The role of biomass in sub-Saharan Africa's fully renewable power sector- The case of Ghana

RENEWABLE ENERGY

卷:173

Article

Mensah, Theophilus Nii Odai¹  Oyewo, Ayobami Solomon¹  Breyer, Christian¹ 

[1] LUT Univ, Yliopistokatu 34, Lappeenranta 53850, Finland

关键词: Energy transition;    Bioenergy potential estimation;    100% renewable Energy;    Variable renewable energy;    Dispatchable renewable energy;    Sub-Saharan Africa;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.renene.2021.03.098

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region with a large population living without electricity. This study investigates the grid balancing role of bioenergy in a sub-Saharan Africa's fully renewable power sector to address the energy poverty challenge in the region, using Ghana as a case country. Two methods are employed: the bioenergy estimation method, for deriving Ghana's technical bioenergy potential, and the LUT model, for the power sector transition modelling. The Ghanaian bioenergy potential of 48.3 TWh is applied on the power sector using the LUT model to develop six alternative scenarios, emphasising on the role of bioenergy, greenhouse gas emissions costs, and climate change mitigation policies. The results of the Best Policy Scenario reveal that with an electrical efficiency of 37.2%, 18 TWh of electricity, which is 16.9% of Ghana's electricity demand by 2050, could be produced from bioenergy for grid balancing. Also, the levelised cost of electricity declines from 48.7 (sic)/MW in 2015 to 36.9-46.6 (sic)/MWh in 2050. Whereas the cost of electricity increases to 76.4 (sic)/MWh in the Current Policy Scenario without greenhouse gas emissions costs. The results show the viability of a relatively cheap and bioenergy balanced sustainable renewable power system for the sub-Saharan African region. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

【 授权许可】

Free