Solar Thermal Power Plants in West Africa: Site Selection and Potential Assessment
Abstract
West Africa has some of the lowest modern energy consumption rates in the world with average electricity consumption of 88 kWh/capita compared to the continental and global averages of 563 and 2596 kWh/capita respectively. Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) which is the ‘fuel’ for Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is relatively high in some part of region. Hence CSP presents better opportunities for increasing access to electricity and for diversifying sources of energy in West Africa; however, to date no CSP plant has been installed in the region and none is under construction. Moreover, except for Burkina Faso, no site evaluation in West Africa has ever been performed for CSP. This study aims at filling that gap by evaluating and ranking suitable sites for large-scale CSP projects. It further computes the potential nominal power for different technologies with many scenarios.