energies Article A DC Microgrid System for Powering Remote Areas † Tri Ardriani 1 , Pekik Argo Dahono 1, *, Arwindra Rizqiawan 1 , Erna Garnia 2 , Pungky Dwi Sastya 3 , Ahmad Husnan Arofat 3 and Muhammad Ridwan 3   Citation: Ardriani, T.; Dahono, P.A.; Rizqiawan, A.; Garnia, E.; Sastya, P.D.; Arofat, A.H.; Ridwan, M. A DC Microgrid System for Powering Remote Areas . Energies 2021, 14, 493. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14020493 Received: 20 December 2020 Accepted: 14 January 2021 Published: 18 January 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Institut Teknologi Bandung, School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung 40111, Indonesia; ardriani.t@gmail.com (T.A.); windra@std.stei.itb.ac.id (A.R.) 2 Faculty of Economics, Universitas Sangga Buana, Jl. PHH Mustofa (Suci) 68, Bandung 40111, Indonesia; erna.garnia@usbypkp.ac.id 3 Technology Development Division, PT. Len Industri (Persero), Jl. Soekarno-Hatta 442, Bandung 40111, Indonesia; pungkydwisastya@gmail.com (P.D.S.); ahmad.husnan@len.co.id (A.H.A.); muhammad.ridwan@len.co.id (M.R.) * Correspondence: pekik@konversi.ee.itb.ac.id † This paper is an extended version of our paper published in the Proceeding of 2018 Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy (ICPERE), 29–31 October 2018, Solo, Indonesia. Abstract: DC microgrid has been gaining popularity as solution as a more efficient and simpler power system especially for remote areas, where the main grid has yet to be built. This paper proposes a DC microgrid system based on renewable energy sources that employs decentralized control and without communication between one grid point and another. It can be deployed as an individual isolated unit or to form an expandable DC microgrid through DC bus for better reliability and efficiency. The key element of the proposed system is the power conditioner system (PCS) that works as an interface between energy sources, storage system, and load. PCS consists of modular power electronics devices and a power management unit, which controls power delivery to the AC load and the grid as well as the storage system charging and discharging sequence. Prototypes with 3 kWp solar PV and 13.8 kWh energy storage were developed and adopt a pole-mounted structure for ease of transportation and installation that are important in remote areas. This paper presents measurement results under several conditions of the developed prototypes. The evaluation shows promising results and a solid basis for electrification in remote areas. Keywords: DC microgrid; power conditioner system; renewable energy; scalable microgrid 1. Introduction As an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia faces a challenge in delivering electricity to all its citizens, particularly to those who live in the remote areas and outer islands. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources [1], although the total electrification ratio of Indonesia in 2019 has reached almost 99%, there are places that lag behind and around 1 million families still without access to electricity. Additionally, strong grids are only available tothe main islands of the country, where the central government and most of the population live. There are also areas where electricity is available only for several hours a day. Located in the equator, the solar potential in Indonesia is estimated to be around 208 GWp, much higher than other types of RES such as hydro (75 GWp), wind (60 GWp), and geothermal (29.5 GWp) [2]. It is one of the most evenly distributed RES throughout the country. Therefore, a solar-based system is very suitable to accelerate providing electricity to rural villages. Solar PV has been a popular choice RES because they are getting cheaper by the day and are easy to install. In urban cities, small-scale solar power systems are installed on rooftops, such as described in [3,4], both to provide green energy and to reduce bills. The disadvantage of PV rooftops is that it usually needs the AC grid to run and cannot Energies 2021, 14, 493. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14020493 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies