Energy Potential Assessment Program

Under the program the Centre is executing several sustainable energy resource and potential assessments in cooperation with different partners (e.g. IRENA, UNIDO, RECP). The Program aims to establishment benchmarks on renewable energy capacities, stakeholders, policies, investments, resources and project sites in the ECOWAS region. Most of the documents, data as well as renewable energy resource maps are available at the ECOWREX. Under this program the Centre has executed the following activities so far:

ECOWAS Renewable Energy Baseline Report

Within the context of the formulation of  targets of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Policy (EREP), the Centre has developed a renewable energy baseline report which provides detailed information on the existing national and regional policies and laws, investments, resources and economics of renewable energy technologies. The report includes a detailed RE scenario for the ECOWAS region by 2030. The policy targets for urban as well as rural areas were formulated on the basis of the established scenario.

Solar and wind resource assessment

The overall objective of the task is to provide a framework which will support the early stages of ECREEE’s initiatives to develop commercially viable wind and solar energy projects. The assessment was developed by Nexant in collaboration with ECREEE, and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

The outcomes of the assessment are:

• Deliver an organized and user-friendly database containing high-quality wind and solar resource data for country mapping and identification of potential project sites throughout the ECOWAS region.
• Execute a screening to recommend project sites within the ECOWAS countries, based on resource data and knowledge of the countries’ infrastructure.
• Develop a methodology for modeling resource data along with well-informed project assumptions, including country infrastructure and other parameters, generally used in power project financing.  The expected output extends to power generated and the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), and project financing.
• Complete high-level business case analyses for up to five (5) wind and/or solar projects in the ECOWAS region.  The goal will be to provide reasonable data and assumptions for the project’s crucial and sensitive variables and test them in a project development situation against international Project Finance criteria.
• Build capacity for member states on the screening and modeling methodologies use to develop the maps as well as present the final results.

All result are available at ECOWREX.

ECOWAS Small-Scale Hydro Power Baseline Report

The ECOWAS SSHP baseline report is a product of the regional workshop on small scale hydropower which was held from 16^th to 20^th of April 2012, in Monrovia, Liberia. It was organized by the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), and the Government of Liberia. The report gathers information on potentials, institutional set-ups, capacities and policies. It compiles an inventory of existing and potential SSHP investment projects to be presented to financiers and investors. The estimations for the SSHP potential (up to 30 MW) in the ECOWAS region differ widely and lack reliability. They range from 1.900 MW to 5.700 MW of feasible potential. The lower end was estimated by taking into account the provided site data by the ECOWAS countries to the ECREEE inventory during the workshop.

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Potential Assessment

The objective is to provide an accurate understanding of the potential of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies in the ECOWAS region and build capacities among experts, in the region about CSP power plants design, analysis, evaluation, and overall project assessments.

The assessment was carried out by CENER in collaboration with ECREEE and other stakeholders from the region. The major steps taken include:

• Review of the state of the art of CSP technologies.
• Analysis of the solar resource in the ECOWAS region.
• Selection of suitable site for CSP plants using multicriteria analysis techniques Pre-feasibility analysis of a CSP plant located within one of the suitable areas identified in Phase (?)
• Training course for ECREEE and stakeholders from the region on the different aspects associates with setting up of a CSP plant project.  

The final outcome includes a map of suitable areas for the development of CSP plant projects. The map is also be available at ECOWERX