Techno-Economic Comparative Assessment of Asvt Versus Conventional Sub-stations for Rural Electrification

The overall electricity access rate is still very low in most sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The rate is even lower in rural areas where most of the population in these countries lives. In Kenya about 8% of rural communities lives at close proximity to High voltage transmission lines yet they have no electricity. One of the main obstacles to rural electrification (RE) is the high cost of laying the distribution infrastructure owing to the dispersed nature of loads and low demand. Thus, electrifying the rural areas needs to be considered holistically and not just on the financial viability. To reduce cost, it is important that auxiliary service voltage transformer (ASVT) sub-station, which are cheaper than the conventional sub-station be explored. This research aimed at carrying out the techno-economic assessment of Auxiliary service voltage transformer sub-station and the conventional sub-station that can be used to step down 132kv supply from transmission line to 240v to supply single phase loads in rural areas where there is no any nearby conventional sub-station but there are trunks of high voltage transmission lines at close proximity. The research further explored the maximum number of ASVT sub-stations that can be terminated on 132kv within a specified distance beyond which it would be economically viable to use a conventional sub-station. In this research local prices and the life cycle costing of sub-stations were used.