Source
doi:10.3390/en17153835 — original publication (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Summary
Domínguez et al. (2024) introduce IntiGIS-Local, a GIS-based model (built in ArcGIS ModelBuilder) that answers the core off-grid design question for an isolated community: what is the least-cost way to supply electricity to each location, and is that individual solar, a shared microgrid, or a solar–diesel hybrid? For every point in a study area it computes the Levelized Energy Cost (LEC) of each option — accounting for the spatial variability of the solar resource and the distribution of the homes/demand — and produces a map (raster) of the cheapest option location-by-location. It is demonstrated on Guasasa, a 214-person community in Cuba. For Neobiome Intelligence this is directly on-point: the project investigates how remote communities without grid connection can be self-sufficient, and IntiGIS-Local is precisely a method for the off-grid sizing-and-siting problem — plus it surfaces a key design insight (the individual-vs-microgrid choice is often marginal on cost, so community management capacity should decide it).
Key claims
- claim: "IntiGIS-Local (Domínguez et al. 2024, Energies 17:3835, CIEMAT) is a GIS-based model implemented in ArcGIS ModelBuilder that calculates the Levelized Energy Cost (LEC / LCOE) of different off-grid electrification options across a territory, producing a raster map of the least-cost option per location while accounting for spatial resource variability and demand distribution."
source_location: "Abstract; §2 Methodology; §3.1 (LEC raster output)"
- claim: "The model compares the frequent rural-electrification option set — individual (stand-alone) PV systems, PV microgrids, diesel generator sets, and solar–diesel hybrid systems with battery storage — with its central focus being the 'confrontation between individual systems and microgrids'."
source_location: "Abstract; §2; §3"
- claim: "The individual-vs-microgrid trade-off is inherently spatial: a microgrid carries distribution-line costs that scale with how dispersed the buildings are (line length from the central plant to the load line, plus each building to that line), which individual systems avoid — so dispersed settlements favour individual PV and clustered ones favour microgrids, and the chosen site of the central plant materially affects its LEC."
source_location: "§2 Methodology (line-length / centralized LEC); §3 (raster depends on plant placement)"
- claim: "Case study — Guasasa, Cuba (214 people): the LEC difference between individual PV and a small microgrid was small, so when the costs are close, non-cost factors (availability of space, community management capacity, and maintenance) become decisive in choosing between an individual PV system and a small microgrid plant."
source_location: "§3 Results; §4 Discussion"
- claim: "Indicative technical parameters used (Cuba-context but, per the authors, internationally indicative as market globalisation converges technology LEC): real discount rate 7%; centralized PV investment cost ~1,557.5 €/kW; battery storage reference cost ~179.4 €/kWh with 85% round-trip efficiency, ~18-year life and 70% depth of discharge; PV days-of-autonomy = 3 (both individual and centralized)."
source_location: "§3.4 Input settings; Tables 6, 9 (storage), §3.4.3"
- claim: "Solar–diesel hybrid configurations were tested at 50% and 75% renewable fraction: at 50% the diesel guarantees reliability so 1 day of battery autonomy suffices; at 75% diesel intervention is limited so 2 days of autonomy are set; diesel fuel 1.78 €/l at 0.40 l/kWh."
source_location: "§3.4.3 Storage; Table 9; diesel input settings"
- claim: "Two general approaches to electrifying isolated areas are grid extension (historically ~99% of electricity-infrastructure investment) versus off-grid; grid-extension cost is driven mainly by distance to the existing grid while off-grid cost is driven by the local resource — the model targets the off-grid case. The work is positioned as groundwork for a reusable decision-support tool, transferable beyond Cuba."
source_location: "§1.1 Rural Electrification and GISs; §4 Discussion (transferability)"Neobiome Intelligence relevance
- D01 — the off-grid community energy-planning problem (core Neobiome). Neobiome investigates how grid-less remote communities reach self-sufficiency, and IntiGIS-Local addresses exactly that: the least-cost mix of decentralized renewables (individual PV vs community microgrid vs solar–diesel hybrid) given where the homes are and the local resource LIT_048. The directly reusable design principle: the individual-vs-microgrid choice is often marginal on LEC, so community management capacity, available space and maintenance should drive it — i.e. the decision is as much governance as cost. The hybrid renewable-fraction → battery-autonomy relationship (50% RF → 1 day, 75% RF → 2 days) is a usable off-grid reliability-sizing heuristic.
- D09 — geospatial energy-option assessment method. The GIS-LEC-per-location raster approach (ArcGIS ModelBuilder) is a concrete method the NI artifact could adopt for spatially siting and ranking community energy options, complementing the NZ satellite/GIS capability already documented (Interview IV [INT_004]) LIT_048.
- Indicative off-grid parameter set. The storage (179.4 €/kWh, 85% RTE, 18-yr, 70% DoD, 3-day autonomy), PV (1,557.5 €/kW) and 7% discount-rate parameters are an indicative international benchmark for off-grid sizing, alongside the NZ-specific BESS/PV figures (CR_008) and the Mohseni off-grid NZ cases (LIT_033, LIT_031) LIT_048.
- ⚠ Scope: Cuba case study (parameters context-specific, though the authors argue LEC converges internationally); a method + reference-parameter source, not NZ data. Diesel is in the option set — a fully self-sufficient renewable community would weight against it, but a hybrid with minimal diesel is a legitimate off-grid reliability strategy worth modelling as a comparison point.
Research targets
Research gaps
- NZ-context off-grid LEC parameters for the full option set (individual PV / microgrid / hybrid) — overlaps the NZ BESS/PV work (CR_008) and the Mohseni off-grid cases; would let the model run an IntiGIS-style individual-vs-microgrid comparison on NZ costs.
- Whether to build a GIS / levelized-cost spatial-siting layer into the NI artifact for community energy-option siting — a method-design decision for the tool (not an external retrieval).
Connections
Links to
Referenced by
Sources (4): LIT_052 · LIT_055 · OT_053 · OT_055
EDT domains (2): D01: Renewable Energy & Storage Systems · D09: Digital Intelligence & Connectivity