Nanogrids: good practices and challenges in the projects in Colombia

The Republic of Colombia is a country situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. In 2005, the interconnected electricity system served 87% of the population, a percentage that is below the 95% average for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Colombian government is making massive efforts to increase the electrification, especially at very remote and rural places. However, there are still several rural communities isolated from the main grid in Colombia. Also, although some communities have already been connected to the distribution system, the security and reliability are still an issue. One key element in the effort of electrification is the use of very small microgrids projects called “nanogrids.” A nanogrid is a small power system that uses a combination of renewable and conventional energy sources to supply power to small local loads. The total load in a nanogrid is typically less than 20 kW, as an industrial site, small rural village. or a household. The generators are primarily based on clean energy such as solar arrays, wind turbines, and fuel cells. In Colombia, the Caribbean coastline, Andes Mountains, and strong agriculture provide the country with abundant distributed renewable energy resources that might largely surpass the fast-growing electricity demand. In this framework, the nanogrids emerge as a solution to supply energy for some communities, located far away from the network, improving the inhabitant’s quality of life. Moreover, the nanogrids might improve the security and reliability levels of the distribution system. This chapter discusses good practices and proposed some solutions to overcome challenges detected in nanogrid projects developed in Colombia. In essence, this chapter is a case study of nanogrid systems; it focuses on a full detailed explanation of 23 nanogrid projects developed in Colombia considering location, installed power, purpose, etc. Then the nanogrid projects are evaluated, and it gives the opportunity to identify some characteristics that hinder or benefit the operation of these systems. Some of them are the growth of the demand, the appropriate and inadequate use of energy and drinking water, the changes of habits in the users in the presence of energy or the increase in the reliability of the energy supply and how it affects the maintenance or lack this, the operation of the systems.