Smart Electrification of Rural Bangladesh Through Smart Grids

A smart grid is a new technology that integrates power systems with communication systems. It is an intelligent and efficient management system that has self-healing capabilities. The smart grid can be applied to manage networks that integrate different types of renewable resources for power generation. Bangladesh is currently experiencing severe power deficiency. Renewable energy sources such as solar power and biogas can play an important role in this scenario, especially in rural areas where electricity is even scarcer. By applying prototype concepts of smart grid, power generation from renewable resources and efficient load management can be achieved by a centralized control center. This will control the on-off sequence of the load and maintain the system stability. In this paper, different aspects of implementing a prototype of the smart grid in the rural areas of Bangladesh are discussed.