Efficient Microgrid Management System for Electricity Distribution in Emerging Regions

In this paper we describe the motivations and design process for our open-source, low-power, and high-accuracy AC power meters suitable for several different off-grid metering applications. The described metering and switching hardware is more power efficient than off-the-shelf systems with equivalent capability while being able to measure much smaller loads accurately. The metering system we've developed is suitable for monitoring up to a collection of 20 circuits each drawing power as low as 1W up to 500W as is often found in a rural microgrid setting. Created with modularity in mind, the software and hardware design can easily be modified to be used as part of a home-solar power system, an AC micro-grid, or as a meter for each load in a room. The designs and source code will be made publicly available in August of 2012.