GIS approach for modeling the electricity grid of small islands using open-source data: The case of Isola del Giglio

The rise of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has fueled the development of various tools contributing to the electrification process. The goal of this paper is to display an alternative usage to one of such tools - GISele; the final goal is to optimally route the distribution grid in a small island in Italy called Isola del Giglio. The procedure is based on a 2-step clustering-based approach, with the final solution being a detailed geo-spatial representation of the Medium Voltage and Low Voltage grids, as well as the siting of the secondary substations. First, a solution for the equipment siting is obtained for each individual cluster, following a variation of the agglomerative clustering and purely topological analysis for the routing of the grids. Then, a MILP procedure with electrical constraints is in charge of minimizing the costs for the entire area, taking into consideration steady-state voltages and line loading. The approach was found to yield very good results in terms with comparison to publicly known facts about the grid in place and the grid routing adopting a road-tracking algorithm.