{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/124376"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/124376","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Developing a contextualized design framework for rural electrical infrastructure","abstract":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","abstract_html":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Chattopadhyay, Abhiroop"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Electrical & Computer Engr","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Witmer, Ann-Perry","Haran, Kiruba","Dominguez-Garcia, Alejandro","Dong, Roy","Bhatt, Rakesh","Kaufman, Brett"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-05","date_published":"2024-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:00Z","subjects":["Contextual Engineering","Rural Electrification","Off-grid Solar Systems"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2024 Abhiroop Chattopadhyay"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124376","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Witmer, Ann-Perry","Haran, Kiruba","Dominguez-Garcia, Alejandro","Dong, Roy","Bhatt, Rakesh","Kaufman, Brett"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Chattopadhyay, Abhiroop"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2024-05","2024-04-26"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Electrical & Computer Engr"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Contextual Engineering","Rural Electrification","Off-grid Solar Systems"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2024 Abhiroop Chattopadhyay"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124376"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","The student, Abhiroop Chattopadhyay, accepted the attached license on 2024-04-23 at 10:43.","The student, Abhiroop Chattopadhyay, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-04-23 at 10:53.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-04-26 at 12:57.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20567 on 2024-09-16 at 00:35:53","Renewable energy systems show great promise in addressing issues of electricity access in non-electrified regions of the world. However, their long-term success and sustainability are by no means guaranteed. The socio-political context of communities has a great bearing on the willingness to adopt or accept technological solutions, arguably more than the technical merits of the technology itself. Designing energy systems in such contexts requires a systematic study of non-technical factors and their influence on technical aspects of system design. The central objective of this research investigation is to understand how rural energy systems should be conceptualized, designed, and planned so that they best address the needs of the communities for which they are designed. A contextually appropriate design framework is conceptualized that combines technical and nontechnical disciplines in a mixed methods approach for the design of rural remote energy infrastructure. The proposed framework will draw upon elements from ethnography, sociology, engineering analysis, and decision making for contextually-appropriate decision making. Descriptive strategies for contextual analysis through self-reflection, observation, and interviews throughout the project development process are provided. The framework is applied in a pilot project involving the design of renewable energy systems in the Navajo Nation, and the lessons learned provide the basis to fine tune the conceptualized framework. The framework finds that programmatic aspects of technological deployment – including notions of productive use, focus on institutional continuity, support networks, and trust building – are key to deploying enduring energy systems. Equity explorations of energy equity also provide insights that illustrate how positionality, role, mandates, and perceptions affect the achievement of energy equity objectives. The finalized conceptual framework is expected to be a systematic and descriptive process which incorporates societal contexts into mathematical design formulations and decision making. It should guide design practitioners in approaching the design of rural remote energy infrastructure so that it aligns most closely to both the technical site conditions as well as the human capabilities, constraints, and expectations of the communities for which they are being built."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Developing a contextualized design framework for rural electrical infrastructure"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Witmer, Ann-Perry","Haran, Kiruba","Dominguez-Garcia, Alejandro","Dong, Roy","Bhatt, Rakesh","Kaufman, Brett"],"dc:creator":["Chattopadhyay, Abhiroop"],"dc:date":["2024-05","2024-04-26"],"dc:description":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","The student, Abhiroop Chattopadhyay, accepted the attached license on 2024-04-23 at 10:43.","The student, Abhiroop Chattopadhyay, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-04-23 at 10:53.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-04-26 at 12:57.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20567 on 2024-09-16 at 00:35:53","Renewable energy systems show great promise in addressing issues of electricity access in non-electrified regions of the world. However, their long-term success and sustainability are by no means guaranteed. The socio-political context of communities has a great bearing on the willingness to adopt or accept technological solutions, arguably more than the technical merits of the technology itself. Designing energy systems in such contexts requires a systematic study of non-technical factors and their influence on technical aspects of system design. The central objective of this research investigation is to understand how rural energy systems should be conceptualized, designed, and planned so that they best address the needs of the communities for which they are designed. A contextually appropriate design framework is conceptualized that combines technical and nontechnical disciplines in a mixed methods approach for the design of rural remote energy infrastructure. The proposed framework will draw upon elements from ethnography, sociology, engineering analysis, and decision making for contextually-appropriate decision making. Descriptive strategies for contextual analysis through self-reflection, observation, and interviews throughout the project development process are provided. The framework is applied in a pilot project involving the design of renewable energy systems in the Navajo Nation, and the lessons learned provide the basis to fine tune the conceptualized framework. The framework finds that programmatic aspects of technological deployment – including notions of productive use, focus on institutional continuity, support networks, and trust building – are key to deploying enduring energy systems. Equity explorations of energy equity also provide insights that illustrate how positionality, role, mandates, and perceptions affect the achievement of energy equity objectives. The finalized conceptual framework is expected to be a systematic and descriptive process which incorporates societal contexts into mathematical design formulations and decision making. It should guide design practitioners in approaching the design of rural remote energy infrastructure so that it aligns most closely to both the technical site conditions as well as the human capabilities, constraints, and expectations of the communities for which they are being built."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124376"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2024 Abhiroop Chattopadhyay"],"dc:subject":["Contextual Engineering","Rural Electrification","Off-grid Solar Systems"],"dc:title":["Developing a contextualized design framework for rural electrical infrastructure"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Electrical & Computer Engr"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:00Z"}