Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download

ECOWAS Status Report

RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY STATUS REPORT 2014 | 37 26 Cabo Verde 1 The Gambia POWER CAPACITY(MW) TOTAL WIND 0.03 Nigeria FIGURE 11 | Installed Wind Power Capacity in ECOWAS Member States, 2014 Source: see endnote 65 for this section. Cabo Verde has established itself as a forerunner in wind power deployment in the region. By 2011, two small-scale wind farms had been installed: São Vicente (0.9 MW) and Praia (0.9 MW).66 The Cabeolica wind farm is the first commercial-scale, public- private partnership (PPP) wind project in sub-Saharan Africa (See Sidebar 4.)67 It consists of four separate sites, with a total of 30 turbines and an installed capacity of 25.5 MW.68 The first site to go on line began generating power in September 2011, and the project as a whole produces up to 76 GWh per year.69 In 2011 a small private company, ELECTRIC, established a 0.5 MW wind project in Santo Antão.70 The Gambia showcases several examples of small-scale, community- based wind projects.71 A 150 kilovolt-amp windmill, community- managed by Batakunku Village and commissioned in 2009, produces electricity mainly for local household consumption and supplies 20% of its power to NAWEC, the national utility.72 The Tanji Wind Park, comprising two 450 kW turbines, is a grid-connected demonstration project under the GEF designed to showcase the technical feasibility of using renewable technologies to power rural communities. The Park was commissioned in July 2012 and uses turbines acquired second-hand from Europe, which reduces project lifetimes but reduces costs by 50–75%. 73 Several projects are scheduled to come on line elsewhere in the near future. In Senegal, Sarreole signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with SENELEC in January 2014 for a 151 MW wind farm in Taiba Ndiaye, 75 kilometres northwest of Dakar. When completed, this will be the country’s first commercial wind project. The farm is designed to accommodate 50 turbines at two sites, connected underground via cable and tied to the local grid.74 In 2012, the Togolese government signed a contract with EcoDelta to develop a 25.2 MW wind farm at Kagomé, expected to be completed in 2015; once operational, the farm will produce some 7% of the country’s electricity generation.75 Several other projects in Togo have been identified as ECREEE priorities, including a 5 MW grid-connected project in Kara and the 49.5 MW wind farm on the coast between Aklakou, Grand Popo, and Dakonji.76 SOLAR Potential Technologies to convert solar energy into electricity generally fall into one of two categories: photovoltaic (PV) modules that convert light directly into electricity, and concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) systems that convert sunlight into heat energy that is later used to drive an engine. Although solar power can be generated at any scale, PV technology is modular and can be scaled for anything from household use to a large network of PV farms, whereas CSP is typically considered viable only as a utility-scale plant. Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) values, used to measure potential for CSP, are high across the region; however, due to the scarcity of transmission and distribution infrastructure, ECREEE estimates that CSP is currently technically feasible only within a certain geographic band through the Sahel.77 As of mid- 2014, no Member States have developed CSP technology. The resource potential for solar PV is generally good and relatively homogenous throughout all of West Africa, except in Mali and northern Niger, where the resource is particularly strong.78 RENEWABLE ENERGY MARKET AND INDUSTRY OVERVIEW 02

Pages Overview