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Grace Wanjiru, Peter Mwaura and Samuel Kiptoo (2024) Techno-economic assessment of hybrid solar-diesel mini-grids for rural health facilities in Kenya. Pan-African Conference on Renewable Energy 2024. https://quorumpress.org/papers/techno-economic-assessment-hybrid-pz1cb
Published in Pan-African Conference on Renewable Energy 2024. This article was peer reviewed before publication.
Continental Energy Forum
Techno-economic assessment of hybrid solar-diesel mini-grids for rural health facilities in Kenya
Abstract
Reliable electricity is a precondition for functional rural health facilities, yet many remain dependent on intermittent grid supply or costly diesel generation. This study evaluates hybrid solar photovoltaic and diesel mini-grids for 42 dispensaries across three counties in central Kenya. Using measured load profiles and one year of on-site irradiance data, we size photovoltaic arrays, battery storage, and diesel backup, then compare levelised cost of electricity across configurations. A solar fraction of 0.7 with two hours of battery autonomy minimised lifecycle cost while keeping unmet load below 2 percent. Compared with diesel-only baselines, the optimal hybrid reduced fuel consumption by 61 percent and lifecycle emissions by 54 percent. We discuss financing structures and maintenance models that make such systems viable under county health budgets.
Keywords: Mini-grids, Solar PV, Rural electrification, Health facilities
Cite as: Grace Wanjiru, Peter Mwaura, & Samuel Kiptoo (2024). Techno-economic assessment of hybrid solar-diesel mini-grids for rural health facilities in Kenya. Pan-African Conference on Renewable Energy 2024. https://quorumpress.org/papers/techno-economic-assessment-hybrid-pz1cb
© 2024 Wanjiru, Mwaura and Kiptoo. Open access under CC BY 4.0.
Introduction
Access to reliable electricity remains a binding constraint on the quality of rural healthcare in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Cold chains for vaccines, laboratory diagnostics, and emergency lighting all depend on continuous power that grid-connected dispensaries frequently lack.
Hybrid mini-grids combining solar photovoltaics with diesel backup offer a pragmatic path to reliability. This paper quantifies their technical and economic performance for a representative fleet of rural health facilities.
Methods
We instrumented 42 dispensaries with power meters and pyranometers over twelve months, capturing load profiles at fifteen-minute resolution alongside local irradiance. Component sizing was optimised to minimise levelised cost of electricity subject to an unmet-load constraint of two percent.
Results and discussion
A solar fraction of 0.7 with two hours of battery autonomy minimised lifecycle cost. Relative to diesel-only operation, fuel use fell by 61 percent and lifecycle emissions by 54 percent, while reliability targets were met at all sites.
Sensitivity analysis shows the result is robust to diesel price but sensitive to battery replacement cost, underscoring the value of warranty-backed storage procurement.
Conclusion
Hybrid solar-diesel mini-grids can deliver reliable, lower-cost, lower-carbon power to rural health facilities. County-level maintenance contracts and results-based financing are the main enablers for scale.
References
[1] IEA, “Access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa,” International Energy Agency, 2023.
[2] M. Otieno and L. Achieng, “Load characterisation of rural dispensaries,” Energy for Development, vol. 14, pp. 88-101, 2022.
Cite this paper
Grace Wanjiru, Peter Mwaura, Samuel Kiptoo. Techno-economic assessment of hybrid solar-diesel mini-grids for rural health facilities in Kenya. Pan-African Conference on Renewable Energy 2024, 2024. https://quorumpress.org/papers/techno-economic-assessment-hybrid-pz1cb
Publication ID: pz1cb