ViPOR

ViPOR determines whether an unelectrified village is best served by a centralized power generation system, isolated renewable power systems at each household, or some combination. It uses an interesting combinatorial optimization algorithm called simulated annealing, which makes it fun to watch because the solution evolves towards the optimum in a random (but controlled) fashion.

We created ViPOR for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL distributes the software for free at http://analysis.nrel.gov/vipor.

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The map below shows the results of a ViPOR analysis on an island community. ViPOR has found that to minimize total life cycle cost, two centralized wind-diesel systems should supply the most densely populated areas of the island, and the rest of the houses on the island should be supplied by isolated wind-battery power systems. The distribution networks tend to follow the roads, since they have a lower cost multiplier than the rest of the landscape.