Reliable Power Supply with Solar Mini Grid in
Sandwip Island of Bangladesh
Hasna J. Khan1 and Asma J. Huque
Prokaushali Sangsad Limited*
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Abstract— Solar mini grid of 100 kW in Sandwip Island is an
attempt to demonstrate viability and provide reliable service to
the un-served population in the remote locations of Bangladesh.
This is the largest off-grid installation of its kind in the nation
using state of the art technology. This paper presents the key
features of the power plant, including technical design and
operations in order to meet public demand. Reliable
performance of the power plant has been highlighted with special
focus on energy usage pattern.
I. INTRODUCTION
Sandwip Island is located in the south-eastern part of the
country with an area of 762 sq.km., and habitat to a population
of more than 470,000 who are detached from Chittagong
mainland by a channel of about 75 kilometers. Because of its
position and inaccessibility, there is limited possibility of grid
electrification service to the people economically.
Despite shortage of reliable and consistent supply of
electricity, it is noteworthy that there is a vibrant population in
Sandwip that share many facilities, including 100 primary
schools, 23 high schools and 3 colleges. In addition to the
educational institutions, there are health service centers and
hospitals, major markets, several computer service centers etc.
Traditionally power demand of all the people is met with
electricity from multiple Diesel micro-grid service providers.
Electricity is provided in an adhoc manner where the
providers set their own fixed charge for each unit of appliance
used by a consumer disregarding their energy rating and costs
incurred. In Sandwip a Government owned and operated
Diesel plant occasionally operates for 1-2 hours a day at the
city center to serve the municipal offices. In addition, small
scale captive power generation from Diesel fuel is found in
the health centers, hotels and others. Depending upon the type
of appliance being used and fixed daily rates for each
appliance, the effective tariff of electricity is found to range
from 45 Taka/kWh to 75 Tk/kwh. Such high rates are
acceptable due to the unmet demand for electricity in the
commercial market. Although there is significant use of Diesel
generated electricity in Sandwip island, which serve the daily
need of commercial operations, majority of the households
remain without electrification.
Initial demand survey of Enamnahar market showed wide
variety of appliances being used with Diesel power, including
256 Incandescent lamps of 100 Watts, 115 ceiling fans, 30
computers and Xray and ECG machines at the health centers.
Obvious conclusion was that energy demand in the area is
high which could only partially be met by the solar mini grid
system to be installed. An important focus was hence given on
the demand side energy management for the consumers.
II. SOLAR MINI GRID DESIGN
Purobi Green Energy Limited (PGEL), a newly formed
micro-utility, selected Enamnahar market of Sandwip as the
central area for solar mini grid service. With financial support
from Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (IDCOL),
PGEL took the challenge of providing reliable service with a
competitive price for commercial applications and enhance
standard of living of the surrounding households. Preliminary
survey of the area suggested that the potential consumers are
eager to pay for reliable grid electricity services and hence
they would support the project considering its scope of
modernization with alternative energy.
In the early stage of the project, demand side management
was essential to serve a larger body with limited power
generation. Potential consumers were notified that the solar
mini grid would provide electricity for lighting, fan,
computers, television and other small domestic appliances,
and there was no provision under the current scheme for large
loads for productive application or health center diagnostics.
Following a product research, high efficiency fans and lights
were recommended and made available to the consumers
through the local market. High efficiency televisions were also
recommended to the users.
Reliability of service was the goal of this project design.
Hence the hardware was selected with superior performance
and quality assurance to maximize the use of solar power.
Hardware selected for the plant includes Solar Modules of
KYOCERA, Battery from Hoppecke, Germany,
and Inverters from SMA Solar Technology of Germany.
The projected daily load profile for solar mini grid service
is given in Figure 1 showing major load is expected in the
evening hours. Overall design daily load for 400 consumers is
estimated to be 378 kWh without any seasonal variation, of
which lighting is estimated to be 22% of the total energy
demand. Ceiling fans will consume 27% of energy, which is
mainly for the summer hot days and the load profile shows
continuous use during the daytime. The shops using
computers will have 19% of the load with a total of 50
computers in daily operation. Other significant applications
include television and small users like soldering, etc.

