IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2017 - 55

Power-electronic interfaces with well-defined failure
modes should be able to operate with degraded specifications for extended periods of time, until maintenance and
repairs can be effected. Ideally, these should be modular,
and it should be possible to train local people in their regular maintenance, basic repairs, and module swapping.
This would ensure that the failure of a part of the energyconversion system does not result in the failure of the
entire system.
Mechanisms to remotely monitor and test power-electronic interfaces and controllers can benefit from research
in distributed hardware-in-loop (HIL) testing. Figure 3
shows a scenario of HIL testing of distributed controllers.
In this scenario, the HIL simulator is located at a central
location and has a detailed model of the entire microgrid.
The distributed controllers connect to the central simulator via communication links. The simulation progresses
one step at a time by the alternate freezing and running of
the controllers and the simulator. A critical issue in this
distributed simulation scenario is the synchronization
between the HIL simulator and the distributed controllers.
Scenarios such as this would permit the operation and
testing of controllers in interconnected microgrids.

Conclusions
In India, people in remote areas do not have consistent
access to electricity. The government had started the process of electric installation in rural areas long before by
promoting renewable energy sources and locally available
resources. On one hand, people in semiurban and rural
areas suffer from lack of power. On the other hand, for
people in urban areas, the issue is one of reliable, highquality power. Due to the vast geographical diversity and
varied customer priorities and requirements, the concept
of microgrids in India has a broader and deeper role to
play to bridge the gap and achieve the multiple targets of
achieving equitable, sustainable, and rapid economic
growth. A very important point in the context of India and
the developing nations is that of economics. The cost of
electricity from a microgrid must become comparable if
not cheaper than the cost of electricity from the main grid.
Removing incentives such as the subsidies offered to the
agriculture sectors and kerosene for lighting, migrating to
the use of smart meters that reduce theft, and expanding
the scale of microgrids may help make the microgrid business more sustainable. A firm commitment to proper
implementation at the grassroots level is a must for
microgrids to become successful.

For Further Reading
V. S. K. Murthy Balijepalli, S. A. Khaparde, and C. V. Dobariya,
"Deployment of microgrids in India," in Proc. IEEE Power &
Energy Society General Meeting, 2010, pp. 1-7.
Government of India, Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy. (2016, June). Draft national policy on renewable

energy-based mini/microgrids. [Online]. Available: http://
mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/draft-national-Mini_
Micro-Grid-Policy.pdf
Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. (2014, Oct.).
Assessing the business case for rural microgrids in India: A
case study approach. Arlington, TX. [Online]. Available: http://
www.schatzlab.org/docs/E3Team_AzureMicrogridProject_
FinalReport_October_2014.pdf
The Climate Group and Goldman Sachs. (2015, Feb.). The
business case study for off-grid energy in India. New Delhi,
India. [Online]. Available: http://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/environmental-stewardship-and sustainability/environmental-markets/cem-partners/gs-report.pdf
D. Schnitzer, D. S. Lounsbury, J. P. Carvallo, R. Deshmukh,
J. Apt, and D. M. Kammen. (2014, Jan.). Microgrids for rural
electrification: A critical review of best practices based on
seven case studies. United Nations Foundation. [Online]. Available: https://rael.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/
MicrogridsReportEDS.pdf
Prayas Energy Group. (2014, Aug.). A map of distributed
renewable energy (DRE) micro-grids in India. [Online].
Available: http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/publications/
item/275.html
A. Gambhir, V. Toro, and M. Ganapathy. (2012, Nov.). Decentralised renewable energy (DRE) microgrids in India: A review
of recent literature. Prayas Energy Group, Pune, India.
[Online]. Available: http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/
publications/item/187.html
M. Schäfer, N. Kebir, and K. Neumann, "Research needs for
meeting the challenge of decentralized energy supply in
developing countries," Energy for Sustainable Development,
vol. 15, pp. 324-329, Sept. 2011.
Government of India, Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy. JNN Solar Mission. [Online]. Available: http://www
.mnre.gov.in/solar-mission/jnnsm/introduction-2/
Greenpeace India Society. (2012, May). "e[r] cluster" for a
smart energy access: The role of microgrids in promoting the
integration of renewable energy in India. Bangalore, India.
[Online]. Available:http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/
india/report/Bihar-Smart-Energy-Access.pdf
Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited. [Online].
Available: http://seci.gov.in/content/
V. Aggarwal, A. Fahey, H. S. Freymiller, C. C. Huang, S. Li, S.
Moilanen, C. Onda, N. Ratledge, S. Speirs, and J. Wong. (2014,
Feb.). Rural energy alternatives in India: Opportunities in
financing and community engagement for renewable energy
microgrid projects. Woodrow Wilson School for Public and
International Affairs. Princeton Univ., NJ. [Online]. Available:
https://wws.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/content/591f%20
Rural%20Energy%20Alternatives%20in%20India.pdf

Biographies
Vijay A. Subramony (vijay_as@iitb.ac.in) is with the
Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India.
Suryanarayana Doolla (suryad@iitb.ac.in) is with the
Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India.
Mukul Chandorkar (mukul@ee.iitb.ac.in) is with the
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India.

IEEE Electrific ation Magazine / j une 2 0 1 7

http://http:// http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/draft-national-Mini_ http://http:// http://www.schatzlab.org/docs/E3Team_AzureMicrogridProject_ http://www.goldmansachs.com/citi https://rael.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/publications/ http://www.prayaspune.org/peg/ http://www http://mnre.gov.in/solar-mission/jnnsm/introduction-2/ http://seci.gov.in/content/ https://wws.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/content/591f

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2017