Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Flagship Projects

 

The deployment of  grid-connected renewable energy systems is steadily increasing in the West African countries. However, a significant increase  in investment is required in order to meet the regional and national targets, regional targets, incl. the target to reach 5% renewable energy in the regional energy mix by 2020 (excl. medium and large hydro).

 

One of the barriers to accelerated market development is the limited level of knowledge of and experience with RE technologies as well as with RE project development. To address this gap, ECREEE in cooperation with GIZ embarked on an initiative to document and disseminate the experience with some of the first grid-connected, utility-scale RE projects in the region. These “flagship projects” provide a rich body of lessons learned that -̶  if they are documented and shared -̶   will be highly useful for public and private developers of similar projects as well as for other stakeholders who are dealing with such projects e.g. as policy makers, regulators or off-takers. 

 

ECREEE and GIZ therefore selected a number of operational RE power generation projects using different technologies that are being analysed in depth. This analysis forms the basis for the dissemination of project highlights and lessons learned using different channels such as presentations at regional events, training materials and Case Study publications that will be disseminated through this websites and other fora. 

 

The projects are referred to as “flagship projects” not because they are considered as best practices in every regard, but because they were among the pioneers in their country and the region as a whole.