THE CASE FOR SOLAR PV APPLICATIONS IN AFRICA CHALLENGES AND OPPOTUNITIES

Transcription

1 THE CASE FOR SOLAR PV APPLICATIONS IN AFRICA CHALLENGES AND OPPOTUNITIES By WISDOM AHIATAKU- TOGOBO Ministry of Energy, Ghana ECREEE Regional Forum on the ECOWAS Solar Energy Initiative ESEI October 2010, Darkar -Senegal

2 OUTLINE What are the energy needs in ECOWAS? What are the opportunities for Solar PV application? What are the socio-economic challenges of Solar PV application? How can we overcome the challenges? 10/19/2010

3 ECOWAS Energy Needs Households/commercial/Service Thermal Energy for food processing: Cooking, Baking, grilling, smoking, heating etc Electricity for: Lighting, refrigeration, cooling, heating etc ICT (TV, radio, phone charging, entertainment), Motive Power for Transport family and goods, small scale industry Water and woodfuel supply 10/19/2010

4 ECOWAS Energy Needs Agricultural /Industrial sectors Energy for Mechanization Ploughing, tilling, irrigation, thrashing, harvesting etc Transport of agricultural products for processing Marine transport for fishing Energy for processing agriculture products: Grinding, milling, vegetable oil extraction, soap making, Pito brewing, Akpeteshi distillation etc Energy for assembling, manufacturing and for construction:

5 Total Energy Supply in Ghana 9.9MTOE Petroleum 23% Biomass 65% Electricity 12% CONSUMPTION BY END-USE SECTOR Industry Agric&Fish Transport Biomass Petroleum Electricity Com&Service Households - 500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000 TOE 2,000,000 2,500,000 3,000,000

6 Rural Energy Options Petroleum Shaft power: transport, ploughing, mining, fishing, milling Lighting, cooking, heating and electricity generation Electricity Lighting, ICT, entertainment, Storage, cooling, shaft power milling Product assembling and manufacturing Bio-energy Direct combustion: Food processing, oil extraction process, brewing, distillation, grilling smoking. Man-power / Animal-power Water supply, woodfuel supply, grinding, transport Ploughing, harvesting, fishing, Carpentry, construction, sewing, weaving, mining etc

7 Rural Energy Mix Bioenergy 38% Challenge is how to reduce dependence on biomass Petroleum 4% Electricity 3% Manpower 55% and manpower in favour of modern energy For direct combustion, electricity and motive power

8 How can Solar Power Contribute to meet Rural Energy Needs? Region has abundant solar energy resources that can generate electricity for off-grid and grid connected applications. Potential for regional inter-connection and also for export to Europe. Potential for off-grid application. BUT AT WHAT COST?

9 Grid Connected Solar Systems Ghana has 8 grid connected solar systems (<100kWp) installed in public institutions to date. Capacities range from 4.5kW to 50kW Power produced is consumed by building. No feed-in tariff in place. Investment cost is about $6,400/kW Average Levelised Energy cost over 20yrs at 10% discount rate is $0.48/kWh This is very expensive without grant financing. Besides the energy is not always available when needed most (peak load at night)

10 Electrical Energy Cost USCents/KWh Waste to Energy Biomass Solar Wind Coal Nuclear Natural Gas Petroluem Hydro (medium) Hydro (large)

11 Cheaper Sources of Electricity Hydro power has been the source of cheap power for supporting economic development in Africa: Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal etc Despite this, studies suggest that only 7% of the hydropower potential in Africa has been developed. compared to about 80% in Europe and the United States of America. Nuclear, coal and natural gas are the main sources of power generation in Europe and America because they are cheap. Why promote the most expensive energy option for the poor in Africa if there is no grant financing?

