challenges of solar pv for remote electrification in ghana · challenges of solar pv for remote...

CHALLENGES OF SOLAR PV FOR REMOTE ELECTRIFICATION IN

GHANA

WISDOM AHIATAKU-TOGOBORENEWABLE ENERGY UNIT

MINISTRY OF ENERGYACCRA - GHANA.

Email:wtogobo@yahoo.co.uk

GHANA

Energy Consumption

Biomass 69%

Petroleum 21%

Electricity 10%

100%6,840.54 100%8,086.69 TOTAL ENERGY

0.01%0.80 0.01%0.69 RENEWABLE (SOLAR)

13.7%940.23 10.7%863.86 IMPORT (THERMAL)

29.4%2,014.30 7.6%613.14 THERMAL GENERATION

56.8%3,885.20 81.7%6,609.00 HYDRO GENERATION

% of total energy

GWh% of total energy

GWhGeneration

20032000ELECTRICITY

Solar

NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION SCHEMEInitiated 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.

SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR LIGHTING IN GHANA 2002

17.1

77.2

39.20.5

0.4

0.5

82.0

22.0

60.0

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

All Rural All Urban Ghana

Others

Candle

Kerosene

Generator

Electricity(grid)

It is unlikely that all communities in Ghana will be electrified by 2020 if electricity supply is base on grid extension only.

Connecting remote and isolated communities with grid is becoming difficult & expensive due to geographic locations and settlement patterns

SOLAR PV PROGRAMMES IN GHANA

Objective! Identify issues needed for

comprehensive policy on the role of RE in rural electrification.

1. Off-Grid Solar PV electrification Project supported by Spanish Government

2. Renewable Energy Services Project (RESPRO) Supported by UNDP/GEF

4-6KWh/m²

SOLAR INSTALLATIONS IN GHANA (2003)

1.0MWpTotal Installed Capacity4,911Total Number of Installed Systems

1Grid connected (50KW)20Battery charging stations3Rural telephony

34Radio transceivers63Telecommunication (repeater Stations)

210Vaccine Refrigeration80Water Pumping

4,500Solar Home Systems

No. of Installation

Application

! 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

SOLAR PV FOR RURAL HOMES & SHOPS

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 water pump brings safe drinking water closer to the poor including women & children

! 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 PV WATER PUMPS

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 helps to avoid women spending the night with their babies beside their produce on the eve of market days.

! Solar streetlight located at a lorry pack improves security and enhances safety for women travelling at dawn.

Solar electrification brings life to rural communities at night.

SOLAR STREETLIGHTS

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

Regulator6%

Voltage Adaptor1%

Lamps6%

Batteries20%

Mounting structure6%

Installation Cost13%

Wire & accessories

4%Pv array

44% ANNUALISED LIFE CYCLE COST (Total- US$121)

Total capital cost: 51%

Total Replacement

Cost39%

Life cycle O&M cost

10%

! 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.

! Removal of dust and unwanted materials from birds are major issues to optimize efficiency (not tilt angle)

! This is hard work

Maintenance

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 evaluationThe 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 a rural guest house attracts customers from none electrified hotels.

! Solar light in this poultry house saves about 38.2 litres kerosene monthly.

! Solar lighting for petroleum retail outlet in an unelectrified station avoids the danger of fire outbreaks from naked kerosene light.

Solar Battery Service can be a lucrative business in isolated remote villages

Battery Charging

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