CHALLENGES OF SOLAR PV FOR REMOTE ELECTRIFICATION IN GHANA WISDOM AHIATAKU-TOGOBO RENEWABLE ENERGY UNIT MINISTRY OF ENERGY ACCRA - GHANA. Email:wtogobo@yahoo.co.uk
Electricity 10% Energy Consumption GHANA Petroleum 21% Biomass 69% ELECTRICITY 2000 2003 Generation GWh % of total energy GWh % of total energy HYDRO GENERATION 6,609.00 81.7% 3,885.20 56.8% THERMAL GENERATION 613.14 7.6% 2,014.30 29.4% IMPORT (THERMAL) 863.86 10.7% 940.23 13.7% RENEWABLE (SOLAR) 0.69 0.01% 0.80 0.01% TOTAL ENERGY 8,086.69 100% 6,840.54 100%
NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION SCHEME Initiated in 1989 to electrify all communities with population above 500 inhabitants by 2020. Access to grid increased from 478 to over 3,000 communities within 13yrs. There are still more than 48% of communities or 82% of rural households waiting to be connected to the grid. Solar 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR LIGHTING IN GHANA 2002 82.0 0.5 17.1 22.0 0.4 77.2 60.0 0.5 39.2 All Rural All Urban Ghana Others Candle Kerosene Generator Electricity (grid)
Connecting remote and isolated communities with grid is becoming difficult & expensive due to geographic locations and settlement patterns It is unlikely that all communities in Ghana will be electrified by 2020 if electricity supply is base on grid extension only.
SOLAR PV PROGRAMMES IN GHANA 1. Off-Grid Solar PV electrification Project supported by Spanish Government 2. Renewable Energy Services Project (RESPRO) Supported by UNDP/GEF 4-6KWh/m² Objective! Identify issues needed for comprehensive policy on the role of RE in rural electrification.
SOLAR INSTALLATIONS IN GHANA (2003) Application Solar Home Systems Water Pumping Vaccine Refrigeration Telecommunication (repeater Stations) Radio transceivers Rural telephony Battery charging stations Grid connected (50KW) Total Number of Installed Systems Total Installed Capacity No. of Installation 4,500 80 210 63 34 3 20 1 4,911 1.0MWp
SOLAR PV FOR RURAL HOMES & SHOPS! Adds more productive hours to the working day.! Crates better access to television and radio than regular batteries! Improves the quality of life of the rural people
Survey of 200 Solar Home Systems installed within 2 yrs (1999-2001)! More than 50% of adults watch TV or listen to radio/cassette player! People stay longer hrs - Sleeping time before 8.00pm reduced from 69.5% to 11%! Increase in TV acquisition from 4 to 13! Radio/cassette player - from 16 to 64! Economic activities in commercial stores, music record shops, pubs (drinking bars) increae by 30-50%,! Agro processing industries requiring illumination at night have been stimulated.
SOLAR PV WATER PUMPS! 81.2% of rural households in Ghana have no access to pipe-borne water.! Depend on streams, rivers and wells! Water is often contaminated and not safe for drinking! Solar water pump brings safe drinking water closer to the poor including women & children
Education! It is a fact that communities with electricity do better in basic school exams than those without electricity! Teacher are unwilling to accept postings to communities without electricity.! Distance education for pupil and junior student through TV cannot be enjoyed by school children in unelectrified communities.
! Solar streetlight located at a lorry pack improves security and enhances safety for women travelling at dawn.! Solar Streetlight helps to avoid women spending the night with their babies beside their produce on the eve of market days.
SOLAR STREETLIGHTS Solar electrification brings life to rural communities at night.
THE CHALLENGE! Despite these positive impacts, most solar PV electrification programmes are faced with the challenge of being sustainable.! Systems work very well within the first 3 years Adequate human capacity for management of the system is built both at the local, district and national levels Development partners pullout and handover the project to the local people/service provider Three years later, the systems are simply abandoned. WHY?
CHALLENGES! High Cost of Energy Delivery from Solar PV! Unregulated Market for PV! Institutional Setup! Political Influence on Grid Extension
High Cost of PV Energy Delivery! Lifetime for PV Panel is about 30yrs! Batteries, DC lamps & regulators - 5yrs! Cost for the replacement of these components are often not considered in the setting of the tariffs.! Tariffs collected are therefore not adequate to ensure replacement of components when due.
