DOD CREATES 'DISTRIBUTED RENEWABLE ENERGY' MODEL TO UPLIFT RURAL COMMUNITIES IN AFGHANISTAN

摘要

Since 2006, the Department of Defense's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations' (TFBSO) mission has been to reduce violence, enhance stability, and restore economic normalcy in areas where unrest and insurgency have created a synchronous downward spiral of economic hardship and violence. In Afghanistan, where the vast majority of the country does not have access to the national grid, renewable energy solutions utilizing micro-hydro wind, and solar resources can provide a reliable cost ' effective and standardized supply of electric power. Micro-hydro power (MHP) generation and associated microgrids many an excellevt option forincreasmg rural elerif.cat1on in many areas of Afghanistan. Numerous MHP systems have been installed by the international donor community and the Ministry for Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) which should have resulted in a significant installed base of micro-hydro power generation in rural Afghanistan. Due to a lack of technical standards and sustainable business models, this potential has not been realized. TFBSO and MRRD's joint analysis of 68 non-operational MHP sites across seven provinces showed that the sites did not operate at design capacity due to faulty design, poor civil works, and/or inadequate operations and maintenance issues. This lack of standardization and reliability inhibits potential interconnection of microgrids and results in significant voltage variation, which can damage household or light industrial equipment, causing negative economic impacts. This paper explores the TFBSO's distributed renewable energy program that enables individual microgrids to be connected, forming mini-grids, that provides an economically viable, sustainable, and scalable model for rural electricity in Afghanistan.