Abstract
Decentralized electricity systems based on variable renewable energy (VRE) sources such as wind power can provide affordable, dependable, and modern energy in a manner consistent with the Paris Agreement. Such sources are, however, sensitive to extreme values of climatic factors—an issue that may jeopardize power system reliability. As a resource-rich region with a high proportion of rural population without access to electricity, Africa has been of wide interest in studies on VRE-based electricity generation. Nevertheless, there is still a major gap in our continent-scale understanding of the wind power potential and its variability at different time scales, as well as the influence of low-wind-resource periods in Africa. Using ERA5 hourly estimates of wind speed, the present study investigated the adequacy and temporal variability of local wind power potential across Africa over the 2000–2017 period. The results indicated that design requirements of wind power systems are, on average, fulfilled in regions in the North, South, and Horn of Africa at different time scales. However, low-resource periods were shown to have a significant impact on the reliability of wind power potential in the majority of the continent. Demand flexibility can reduce the severity of these periods and help to achieve design requirements.
Highlights
IntroductionApplication of Decentralized Energy Systems for Electrification in Remote Regions
We considered a low percentile of daily wind power potential to be a rough estimate of the minimum level of demand satisfaction
We used hourly estimates of wind speed provided by the ERA5 climate reanalysis dataset to evaluate the adequacy, sustainability, and reliability of wind power resources across Africa at different time scales, and to assess the impact of low-power-production periods over an 18-year period
Summary
Application of Decentralized Energy Systems for Electrification in Remote Regions. General Assembly in 2015 for future decades is to provide access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy to all. From another angle, compliance with the objectives of the. If for most decentralized systems, power production was historically obtained with fuel gensets, today many of them include production from renewable energy sources. The possibility of developing systems where the production is mainly or only obtained from renewable energy sources would be obviously ideal, but the feasibility of such systems is still an open question in many regions worldwide [2]
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