign constraints include equipment movements, distribution strategies, etc. • Several supply quality indicators are compared to choose the best redesign option. • The methodology is validated in a real case study in La Guajira (Colombia).