Systemic Approach for Sustainability Assessment of Mini-Grids: A Review and Some Causalities

Mini-grids are considered to be a promising solution for providing a reliable electricity supply, especially in remote and rural areas. However, there are various challenges faced by the mini-grids—technical, social, economic, environmental, and organisational. Past efforts to assess the sustainability of mini-grids have used cross-sectional studies (static approaches). The assessments are focused on the impact assessment of the projects where the sustainability of the projects may not be reflected. This study attempts to adopt a dynamic approach to the sustainability assessment of mini-grids. The recent literature on sustainability assessment and systemic approaches in the area of mini-grids has been reviewed and summarised. The paper proposes a causal loop diagram for mini-grids, considering different techno-economic variables. There is a scope to expand this work to include various dimensions of sustainability assessment.