Title Developing affordable and reliable mini-grid business case for Ethiopia

Electricity access is among the major challenges many Sub-Saharan African countries face, particularly in rural areas. Most of the rural population rely on traditional biomass for their basic energy needs. This energy inequality is due to the high investment costs of grid extension to remote rural areas, which poses a great financial burden to the governments. Therefore, Hybrid mini-grids are gaining attention from researchers, investors and governments, as they can provide electricity in remote areas of developing countries where grid extension is costly. Sadly, a significant fraction of mini-grids remains in their pilot projects in the SSA region. This is due to the difficulty associated with accurately predicting the future electricity demand of currently unelectrified communities. Moreover, it is also challenging to incentivise local economies once electricity is made available. Therefore, this thesis aims to design the mini-grid to provide power to three un-electrified communities of Ethiopia at the least possible cost of electricity. The main target of electrification is to substitute the fossil-powered irrigation system for more sustainable farming. The feasibility of the mini-grid system was performed using HOMER Pro and PVsyst, which calculated the optimise solution using diesel and solar resources. The simulation results gave the LCOE of the three communities within a range of 0.15$/kWh to 0.18$/kWh with a CAPEX range of 1250$/kWp to 1500$/kWp. A complete financial analysis was used to assess the feasibility of the mini-grid over a twenty-five-year lifetime. The analysis gave promising results, with an IRR of 8% and NPV of 3 million dollars, assuming the constant electricity tariff of 0.067$/kWh and 0.30$/kWh for communities and farmers, respectivelyObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No Contaminant::7.b - Per a 2030, ampliar la infraestructura i millorar la tecnologia per tal d’oferir serveis d’energia moderns i sos­tenibles per a tots els països en desenvolupament, en particular els països menys avançats, els petits estats insulars en desenvolupament i els països en desenvolupament sense litoral, d’acord amb els programes de suport respectiu