Architecture and System Analysis of Microgrids with Peer-to-Peer Electricity Sharing to Create a Marketplace which Enables Energy Access

Abstract

More than 1.3 billion people in the world lack access to electricity and this energy poverty is a major barrier to human development. This paper describes a new concept of peer-to-peer electricity sharing which creates a marketplace for electricity. In this marketplace, the people who can afford power generating sources such as solar panels can sell electricity to people who are unable to afford generating sources or who might have access to electricity but require more electricity at certain times. These ad-hoc microgrids created by sharing of resources provide affordable electricity and are enabled by a Power Management Unit (PMU) described in this paper.