West Africa Emerges as Leading Region in the Continent for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

While access to energy services remains severely constrained in the region, renewables and energy efficiency measures contribute to improved access.

The ECOWAS Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report, produced collaboratively by REN21 and ECREEE, provides a regional perspective on the renewable energy and energy efficiency market and industry development in West Africa.

Launched November 10, 2014, the report concludes that renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies have rapidly become cost effective solutions for overcoming the diverse array of energy challenges currently facing the ECOWAS region.

Some key findings

• As of early 2014, installed capacity of grid-connected non-hydro renewable energy provided 39MW grid-connected electricity in the region. While total installed capacity including hydro generated electricity was 4.8GW
• By end of 2014, 13 ECOWAS member states have adopted renewable energy support policies with all member states having at least one policy or one target at the national level, promoting renewable energy technology development.
• Regional new investment in renewable power and fuels from six leading ECOWAS members (Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone) was USD 29.7 million in 2013, down significantly from the peak of USD 370 million in 2011.
• As of 2014, FITs have been adopted by Ghana and Nigeria and are currently being developed in the Gambia and Senegal. Cabo Verde became the first and only country within the ECOWAS region to adopt net metering.
• Renewable energy technologies currently account for an estimated 28.8% of the region’s total grid-connected installed capacity
• Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, and Sierra Leone stood out as regional leaders in terms of the renewable contribution to their final consumption—at 30.3%, 22.4%, and 19%, respectively— largely as a result of their use of modern biomas
• Hydropower accounted for 16.2% Total electricity installed capacity in Nigeria, 57% in Ghana and also played a relatively significant role in Togo (28.8%), Côte d’Ivoire (28.2%) and Guinea (34.2%). With a region-wide hydropower potential of some 25 GW, only 19% has been exploited as of early 2014
• As of early 2014, population shares using improved biomass cook stoves in ECOWAS were 2.1% in Burkina Faso, 6% in Nigeria, 16% in Senegal, 10% in Sierra Leone and 20% in the Gambia.
• Wind energy provided 27 MW (25.5MW comes from Cabo Verde’s Cabeolica wind farm, sub-Saharan Africa’s first commercial-scale public private partnership.
• Cabo Verde leads with the installation of In terms of installed grid-connected solar PV with 6.4 MW. Ghana has an installed capacity of 1.92MW.
• The region’s use of solar PV technology remains largely limited to distributed and off-grid functions, Senegal leads with installed capacity of 21MW, followed by Nigeria with 20MW and Niger with 4MW.
• As of 2014, 8 member states (Benin, Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo) have different energy-efficient lighting initiatives.
• Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria have established domestic programmes for energy efficiency in the building sector.

“It is clear that the ECOWAS Member States acknowledge the enormous potential that renewables and energy efficiency bring to accelerating energy access and meeting the region’s energy needs,” says Christine Lins, Executive Secretary of REN21. “Through their commitment to developing renewable energy and energy efficiency across the region, ECOWAS Member States have taken a proactive role in ensuring their ability to address current energy sector challenges through the uptake of renewables, while simultaneously building a resilient system that prepares the region to effectively meet future energy needs and ensures sustainable energy access for all.”

The Executive Director of ECREEE, Mahama Kappiah, states that non-availability of reliable and up-to-date energy information in West African countries constrains opportunities for investments in the energy sector. The ECOWAS RE and EE status report is therefore a “tool to make information on RE and EE activities in the ECOWAS region readily available to different stakeholders, as well as to local and global investors, developers and project promoters by showcasing the ECOWAS region as one of the most active regions in Africa for the promotion of renewables and energy efficiency.”

The ECOWAS Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report, covers recent developments and trends in the energy sector in the ECOWAS. It uses up-to-date renewable energy data, provided by network of contributors from and around West Africa and is targeted at policymakers, industry, investors and civil society to enable them to make informed decisions with regards to the diffusion of renewable energy By design it does not provide any analysis or forecasts.

The production of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report was supported by ECOWAS, UNIDO under the GEF Strategic Program for West Africa, The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) and the Austrian Development Agency. (ADA). Over 50 experts and reviewers from across the ECOWAS region and elsewhere contributed to the report’s content.