A Concept of Dynamic Pricing for Rural Hybrid Electric Power Mini-Grid Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This paper presents a dynamic pricing concept that can be applied to hybrid electric power mini-grid systems to enable affordability of energy in these systems setup for the supply of energy to rural consumers. A location was identified in Eastern Uganda, resource assessment done, and a proposed hybrid electric power mini-grid system designed to supply electricity to this rural location. A theoretical deterministic demand profile was generated, and with it different supply configurations of the system were simulated to meet the daily load. The fluctuations in the demand and supply triggered a change in the cost of generating energy, due to the variations in the contributing electricity generating sources. Through communication, an intelligently designed and operated time-varying pricing scheme can be an effective tool for influencing the actions of price-responsive end-users such as rural consumers. A software program was used to simulate the hourly demand, supply, and corresponding cost of energy variations. This pricing model could potentially contribute to the ongoing search for the provision of affordable rural energy services.