Renewable energy projects to electrify rural communities in Cape Verde

• The design of 2 off-grid electrification projects in Cape Verde is developed.
• Configurations with hybrid renewable energy systems and micro-grids are considered.
• A detailed micro-scale wind resource assessment is carried out.
• An optimization model is used in order to support the design.
• The proposed system is economically beneficial in comparison with diesel generation.

Even though Cape Verde has high wind and solar energy resources, the conventional strategy for increasing access to electricity in isolated rural areas is by centralized microgrids with diesel generators. In this study, the design of 2 off-grid electrification projects based on hybrid wind–photovoltaic systems in Cape Verde is developed and analyzed. The design considers some significant novelty features in comparison with previous studies. First a detailed wind resource assessment is carried out combining meso-scale wind climate data and a specialized micro-scale wind flow model. Then a mathematical model is used for the design of off-grid projects considering a combination of individual systems and microgrids. In this study, locations far from the demand points are also considered as possible generation points. Various design configurations are analyzed and compared. The proposed configurations exploit the highest wind potential areas and are economically beneficial in comparison with diesel generator systems.