Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Screening Africa's renewable energies potential

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/ecjr-sar020812.php

Public release date: 8-Feb-2012
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Contact: Berta Duane
berta.duane@ec.europa.eu
39-033-278-9743
European Commission Joint Research Centre
Screening Africa's renewable energies potential

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published
today a study mapping the potential of renewable energy sources in
Africa. The report analyses the current energy consumption in Africa
and assesses potential of renewable energy sources - solar, wind,
biomass and hydropower - and their cost efficiency and environmental
sustainability. Its publication coincides with the official European
Launch of UN's Year on "Sustainable Energy for All" being held today
in Brussels.

The map of Africa's solar electricity potential, for example, based on
the JRC's Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS), shows
that in many parts of Africa the same photovoltaic panel could produce
twice as much electricity as it would produce in Central Europe.
However, in order to assess the suitability of solar energy to provide
electricity in rural areas, this option has to be assessed against
costs for grid extensions and with the traditional diesel generators.
A combined analysis of photovoltaic systems, grid extensions and
diesel options shows for each area which option is the most cost
efficient.

In Northern Africa, the promising potential of renewable energies, in
particular solar and wind energy, has to compete with cheap fossil
fuel. Meanwhile the challenge in the Sub-Saharan regions is to improve
sustainability and efficiency of traditional biomass use and to
provide a suitable alternative to biomass overexploitation. This
alternative should be based on cleaner energy sources, particularly in
Sub-Saharan Africa where firewood and charcoal represent 80% of total
energy use and where most of the population lives in rural areas with
no access to electricity.

Small hydroelectric power plants have strong potential in Equatorial
Africa due to an extended network of permanent rivers and the fact
that most households are located closer to a river than to an existing
electricity grid.

Considering the current grid infrastructure, the report suggests that
wind energy is the most exploitable on a larger scale in northern
parts of Africa, in particular along the Mediterranean coast, and in
the most southern parts of the continent.

As for biomass, the report highlights a dramatic difference between
the EU and Sub-Saharan Africa in the efficiency of the production and
use of this fuel and discusses the development of a wood fuel
sustainability index and the unexploited potential of energy crops
like sugar cane.


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About the JRC

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's in-house
science service. Its mission is to provide customer-driven scientific
and technical support for the conception, development, implementation
and monitoring of European Union policies. The JRC serves the common
interest of the Member States, while being independent of special
interests, whether private or national.

For further information:

The report 'Renewable energies in Africa' can be downloaded at: http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/111111111/23076

IP "Energy tops the Development agenda: Commissioner Piebalgs to
attend the European launch of the UN's Year of Sustainable Energy for
All" (Feb. 7): http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/104&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
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