Decentralized Rural Electrification Systems (DRES) are designed to supply electric power for
sites which are not connected to a large interconnected system, or a national grid, in order to
meet basic needs.
The majority of these sites are
~ isolated dwellings;
~ village houses;
~ community services (public lighting, pumping, health centres, places of worship or
cultural activities, administrative buildings, etc.);
~ economic activities (workshops, micro-industry, etc.).
The DRES fall into the following three categories:
~ process electrification systems (for example, for pumping);
~ individual electrification systems (lES) for single users;
~ collective electrification systems (CES) for multiple users.
Process or individual electrification systems exclusively consist of two subsystems:
~ an electric energy generation subsystem;
~ the user's electrical installation.
Collective electrification systems, however, consist of three subsystems:
~ an electric energy generation subsystem;
~ a distribution subsystem, also called microgrid;
~ user's electrical installations including interface equipment between the installations
and the microgrid.
This technical specification applies to a micropower plant which is the electric energy
generation subsystem associated with a decentralized rural electrification system.
It provides general requirements for the design, erection and operation of micropower plants
and general requirements to ensure the safety of persons and property.
The micropower plants covered by this specification are Iow-voltage a.c., three-phase or
single-phase, with rated capacity less than, or equal to, 100 kVA. They do not include voltage
transformation.
The Iow-voltage levels covered under this specification are
~ the 230 V 1-O/400 V 3-0, the 220 V 1-O/380 V 3-0, and the 120 V 1-O/208 V 3-0
systems at 60 Hz or 50 Hz;
~ the ELV d.c. systems.