Implementing Pay-as-You-Go Functionality in Microgrids using Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Energy access has been a significant challenge in emerging economies, with 1.1 billion people having no access to electricity. Pay-as-you-go solutions are attractive since they enable customers to make small payments, making the solution affordable. However, pay-as-you-go requires a duplex communication channel, adding to overall costs and complexities. Although the need of the hour is rapid scaling and proliferation of these solutions, present models have not yet achieved widespread adoption. This paper presents a low-cost pay-as-you-go solution that has intelligence embedded in it, capable of maintaining account balance and related information autonomously. This method can be used in a microgrid environment or scaled to a rural co-op or emerging utility. Since the solution needs minimal inputs from the cloud, the network is delay tolerant and can work with intermittent connectivity. This platform enables a service-based revenue model, which can provide additional employment opportunities in emerging markets. This paper presents the design elements and test results of using the proposed method.