Does West African region have a high potential for solar energy?

Table 3. Generation capacities in baseline scenario.West African region has a high potential of solar energy for the installation of solar PV plants as indicated by the 10 km × 10 km resolution of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) data in Fig. 3 ( ECOWAS Observatory for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, 2017 ).

Does integrating solar energy in a West African electricity network reduce load shedding?

For example, Gambia and Ghana increase their share of imports from 2% and 4% to 55% and 22% respectively. The results show that increasing integration of solar energy in a fully interconnected West African electricity network significantly meets growing demand,reduces load shedding and generation costs.

How can solar energy help the West African Power Pool?

For the West African Power Pool keen onincreasing electricity supply and reducing the current high electricity prices in the region, utilization of solar energy resources in combination with unexplored hydro resources provides an opportunity to achieve these goals.

Does West Africa need a power system?

With regard to energy availability and security, West Africa is one of the least developed regions in the world ( ECOWAS , 2017). Therefore, the power system will need to be strongly expanded in this region, as a gap exists between electricity supply and demand ( Adeoye and Spataru , 2018).

Which regions of West Africa have a higher energy potential?

Furthermore, a strong contrast can be seen between the higher potential in the northern regions of West Africa (up to 5.5 kWh  kWp−1) and the lower potential in the southern regions of West Africa (around 4.5 kWh  kWp−1 ). The temporal variability is higher in the south and lower in the north as a result of the WAM.

Is West African electricity demand growing?

Furthermore, electricity demand in West African countries is estimated to reach two times its present level by 2030 with an average annual growth rate of 6% ( International Energy Agency, 2014a ). There is an urgent need for sustainable strategies to meet therapidly growing electricity demand in West Africa.