@Article{cmc.2020.05598,
AUTHOR = {Qi Liu, Kondwani Michael Kamoto, Xiaodong Liu},
TITLE = {Microgrids-as-a-Service for Rural Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa},
JOURNAL = {Computers, Materials \& Continua},
VOLUME = {63},
YEAR = {2020},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {1249--1261},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/cmc/v63n3/38873},
ISSN = {1546-2226},
ABSTRACT = {The majority of the population on the African continent is unable to access basic 
electricity services, this despite the abundance of renewable energy sources (RESs). The 
inability to adequately tap into these RESs has led to the continued dependence on nonrenewable energy sources such as coal for electricity generation, and kerosene for cooking 
and lighting, the resulting use of which is poor health conditions. The use of Microgrids 
(MGs) is being extensively researched as a feasible means of tackling the challenge of 
electrification, especially in rural and remote areas. Recent times have seen an increasing 
number of research works focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which is one of the regions 
with the lowest electrification rates in the world. MGs provide the most suitable means to 
integrate RESs into the electricity generation process, paving the way towards clean energy 
for the African continent. This paper presents a review of recent literature on the usage of MG 
technology for rural electrification, with a specific focus on the applicability of MGs in the 
SSA context. The paper additionally presents the challenges and opportunities to date. 
Research findings indicate that SSA has already begun the transition towards clean energy via 
implementation of RES-based MGs. However, two resonating challenges in the literature are 
adequate support via policy, and proper planning of project implementation. These two major 
barriers are needed to be overcome in order to fully utilize MGs for rural electrification in 
SSA. The key methodology derived from this study is that any effort towards rural 
electrification requires a sufficient amount of investigation, incorporating both the 
technological and socio-economic aspects into a suitable design for the target location.},
DOI = {10.32604/cmc.2020.05598}
}