Ad hoc electrical networks are formed by connecting power sources and loads without planning the interconnection structure (topology) in advance. They are designed to be installed and operated by individual communities---without central oversight---and as a result are well-suited to addressing the lack of electricity access in rural and developing areas. However, ad hoc networks are not widely used, and a major technical challenge impeding their development (and deployment) is the difficulty of

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... certifying network stability without a priori knowledge of the topology. We develop conditions on individual power sources and loads such that a microgrid comprised of many units will be stable. We use Brayton-Moser potential theory to develop design constraints on individual microgrid components that certify transient stability---guaranteeing that the system will return to a suitable equilibrium after load switching events. Our central result is that stability can be ensured by installing a parallel capacitor at each constant power load, and we derive an expression for the required capacitance.