Cost of PV Energy Delivery A 100Wp solar home system providing three lighting points and a socket for radio/ TV (about 300Wh/day) has an initial capital cost of about US$1,100 PERCENTAGE COMPONENT COST OF 100Wp PV SYSTEM Wire & accessories 4% Mounting structure 6% Voltage Adaptor 1% Lamps 6% Installation Cost 13% Batteries 20% Pv array 44% Regulator 6% Life cycle O&M cost 10% ANNUALISED LIFE CYCLE COST (Total- US$121) Total Replacement Cost 39% Total capital cost: 51%
! Monthly tariff to reflect the full cost recovery of a 100Wp solar system is about US$10.11/ month (98cents/KWh)! Tariff to reflect only operation, maintenance and replacement of components is US$4.98/ month (46cents/KWh)! Unfortunately the target areas where Solar PV can contribute to sustainable development are places where the inhabitants could least afford the solar service.
UNREGULATED MARKET FOR PV! Under grid electrification, rural subscribers pay only about US$1.00 as connection fee and a subsidised lifeline tariff of about $2.00 /month for consumption below 50kWh. (4.0cents /KWh)! Cost of transmission, distribution and service drop are paid by Government under the NES.! Meanwhile, subscribers of SHS enjoys no favourable pricing policy.! No financial incentive exist except for the waiver of import duty on solar panels.! Solar power - Key word is COST RECOVERY
INSTITUTIONAL SETUP! No dedicated institution currently exist solely for the development and promotion of RETs in Ghana.! Institutions involved in RETs do undertake other activities which are considered higher priority.
DC lamp Replacement! Lamps which run on low voltage 12V/DC are expensive and not readily available as compared to 240V AC appliances! 10W DC12V CFL lamp - $15-20/lamp! 10W AC 220V CFL Lamp - $2-3/lamp! 60W incandescent Lamp - $0.50/Lamp DC/AC inverter could be used for AC appliances but this is expensive
Effect! 45W DC car head lamps are purchased to replace solar lamp! Battery runs down faster! Regulator bypassed! Battery over charges and explodes! New battery purchased! Cycle continues
Management (Fee-for-service)! Collection of tariff is labour intensive and expensive considering the dispersed nature of the rural communities and houses in the particular.! Collection rate is higher for use in income generating activities such as commercial stores, drinking bars, music shops etc.! Very low for seasonal income households such as farmers.
Maintenance! Removal of dust and unwanted materials from birds are major issues to optimize efficiency (not tilt angle)! This is hard work
POLITICAL INFLUENCE ON GRID EXTENSION! No Electrification No Vote (Common demands from communities without electricity).! Electorates are promised grid power in exchange for votes.! Problem - relocation of 900 Solar Home Systems (expensive) Village connected to grid after 2yrs of solar electrification
Preliminary evaluation The monitoring and evaluation of solar PV projects vis-à-vis the challenges that have been enumerated has led to the following key findings: 1. Grid electrification is the ultimate and preferred choice for rural inhabitants due to the numerous advantages it offers. 2. Such rural inhabitants therefore consider solar PV electrification as a transition source of electricity delivery while hoping for the national grid to get closer.
! It may not be cost effective to electrify populated remote rural areas with solar PV if it is possible to extend grid power.! Solar PV rural electrification programme is difficult to sustain if there is no additional support to cater for battery & lamp replacement.! A fee for service concept maybe a better approach in ensuring that government support/subsidy to solar PV gets to the poor settlements that needed it most for sustainable development.
! However, the collection of fees is very expensive and requires an innovative approach.! Mishandling of Charge-regulators and batteries are common causes of system failures.! Making batteries and regulators inaccessible to PV users does not fully address problem.! Replaceable components such as lamps, fuses etc should be readily available within the community
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PV IN GHANA! Activities linked to income generation! Telecommunication! Education! Health! Water supply! Security
! Solar light in this poultry house saves about 38.2 litres kerosene monthly. Solar light in a rural guest house attracts customers from none electrified hotels.
! Solar lighting for petroleum retail outlet in an unelectrified station avoids the danger of fire outbreaks from naked kerosene light.
Battery Charging Solar Battery Service can be a lucrative business in isolated remote villages
Telecom Repeater Stations
Policy Actions for RET in Ghana! Creating a level playing field for renewable energy by removing fiscal and market barriers removal of custom duty & VAT! Instituting a RET-Friendly pricing framework to encourage utility companies to adopt renewable energy in their supply mix.! Provide Government support to install RETs in off-grid communities for social services such as schools, health centres, water supply and security.
Renewable Energy is Worth the Challenge. In Ghana, we take up this Challenge Ministry of Energy Ghana