This paper presents an economic approach for rural electri®cation with photovoltaics world-wide. It concentrates on the most suitable technologies for supplying single or multiple consumers via stand-alone systems and examines the perspectives for local grid formation. After considering the promising applications in rural areas, advantageous system con®gurations that can cope with the various requirements of decentralized electri®cation stand out clearly. Apart from the already well-established photovoltaic (PV) application in supplying power to minute isolated consumers far away from the grid, such as solar homes, stand-alone PV hybrid con®gurations for power needs up to a few 10 kW are now presenting a promising application.
The results of a comprehensive cost analysis comparing the most applicable supply con®gurations are presented in this paper in order to determine cost-eective solutions. The design options and the technical performance features of the various PV systems applied are discussed, thus covering important applications and dierent power ranges. Conventional systems of today, as well as advanced systems oering the potential for covering all ®elds of application for decentralized power generation in the future are highlighted. The recent developments presented concern the system design techniques, modern energy management systems as well as suitable monitoring, supervising and controlling for decentralized PV integration on a large scale.
The paper concludes with a reference list of institutes working on systems technology/power conditioning and control of PV hybrid plants.