Methodologies, technologies and applications for electric supply planning in rural remote areas

This work presents and examines the mathematical methods utilised for electrification planning in rural environments with decentralised energy sources. The main objective is to obtain conclusions on the best possible formulation of the multi-criteria decision-making problem related to the alternatives for a robust planning that is coherent to the local environment and needs of resident. From previous works, it is clear that the on-going paradigm shift started in the 1990s. The new paradigm is characterised by the inclusion of more than one objective or evaluation criterion. This objective makes electrification planning a multidimensional process with clear evidence that the multi-criteria decision-making models offer better responses for the present-day requirements of decentralised energy planning in rural environments. (C) 2014 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.