Download or read book Bridging the Gap Between Electricity Demand and Supply in West Africa written by Omotola Ayisat Adeoye and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The electricity sector of West African countries is experiencing several challenges including, low electricity access rates, high usage of oil generators, frequent power outages and high electricity tariff rates. In an effort to solve these challenges, the West African Power Pool (WAPP) aims to interconnect all fourteen countries and develop regional power plants to benefit multiple countries. This research evaluates the role of renewable energy sources (RES) and interconnections in providing access to affordable and reliable electricity supply. This is achieved by first developing a demand model called HeDEMO (Hourly electricity DEmand MOdel) to generate hourly electricity demand in the year 2016 and 2030. The hourly demand in the residential sector of each country is modelled using a bottom-up methodology for urban and rural households, while the non-residential sectors are modelled using a top-down methodology. Next, a multi-regional economic dispatch model of West Africa"s interconnected electricity network is developed using the 2030 hourly demand dataset. The dispatch model adequately represents the intermittent characteristics of RES in different locations of the region. Six scenarios are optimized to evaluate the impact of high integration of grid-connected RES and additional interconnections. Finally, a multi criteria decision analysis is applied to assess and rank these six scenarios, based on eight sustainability criteria. The results indicate that in 2030, electricity demand in West Africa is forecasted to be five times its 2016 level. Furthermore, most of the planned interconnections by WAPP will be underutilized in 2030. Thereby providing an opportunity to integrate unexplored RES in the region. The demand methodology presented in this thesis can be applicable to developing countries that have challenges of scarce historical hourly demand data, electricity supply-demand gap, and urban/rural economic divide. Additionally, the sustainability assessment of the 2030 scenarios will help inform energy policy makers on optimal RES integration and interconnection expansion policies for the region.