12 Off-grid Solar Electrification Off-grid Solar PV electrification - seen significant growth in Ghana from 0.3MWp in 1987 to 2.1MWp in 2009 Over 5,000 off-grid systems installed in remote rural communities. solar home systems, battery charging solar vaccine refrigeration in rural health facilities, street lighting for public places and street illumination, water pumping and communication transmitters etc Fee-for-service model and Dealer Sale/Credit model with loan subsidies tested

13 Off-grid Solar Electrification Solar for off-grid application has potential to increase energy access for: Limited lighting and battery charging ICT (TV, radio, entertainment phone charging) Significant impact quality of life of rural people in the 1 st 5 yrs of installation More productive hours added Pattern of going to bed early is minimized and this could reduce population growth rate. Mobile phone charging, music and other forms of entertainment are made possible with solar power.

14 Information via Radio & TV Important educational programmes on HIV/AIDS, malaria and other killer diseases could now get the poorest of the poor via TV and radio. Success of Ghana s democracy and December 2008 election: attributed to easy access to the election related information through radio, TVs and mobile phones usage which were made possible due to reliable electricity access

15 Solar School Systems School children are able to study at night in preparation for examination. SHS for teacher s quarters has the potential to attract qualified teachers to stay in remote communities

16 Solar Street Lights Women and children now feel safe moving about at night due to improved visibility. streetlights have reduced the risk of wild animal/reptiles (snakes) confrontation. Women take advantage of the solar streetlight for economic activities.

17 Enhanced Communication Solar Phone booth Time and cost involved in travelling only to deliver messages can be avoided

18 Battery & Mobile Phone Charging

19 Improved Health Facilities Vaccines could now be stored. Child delivery and other emergency health cases could be attended to at night.

20 Improved Water Delivery Solar water pumps prevents drinking of contaminated water from rivers and streams. Clearly the economic benefits of Solar PV far out ways the financial cost involved.

21 Challenges for Solar PV Electrification Despite the positive impacts of solar PV electrification, sustainability is a major challenge: High cost of battery and regulator replacement Very little opportunity for local production and repair of solar components - job creation. All components of solar system are Import based. Panel, regulator, lamps, inverters etc. Policy drive for tax exemption on solar products further worsens chance for local production to be competitive. Result: almost 80% of systems installed over 6yrs are abandoned when batteries or regulators are due for replacement.

22 Challenges - Financial Incentives Current financial incentive / subsidies on SHS are based on donor grants GEF, Spain, World Bank, JICA No financial, regulatory and legislative instrument to fund PV program on a sustainable base Meanwhile grid electricity is fully subsidised Transmission, distribution and service drop is not the consumer s cost. Subsidised life-line tariff for low consumers PV consumers are expected to pay for cost of replacement.

23 Energy Demand Limitations Power capacity inadequate to support rural or cottage industries appliances with high wattage No Electrification No Vote Electorates are promised grid power in exchange for votes. Grid electricity extended to most of the solar communities Environmental pollution Disposal of used batteries end up polluting drinking water sources which is a big challenge.

24 Conclusions Grid Electrification is the Ultimate & Preferred Choice for rural electrification due to its advantages. Off-grid Solar PV can play a complimentary role as a transition source of rural electrification whiles waiting for grid power. Solar PV can be sustainable, if is a system is in place to fund and support investment and replacement cost.

25 Conclusions Industrialised countries are key to providing financing and technical support. Several financing options exist. Grants, concessional loans, Carbon credits, CDM, GEF, EU-ACP, KFW, UNDP, UNIDO, WB, REEEP and many more ECOWAS member states should take advantage of these funding opportunities to bring down the cost of solar PV systems

26 Conclusions Above all, the commitment from Government to put in place the necessary policies, strategies. and action programmes is paramount (this is the only way we can help mitigate the effect of climate change caused by them and also take advantage of increasing access to energy services) It is a win-win situation.

27 Conclusions In Ghana, over 90% of renewable energy installaions is funded through donors and development partners Ghana has an Energy Fund (levy on petroleum products) to support the development and promotion. To encourage private participation in RE deployment, a Renewable Energy bill is currently before parliament for enactment into law by December Legal and regulatory framework Feed-in-Tariff Obligatory purchase Renewable Energy Fund Ghana is also an active member of IRENA

28 The support of development partners is necessary to take up the Challenge of Solar PV in Africa For more information, please contact: THANK YOU