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![Global Solar Radiation Map for Africa and Middle East [5]](profile/David-Quansah/publication/311940146/figure/fig3/AS:667722744623104@1536208916044/Global-Solar-Radiation-Map-for-Africa-and-Middle-East-5.png)
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![Figure 1: Global Solar Radiation Map for Africa and Middle East [5]](profile/David-Quansah/publication/311940146/figure/fig3/AS:667722744623104@1536208916044/Global-Solar-Radiation-Map-for-Africa-and-Middle-East-5_Q320.jpg)
Africa is endowed with significant amounts of renewable energy (RE) resources, including solar energy. It receives some of the highest levels of annual radiation globally. Yet Africa remains the poorest region of the world, in terms of energy access – in contrast with its endowment. This reality, of abundant sunlight, leads some to have an almost f...
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... terms of installed cumulative solar power, the top five countries as of the end of 2014 were Germany, China, Japan, Italy, and USA, with installed capacity of 38.2 GW, 28.1 GW, 23.3 GW, 18.5 GW and 18.3 GW, respectively. Despite the fact that most parts of Africa receive in excess of 2000 kWh (see Figure 1) of global solar radiation annually, the continent has not seen substantial development in solar energy power plants. It may be interesting to know that the cumulative installed solar PV power plant in Germany (a country located in a temperate region), in 2014 for example, was more than total installed capacity from all energy resources in individual countries in sub-Saharan Africa (except South Africa). ...
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... are commonplace because they are cheaper to purchase and even though levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is higher than solar PV (with storage) in some instances, it is, from a practical point of view, a more accessible option than the alternative, in which one pays now for electricity to be used in several years to come. Generator ownership rate among enterprises is SSA countries is the highest in the world (see Figure 10). ...
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... terms of installed cumulative solar power, the top five countries as of the end of 2014 were Germany, China, Japan, Italy, and USA, with installed capacity of 38.2 GW, 28.1 GW, 23.3 GW, 18.5 GW and 18.3 GW, respectively. Despite the fact that most parts of Africa receive in excess of 2000 kWh (see Figure 1) of global solar radiation annually, the continent has not seen substantial development in solar energy power plants. It may be interesting to know that the cumulative installed solar PV power plant in Germany (a country located in a temperate region), in 2014 for example, was more than total installed capacity from all energy resources in individual countries in sub-Saharan Africa (except South Africa). ...
Context 4
... are commonplace because they are cheaper to purchase and even though levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is higher than solar PV (with storage) in some instances, it is, from a practical point of view, a more accessible option than the alternative, in which one pays now for electricity to be used in several years to come. Generator ownership rate among enterprises is SSA countries is the highest in the world (see Figure 10). ...
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The application of hybrid energy power plants is one solution to save electricity cost in buildings of government agencies, industries, and universities. The problem with using hybrid power plants that use solar energy sources and paid electricity networks is that sunlight energy cannot produce energy consistently from sunrise to sunset. Maximum en...
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... In general, out of the 43 countries for which data are available, 26 have per capita electricity consumption of less than 500 kwh, 6 have per capita consumption of between 500 and 1000 kwh, while 11 have per capita consumption of more than 1000 kwh (Fig. 5). The minimum per capita electricity consumption has been put at 250 kWh for rural areas and 500 kWh for the urban dwellers (Quansah et al. 2016). According to them, this amount of electricity should be able to power for 5 h daily basic services such as a mobile phone, a floor fan, two compact fluorescent light bulbs for the rural dwellers, and additional appliances such as efficient refrigerator, a small television, and a second mobile phone for the urban dwellers. ...
... Traditionally in many African cities, diesel generators are used in homes as a back-up power source to supplement persistent unreliable utility grids across the continent. However, these are polluting regardless of their sizes and have high operating costs [25]. A comparison study [26] showed that for much of sub-Saharan Africa electricity from Solar PV could be cheaper when compared to diesel generators over the longer term. ...
Power outage is a regular occurrence in most African cities due to increasing energy demand from population growth and commercial activities outstripping the grid capacity. This results in disruption to normal life putting stress on businesses and affecting development across the continent. This review paper investigates the potential of solar photovoltaic (PV) in African cities from three perspectives. Firstly, the potential of rooftop PV in the context of the political, economic, social, technical, legal and environmental aspects (PESTLE) is evaluated. Thereafter, sustainable waste management of solar PV panels is reviewed in anticipation for the upcoming wave of end-of life solar panels. Finally, the prospect of dual use building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) as power generators and building components is investigated from case studies in Africa. Most studies highlight the strong potential of rooftop PV and BIPV due to the availability of high radiance in the continent. However, our review shows that affordability and lack of investment acts as a significant barrier to mass adoption of this technology which could be remedied by implementing appropriate energy policy and financing schemes. Alternative financing of PV products and service solutions such as leasing, pay monthly, pay-as-you-go, and subscriptions are emerging as popular options, and these approaches seem to act as drivers to market expansion. The review also emphasizes on the need for effective and sustainable waste management of solar PV products through implementing appropriately designed recycling schemes. This will need to be adopted now to ensure success and to prevent a waste management crisis in the future for the African continent.
