Renewable energy projects to electrify rural communities in Cape Verde Matteo Ranaboldo a,⇑ , Bruno Domenech Lega b , David Vilar Ferrenbach c , Laia Ferrer-Martí a , Rafael Pastor Moreno b , Alberto García-Villoria b a Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Spain b Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Institute of Industrial and Control Engineering, Spain c ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), Cape Verde highlights  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. article info Article history: Received 28 June 2013 Received in revised form 11 November 2013 Accepted 21 December 2013 Keywords: Rural electrification Off-grid generation Renewable energy Wind resource assessment Microgrids Cape Verde abstract Even though Cape Verde has high wind and solar energy resources, the conventional strategy for increas- ing 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. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Cape Verde is an archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean with a total population of half a million people. Its electrical energy pro- duction relies largely on diesel thermal plants [1] and is highly dependent on (totally imported) fuel. Cape Verde electric power price is therefore highly affected by fuel price fluctuation and is currently around 0.40$/kW h, among the most expensive in Africa [1]. The electrification rate was around 70% in 2010, relatively high in comparison with other countries of its region [1]. During the last decades, the conventional strategy for increasing access to electricity in rural areas of Cape Verde has been to extend the na- tional electricity grid or by autonomous microgrids with diesel generators [2]. Due to the complex geography and dispersed nat- ure of villages in mayor islands of Cape Verde, the expansion of the electricity grid can only reach a limited number of people. Fur- thermore, during the last decade connections to the grid increased rapidly while installed capacity remained stable; as a result of this tight demand-supply balance, the incidence of blackouts more than tripled and became longer in duration [1]. On the other side, local microgrids powered by small diesel generators, which supply electricity for a significant proportion of isolated communities or municipalities [2], have some clear disadvantages and limitations, such as the high and variable cost of the fuel, the requirement of a continuous supply and the inherent carbon dioxide and other polluting emission. Under these circumstances, stand-alone electrification systems that use renewable energy sources are a suitable alternative to provide electricity to isolated communities in a reliable and pollution-free manner [3]. Moreover, one of their main advantages is that they use local resources and do not depend on external 0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.12.043 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Depart- ment of Mechanical Engineering, Building H Floor 0, Avda. Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Tel.: +34 934016579. E-mail address: matteo.ranaboldo@upc.edu (M. Ranaboldo). Applied Energy 118 (2014) 280–291 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy