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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

The electrification of isolated homes in rural areas without access to the electric grid has been achieved in part using solar energy transformed into electricity through Photovoltaic (PV) equipment known as Solar Home Systems (SHSs), which has been widely disseminated throughout the world. The use of SHSs in rural electrification projects has been studied from 1980 to date, they have been incorporating advances and technological innovations successively. Through the review of documents on PV projects, articles, and technical reports, it has been possible to identify the changes in the main components of the SHS and the typical configurations, systematizing them in a discrete timeline. Thereby, this article characterizes three generations of SHSs and highlights their differences. The first generation is fully valid between 1980–1995, the second generation in 1995–2010, and the third generation from 2005 to date, which overlaps the beginning. In any case, the time limits in each period are only referential. The later generation, Third Generation Solar Home Systems (3G-SHSs), is highly efficient, uses LED lamps, lithium batteries, microelectronic control, and plug and play connections. Indeed, this equipment can be self-managed by the user and reflects the technology’s high reliability by a minimum maintenance service in situ. Furthermore, their lower costs make access to electricity more affordable for the last mile population. The present research offers a detailed technological and operational characterization of the 3G-SHSs to show the most relevant aspects of support to project developers, planners, and decision-makers to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7.

Details

Title
Characterization of Technological Innovations in Photovoltaic Rural Electrification, Based on the Experiences of Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina: Third Generation Solar Home Systems
Author
Fernandez-Fuentes, Miguel H 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Eras-Almeida, Andrea A 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Egido-Aguilera, Miguel A 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Instituto de Energía Solar, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain; [email protected] (A.A.E.-A.); [email protected] (M.A.E.-A.); ENERGETICA Foundation, La Paz, Cochabamba E-573, Bolivia 
 Instituto de Energía Solar, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain; [email protected] (A.A.E.-A.); [email protected] (M.A.E.-A.) 
First page
3032
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20711050
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2650197967
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.