... In general, out of the 43 countries for which data are available, 26 have per capita electricity consumption of less than 500 kwh, 6 have per capita consumption of between 500 and 1000 kwh, while 11 have per capita consumption of more than 1000 kwh (Fig. 5). The minimum per capita electricity consumption has been put at 250 kWh for rural areas and 500 kWh for the urban dwellers (Quansah et al. 2016). According to them, this amount of electricity should be able to power for 5 h daily basic services such as a mobile phone, a floor fan, two compact fluorescent light bulbs for the rural dwellers, and additional appliances such as efficient refrigerator, a small television, and a second mobile phone for the urban dwellers. ...
... Therefore, access to reliable energy services is necessary to address fundamental human requirements and promote economic and social development in Africa [2]. Africa is blessed with renewable energy (RE) resources, especially solar PV energy, and the continent receives practically the greatest levels of yearly solar radiation globally, yet despite this, it is still the poorest continent in terms of access to electricity [3]. In 2021, 567 million people, that is more than 80% of those without access to electricity, lived in Sub-Saharan Africa [1]. ...
The quest for universal energy access continues to be a major concern globally. Renewable energy technologies such as solar PV are viable options to meet this energy poverty with DC–AC power converters playing a major role in solar PV systems. Current designs of these converters suffer from high standby energy consumption and high input threshold voltage. This paper presents the design and implementation of a single-phase DC–AC power converter with low threshold input voltage and optimized standby power consumption. A multivibrator, pulse width modulation signal generator, MOSFETs, and a multiple secondary winding center tap transformer were used in the system design. The results show an optimized power converter having a low input threshold voltage of 10.5V and power consumption of 9.49W.
... Perhaps the largest barrier to rooftop solar PV in Africa is cost. The large start-up cost of the solar PV system and the low annual incomes of most of the sub-Saharan African population make it difficult for many to afford these systems [29]. ...
Grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems can reduce the energy demand from the grid and significantly increase the power available to it. However, rooftop solar PV has not yet been widely adopted in many sub-Saharan African countries, such as Sudan, although they are endowed with high solar radiation and in dire need of additional power. This paper investigates risks and policies to increase grid-connected rooftop solar PV adoption in Sudan. A simplified United Nations Development Program Derisking Renewable Energy Investment framework is adopted to investigate this over three stages. For Stage 1, a list of risks and barriers was produced based on a literature review of solar PV studies in Sudan and interviews with nine stakeholders. Affordability was the risk most often mentioned (eight times from nine interviewees), followed by concerns about poor utility grid infrastructure. For Stage 2, policy de-risking instruments and financial de-risking instruments were listed to overcome the barriers. These include the introduction of net metering, the use of a third-party organization to monitor policy implementation, upgrade of the grid infrastructure, public awareness campaigns and energy-saving schemes. For Stage 3, the levelized cost of electricity was estimated for a typical 2-kW rooftop PV system without policies (0.11 /kWh).
... Solar PV/CSP. Although most countries in SSA receive over 2000 kWh of global solar radiation annually, the development of solar energy power plants in this region is extremely small53 . Considering the impact, applicability, and integration of PV/CSP technologies in global energy production, these two solar-based technologies are(3) TED 2030,1 = TED 2029,1 · b × TED 2028,1 · b × . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a comprehensive roadmap for the global energy sector to achieve net-zero emission by 2050. Considering the sizeable share of (Sub-Sahara) Africa in the global population, the attainment of global energy sector net-zero emission is practically impossible without a commitment from African countries. Therefore, it is important to study and analyze feasible/sustainable ways to solve the energy/electricity poverty in Africa. In this paper, the energy poverty in Africa and the high renewable energy (RE) potential are reviewed. Beyond this, the generation of electricity from the abundant RE potential in this region is analyzed in hourly timestep. This study is novel as it proposes a Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) central grid as one of the fastest/feasible solutions to the energy poverty problem in this region. The integration of a sizeable share of electric vehicles with the proposed central grid is also analyzed. This study aims to determine the RE electricity generation capacities, economic costs, and supply strategies required to balance the projected future electricity demand in SSA. The analysis presented in this study is done considering 2030 and 2040 as the targeted years of implementation. EnergyPLAN simulation program is used to simulate/analyze the generation of electricity for the central grid. The review of the energy poverty in SSA showed that the electricity access of all the countries in this region is less than 100%. The analysis of the proposed central RE grid system is a viable and sustainable option, however, it requires strategic financial planning for its implementation. The cheapest investment cost from all the case scenarios in this study is $298 billion. Considering the use of a single RE technology, wind power systems implementation by 2030 and 2040 are the most feasible options as they have the least economic costs. Overall, the integration of the existing/fossil-fueled power systems with RE technologies for the proposed central grid will be the cheapest/easiest pathway as it requires the least economic costs. While this does not require the integration of storage systems, it will help the SSA countries reduce their electricity sector carbon emission by 56.6% and 61.8% by 2030 and 2040 respectively.
