Lena Dzifa Mensah

Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science and Technology | KNUST · Department of Mechanical Engineering

In this paper, we present the results of a simulation of a 3 MW p photovoltaic plant in Nigeria using four case study scenarios: ground-mounted fixed inclined monofacial, and bifacial photovoltaic installation, as well as monofacial and bifacial photovoltaic installations with trackers. The bifacial gains, tracker gains, and bifacial-tracker gains...

Reducing ambient air pollution could potentially prevent 1790 deaths a year in Accra alone. Vehicular emissions are a major source of air pollution, especially (PM) 2.5 , and a transition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is considered a solution to this. This paper estimates the cost per mile of electric vehicles compared with internal combustio...

The validation of the potential energy yield of bifacial PV systems of various configurations at low latitudes under West African climatic conditions is critical for evaluating performance and for promoting market expansion of the technology since validation has mostly occurred in high-latitude regions. In this paper, the potential energy yield fro...

Nigeria's annual solar radiation is estimated to be between 1400 and 2500 kWh/m ² . This has made the use of solar energy to generate power in the country feasible. We investigated the performance of a bifacial solar PV system in Nigeria under various climatic regions in this study because bifacial PV modules are known to be location-dependent. The...

This study assesses a plant-based fibre reinforced composite material for use in manufacturing wind turbine blades. The material is coconut fibre reinforced High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). The coconut fibre is combined with waste HDPE in weight percentage ratios, ranging from 2.4 wt% to 24 wt% of fibre, to produce ten test materials. Tests were p...

Demand forecasting is a challenging subject of interest to many organizations whose main focus is to improve their steady growing customer request/demand, and help in increasing their revenue generation. The story is no different in the power industry. It is quite difficult for power or electrical producers to store high quantum of the energy produ...

The population growth in the Ghanaian urban areas and the high energy consumption per unit area compared to the low solar energy capture by Photovoltaic (PV) systems makes solar PV energy systems investment an unattractive venture for most urban settlers. Because building architectures mostly do not incorporate solar PV systems in facility planning...

This study presents the outdoor performance assessment of a 2.5 MW solar-photovoltaic power plant installed at Navrongo, in the northern part of Ghana. The system's hourly energy output and environmental data between June 2013 and May 2016 were collected and analysed. The average yearly energy generated by the installation was 3547.8 MWh, while the...

This paper presents an optimized off-grid PV-diesel generator-battery hybrid energy system for application in an un-electrified rural community and further outlines a procedure for designing such an economical and technically feasible hybrid system. The hybrid optimization model for multiple energy resources (HOMER) software was utilized for simula...

In spite of the abundance of renewable energy and its potential application to mining industries, Ghana has not seen much investment in this area. The provision of electricity for mining activities in Ghana is cost intensive, especially in remote areas that are not connected to utility-grids. In this study, a technical and economic analysis of a hy...

Biomass, in the form of firewood and charcoal, continue to dominate energy supply sources in Ghana. Global energy demand projections, and indeed projections in Ghana, have shown that biomass will continue to serve as a principal energy source to many developing countries for the foreseeable future. While several woody crop species may hold potentia...

This paper presents the technical assessment of Jatropha and palm kernel biodiesels as substitutes for fossil diesel in diesel engines. The pure biodiesels of Jatropha and palm kernel and varied blends of the biodiesels and fossil diesel in different proportions by volume were run on a single cylinder two stroke diesel engine test rig located at th...

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...

Background The Ghana Solar Export Potential Study (SEPS) (UNEP, 2015) estimated that Ghana has a significant solar PV electricity potential, totalling 167,200 GWh (106.2 GW)1. This provides opportunities for furthering national electrification while pursuing trade in solar PV-based electricity within the ECOWAS region. Although Ghana’s solar radiat...

Contamination of maize by aflatoxins is of major concern to governments and the international community because high degrees of aflatoxin in food render the food unsafe for human consumption. The disposal of such foods also constitutes an economic loss in food production. This paper reports the findings of a study conducted during the 2013 minor ma...

This paper reports the first stage of work being undertaken to understand the factors that have impacted on the current state of food safety in the UK food manufacturing sector. The paper first explores developments in international food safety regulation in general and in particular, the UK. Using a survey and case study methodology, the paper exa...

Demonstrating compliance with food safety requirements of the global food economy is a prerequisite for access. This article presents an overview of the governance within global value chains and their impact on the prospects of developing countries accessing and participating in the global food manufacturing value chain. Based on fieldwork undertak...