Analyzing grid extension suitability: A case study of Ethiopia using OnSSET

Journal article, 2024

Several geospatial factors influence the suitability of national power grid expansion, especially in remote areas. Since previous studies have neither explicitly examined the level of influence of these factors nor provided a clear spatial representation of their impact, this paper examines how geospatial factors (distance from substation and road, terrain slope, elevation, and land cover) influence grid extension suitability to unelectrified settlements in the context of Ethiopia. Open-access and remote-sensing datasets are used together with OnSSET geospatial modeling analysis methodology. A spatial grid extension suitability map is developed to display areas that are most suitable, semi-suitable, and less suitable for grid extension. Results show that terrain slope is the most significant contributor to grid extension suitability, accounting for 40.8 % of the total score. The findings reveal that the geospatial factors studied, aggregately, might increase the total investment cost of grid extension by 2.3 %–29 % across Ethiopia. The results also show that 45 % and 85 % of Ethiopia's population live within 10 km distance from high-voltage and projected medium-voltage lines, respectively. The study underscores that rather than focusing exclusively on distances from existing grid infrastructures, it is important to take into account the aforementioned geospatial factors affecting investment costs for grid extension planning.