... The application of batteries in solar-powered mini grids is particularly interesting for the Sub-Saharan Africa region [3], as further described in the Sect. 2. Mini grids can be defined as decentralized energy systems, consisting of a set of electricity generators, which are supplemented by further technical equipment, storage capacities and distributing infrastructure. ...
... Attention has been drawn to the poor energy situation in Africa (Quansah et al., 2016). According to Ouedraogo (2017), while the continent has energy resources that can sufficiently meet its energy demand, access to modern energy services remains limited. ...
... For instance, about 61% of the total solar PV technologies in European countries in 2012 were from the FiT policy [62,63]. FiT schemes recorded significant success in the developed countries, but by contrast, they struggled in the developing countries due to different factors [64][65][66][67]. The FiT scheme has struggled and/or failed in the Caribbean and Latin American countries [66][67][68]. ...
... The FiT scheme has struggled and/or failed in the Caribbean and Latin American countries [66][67][68]. FiT schemes have likewise failed in African countries, mainly due to factors such as poor institutional design, very low FiT scheme tariffs offered, and political hindrances encountered in the operations of the scheme [64,65]. ...
An overview of the adoption extent of the energy business models around the world was undertaken by considering both the developed and developing countries, with the emphasis on the customer-side renewable energy business models. The developed countries have widely adopted energy business initiatives to advance the distributed generation of electricity from renewable energy sources, while developing countries are struggling and/or have failed to record significant success. Additionally, developing countries are shifting from customer-owned energy business initiatives to the community-shared energy business initiatives to enhance prosumer-generated energy self-consumption. Furthermore, the existent billing schemes as well as the store-on grid scheme applicable to the energy business initiatives are discussed in this paper. The virtual net metering scheme category is the main billing scheme used for the community-shared energy business initiatives. In addition, this study depicts how the store-on grid scheme addresses the shortfalls of the existent billing schemes. Finally, the study gives policy recommendations that the decision makers in the developing countries could use as a foundation to foster the solar PV technology deployment through energy business models, especially by the adoption of the store-on grid scheme as the billing scheme.
... The system with hybrid photovoltaic/thermal collectors, whose installation is mostly dictated by the building's hot water usage, can produce the maximum net annual electricity output for a rural residence with a big accessible area. Africa is endowed with an immense amount of renewable energy, including solar resources, however, Africa remains one of the poorest regions in the world, in terms of energy access (Quansah, Adaramola, and Mensah 2016). In light of the solar resource endowment in Africa, many have questioned the slow integration of solar technology in leading africa1`s electrification. ...
This study was driven by the need to comprehend and give long-term answers to Nigeria's ongoing energy crises and energy famine, despite the country's tremendous endowment of renewable energy. The first step toward proffering such solutions is to present the potential benefits of solar-driven technology for residential applications. This study simulates the performance of a photovoltaic/thermal system for electricity and hot water production for a typical four-person residential settlement in different regions in Nigeria. This study computes the economic feasibility, as well as the environmental implications of the proposed PVT system on the considered geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The performance of the system were assessed on a technical, economic and environmental basis. Final system yield, performance ratio, electrical efficiency, and solar fraction were used for technical assessments, and cost savings was used for economic analysis. The relevant finding revealed that the maximum final yield (in this study) of 159kWh/kWp is retrieved in Maiduguri, while the least final yield of 75.8kWh/kWp is retrieved in Port Harcourt. The northeast (Maiduguri) showed the best annual final yield of 1735kWh/kWp. Onitsha and Port Harcourt showed a maximum performance ratio of 76.3%, and 76.2% respectively. The value of LCOE obtained in this study is in the range of 0.2518 /kWh, with an average of 0.3056$/kWh ARTICLE HISTORY
