Sustainability-Oriented Framework for Design, Planning and Operations of Isolated Microgrids in the Era of Uncertainties

Microgrids (MGs) have emerged as critical infrastructures for providing flexibility services to the main grid as well as accelerating electrification in regions with no access to the grid. Nevertheless, in some situations (especially for isolated microgrids (IMGs)), their immense benefits seem not to have been fully realised owing to inadequate planning and operations underpinned by few aspects of sustainability rather than a holistic and robust approach. Hence, this paper presents a region-agnostic and robust sustainability-oriented framework for the design, planning and operations of IMGs underpinned by sustainable engineering design principles and described by ‘9-Rs’. We propose that core sustainable engineering principles must be embedded right from the IMG project conceptualisation stage and not as an afterthought activity. Moreover, we argue that there is a need for robust involvement of several stakeholders in tackling one of the greatest challenges of recent times - the transition to sustainable energy for all. Other interesting findings are documented in this paper.