2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Addressing the sustainability challenges of off-grid renewable energy systems: The smart community reverse innovation
| Project/Area Number |
21K17930
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| Research Institution | Waseda University |
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Principal Investigator |
Pandyaswargo AndanteHadi 早稲田大学, 理工学術院(環境・エネルギー研究科・環境総合研究センター), 客員次席研究員(研究院客員講師) (10826093)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | renewable energy / off-grid electrification / sustainable development / smart community / developing countries / battery / SWOT / electric vehicle |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
We have identified the challenges and trends of off-grid electrification systems worldwide. Energy storage failure was found as the most common technical challenge. Meanwhile, overall sustainability problems seemed to be mainly caused by designs inappropriate to the needs of energy users. Global evidence shows that newer off-grid energy systems are built in larger capacities, and ownership trends are shifting from the public (government) to public-private partnership (PPP) mechanisms.
Based on those findings, we developed a socio-techno-economic approach to design an appropriate renewable energy system and post-project innovation idea development in developing countries. In anticipation of the role of affordable batteries in accelerating the adoption of renewable energy, we also explored the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the new battery industry development in the developing countries, which is strongly driven by the newly fostered electric vehicle industry in Indonesia.
We presented these findings and recommendations in international conferences and journals. Two out of our nine research products this fiscal year were internationally awarded.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Despite the global pandemic and the political turmoil in one of our target areas (Myanmar), we overcame the travel restrictions for field data collection through collaboration with research institutes and universities in Indonesia. The new collaborations turned out to be very effective as they allowed us to gather data from communities with diverse environmental settings such as remote agricultural area, fisherman villages, and small islands.
Moreover, our research problem also turned out to be one of the most pertinent questions for off-grid electrification worldwide. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) number 7 topic (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all) has also been prioritized by many leading academic journals in the field of sustainability this fiscal year.
The smooth data collection and publishing have significantly accelerated the progress of our research.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We have completed the majority of the goals stated in our research proposal: 1) To identify and organize sustainability challenges of small scale off-grid RE system projects worldwide, and 2) To create a pre-project design guideline (for project designer) to ensure the appropriateness of the project with the local community and a post-project guideline (for the local people) to trouble-shoot challenges after the completion of the project implementation.
In the remaining research period, we will further polish our research by conducting a comparative analysis of remote communities' energy needs in various environmental settings (fishermen's villages, agricultural, and small islands) to identify whether there are energy needs specific to those environmental settings.
As off-grid communities are often used as the location to conduct a pilot project for new energy systems and technologies, such knowledge will provide first and quick proximity for off-grid renewable energy system designers when targeting a specific environment before they undergo more thorough and lengthier surveys.
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