Rural Electrification through Decentralized Concentrating Solar Power: Technological and Socio-Economic Aspects

This paper presents the development of small-scale solar Organic Rankine Cycles for rural electrification in remote areas of Lesotho. It is subdivided in two parts. The first part deals with the success conditions of decentralized rural electrification projects. Through a literature survey, relevant guiding principles and recommendations are formulated. The second part of the paper describes the proposed system, which is designed in agreement with the formulated recommendations. A framework for benchmarking the performance and cost of various micro-utility platforms and rural electrification distribution models is proposed.