PHD-EE THESIS DEFENSE "PROSUMER DC MICROGRIDS WITH OPTIMIZED POWER SHARING FOR LOW-COST ELECTRIFICATION IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH"
Date: March 06, 2026 Time: 02:00 PM Location: EE Reading Room
Speaker: Reesha Arshad Supervisor: Dr. Hassan Abbas Khan
Access to reliable electricity remains a critical barrier to socio-economic development and climate resilience of off-grid rural communities of the Global South. This thesis proposes a flexible microgrid model with prosumer power sharing to enhance overall energy utilization and extend climate adaptation options for vulnerable households in the Global South, while also examining the influence of evolving energy practices on microgrid design and sustainability. A Mixed Integer Linear Program is developed to generate an optimized day-ahead power sharing schedule for connected houses in a decentralized prosumer DC microgrid, improving overall solar utilization by up to 41% and day-end battery state-of-charge by up to 31%, compared to standalone operation. Experimental validation of results is carried out using a hardware prototype of the microgrid, demonstrating the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of low-voltage DC microgrids for off-grid electrification. Concurrently, to address the climate vulnerability of off-grid communities, this thesis proposes that improved energy access supports localized adaptation measures in addition to national mitigation goals of countries. Improvement in household electricity access is defined using the World Bank’s technology-neutral Multi-tier Framework for Pakistan, and services such as lighting, water pumping, refrigeration and communication are mapped to adaptation tools in line with sectoral vulnerabilities. The adaptation benefits of the proposed prosumer microgrid are also analyzed. For rural communities, improved energy access brings social change which directly impacts the sustainability of solutions such as rural microgrids. This thesis studies the post-electrification change in energy demand in an electrified community near Multan. Results show that three key social practices are influenced by energy access, creating new forms of demand, in turn affecting the technical design and longevity of microgrid operation. Taken together, the findings of this thesis provide an integrated approach to sustainable off-grid electrification, combining technical optimization, energy-led climate adaptation options and evaluation of the impact of social behaviors on technology design and sustainability.
06
Mar
Date: March 06, 2026
Time: 02:00 PM
Location: EE Reading Room
Speaker: Reesha Arshad
Supervisor: Dr. Hassan Abbas Khan