Mar 10, 2021 · In this study, we assess the flexibility that could be provided by large hydropower reservoirs in West Africa to cope with planned future solar and wind energy generation in the
Jun 1, 2020 · A new study has mapped the potential of solar-wind-water strategies for West Africa, a region where power grids are anticipated to greatly expand in the coming years. The
Sep 3, 2018 · West African countries'' energy and climate policies show a pronounced focus on decarbonising power supply through renewable electricity (RE) generation. In particular, most
Jan 26, 2022 · Developing battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the region could help these efforts, particularly by optimizing the use of intermittent wind and solar power. Many countries
Dec 1, 2022 · Wind-photovoltaic-shared energy storage power stations include equipment for green power production, storage, conversion, etc. The construction of the power stations can
Assessing hydropower flexibility for integrating solar and wind energy in West Africa using dynamic programming and sensitivity analysis. Illustration with the Akosombo reservoir, Ghana For the first time, acceptable S&W integration levels in Ghana is shown. A 20% penetration of S&W can be fully integrated by flexible hydropower operations.
The database of the present and future hydro, solar and wind power projects in West Africa developed for this work is named the West African Renewable Power Database (WARPD). It combines information from existing databases, scientific papers, technical project descriptions, newspaper articles and tender documents for future projects.
We demonstrate that smart management of present and future hydropower plants in West Africa can support substantial grid integration of solar and wind power, limiting natural gas consumption while avoiding ecologically harmful hydropower overexploitation.
On the other hand, the daily variability stemming from solar PV fits well with the usage of a short-term storage. Based on a least-cost analysis, Barasa et al. (2018) suggested that solar PV and wind energy with some complement from HP could dominate the electricity supply in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.
For instance, the solar/wind contribution of 28 TWh yr –1 to total RE generation under the middle bound of the power pool scenario can directly avoid 28 TWh yr –1 of electricity from natural gas, roughly Ghana’s expected on-grid power demand by 2030 (ref. 30 ).
Hydropower provides 20% of West Africa’s electricity with the remainder mostly generated from natural gas and oil 30, and thus currently accounts for nearly all of its RE. In a few countries, hydropower dominates the generation mix (Fig. 1a ).
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