45
40
35
30
25
load
kW
20
15
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Figure 1. Design Load Profile for Solar Mini Grid Service
Figure 2 Schematic Diagram of the Solar Mini Grid in Sandwip Island
III. SOLAR MINI GRID SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
The solar mini grid of 100 kW accompanied by a 40 kW
backup Diesel generator is a combined operation of several
sub-systems shown in Figure 2. The Solar PV modules are the
main power generation system that is operational during
daytime. For nominal power of 64.8 kW, the PV modules are
connected to 6 grid tied 11 kW inverters (SMC with MPPT),
which converts from DC to AC power at 220V supply directly
to the mini-grid distribution line at all times. Three phase
configuration of the AC distribution line is configured through
the Multi-cluster box, which is the interface for all connectors
and control. The unused portion of the generated power is
stored into the batteries through 12 bidirectional inverters
called Sunny Islands distributed in 4 clusters. During daytime
additional 40 kW PV are generated and stored into the same
battery bank through DC battery chargers (SIC40 with MPPT).
When the solar power is not available, mainly during evening
Daily Load Profile
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Tim e of the Day
hours, the plant uses power from the battery bank. During the
worst season of solar radiation, and low battery charge,
backup power will be provided by the 40kW Diesel generator.
Land requirement for solar power plant is an important
consideration for the designers. In order to minimize line
losses, a critical number of consumers are needed near a solar
plant. Typically densely populated locations do not have free
land for erection of solar modules. Although there is abundant
land in the rural sector, these are mainly being used for
agriculture or other domestic reasons. Available Govt. land
are typically in remote locations where the consumer base is
not available, and hence they are not suitable for solar plants,
without adequate transmission of power to the load centers. In
general it is necessary to place the inverters and battery bank
in and around the solar park to minimize losses and improve
energy efficiency. This is also coupled to the orientation of the
PV module cables for minimization of energy loss from
source. An advantage of the selected grid connected
technology is that the outdoor inverters can remain connected IV. RESULT AND PERFORMANCE
to the PV system externally if needed. Variation of solar radiation results in daily power profile
for a particular day as shown in Figure 3. The figure
TABLE I represents six grid connected SMCs which produced 170 kWh
CONSUMERS CONNECTED IN FIRST MONTH between 9 am to 3pm.
Additional PV power is stored in the batteries through the
Estimated Load 16 SICs. Accordingly, a cumulative power of about 283 kWh
Consumer Name
(Watt) was produced on that particular day.
The local consumers are connected to the system through
Sandwip Police Station 3200
individual AC meters, circuit breakers and service drop lines
Rupali Cooperative 950 following the standards of the Rural Electrification Board.
Taj Hotel 1380 Service users are billed based upon individual meter readings.
Consumers with various types of application are taking
Fashion plus 490
service from the solar power plant. Table 1 shows the
Popular Feed 305 consumers taking connection on the first month of operation
Rocky Dew Store 310 and their projected overall load. Not all appliances are used
simultaneously; therefore their effective loads on the plant are
Digital Clinic 1080
variable.
BNPS 670
Figure 4 shows monthly distribution of energy consumption
Total land of Sandwip island used by PGEL for the solar has gradually increased during the first year of operation.
power plant is 0.61 acres. To maximize land use for the solar While cumulative grid power consumption increased
continuously, some consumers managed to reduce their daily
mini grid, the roof of the plant building has also been used for
consumption through switching to better energy efficient
installation of the solar modules. A total area requirement for
appliances. Hence an overall trend of using appliances of
PV was about 1500 square meters, which includes the roof of
higher standards for energy efficiency can be seen within the
the building along with the ground mounted solar park.
service area.

Daily Power Production by 60kW SMC Energy Consumption (kWh)

Enamnahar, Sandwip, Date: 2-10-2011 5000
4500
180 4000
3500
160
3000
140 2500
2000
Cumulative kWh

120
1500
100
kWh 1000
80 500
60 0
40

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Time of Day (hr)
Figure 3. Power Profile of Grid Inverters
The battery bank is a critical part of the overall system
configuration, which requires suitable space and ventilation
for temperature control. The power plant has a total of 578
kWh battery storage which is nearly 1.5 days of autonomy for
full operation of the system. The batteries are 2V with 3000
Ah capacity, connected in 4 battery banks of 48V each.
Considering the weight of each battery is 250 kg, it was
essential to have appropriate tools for moving heavy items.
In the remote areas of Bangladesh like Sandwip, there is a
total lack of infrastructure, which was a serious deterrent to
project implementation. But innovative solutions to each
problem was attempted and the final objective of
implementing nation’s largest solar mini grid system in
Sandwip became a reality.
15 20
Figure 4 Energy Consumption in First Year
The categories of consumers can be distributed in three
major groups as shown in Figure 5. There are 10 large
consumers with a monthly demand of more than 100 kWh,
whereas 25 consumers using between 41 to 100 kWh are
identified as the medium group and 67 consumers using 1 to
40 kWh are the small users. The small users constitute 65% of
consumers with a total consumption of 1033 kWh, i.e. 25%
energy. In spite of high individual demand for power in the
service area, PGEL expects to reach more of these small
consumers in order to extend its services to a larger fraction of
the un-electrified population.
 Total Monthly Consumption (kWh) Monthly Bill (Thousand Taka)
180
1557 1514 160
2000 140
1033
120
1500
100
1000 80
60
500 40
20
0 0
Large 10 (> 100 kWh) Med 25 (41 to100 kWh) Small 67(1 to 40 kWh)

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Figure 5. Distribution of Energy Consumption

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Although the number of consumers taking connection in the Connection Charge Bill Excluding VAT

initial stage was slow, there has been progressive increase of
consumers when reliable power supply was evident.
Consequently, revenue earned by the micro utility has
increased consistently as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6 Revenue of Solar Power Plant
Up to October 2011, a total of 102 consumers are receiving
service from the solar mini grid. Each consumer paid Taka
5000 as a connection fee, whereas Taka 32 is charged for each
kWh used. Reliable power supply is the most attractive feature
of this Sandwip pilot solar plant. It is anticipated that
successful operation and reliable service of PGEL micro
utility will create a landmark in using solar mini grid in the
remote areas of Bangladesh.