No abstract

Achieving universal access to electricity is a development challenge many countries are currently battling with. The advancement of information technology has, among others, vastly improved the availability of geographic data and information. That, in turn, has had a considerable impact on tracking progress as well as better informing decision making in the field of electrification. This paper provides an overview of open access geospatial data and GIS based electrification models aiming to support SDG7, while discussing their role in answering difficult policy questions. Upon those, an updated version of the Open Source Spatial Electrification Toolkit (OnSSET-2018) is introduced and tested against the case study of Malawi. At a cost of $1.83 billion the baseline scenario indicates that off-grid PV is the least cost electrification option for 67.4% Malawians, while grid extension can connect about 32.6% of population in 2030. Sensitivity analysis however, indicates that the electricity demand projection determines significantly both the least cost technology mix and the investment required, with the latter ranging between $1.65–7.78 billion.

Limited data on global power infrastructure makes it difficult to respond to challenges in electricity access and climate change. although high-voltage data on transmission networks are often available, medium-and low-voltage data are often non-existent or unavailable. this presents a challenge for practitioners working on the electricity access agenda, power sector resilience or climate change adaptation. Using state-of-the-art algorithms in geospatial data analysis, we create a first composite map of the global power system with an open license. We find that 97% of the global population lives within 10 km of a MV line, but with large variations between regions and income levels. We show an accuracy of 75% across our validation set of 14 countries, and we demonstrate the value of these data at both a national and regional level. The results from this study pave the way for improved efforts in electricity modelling and planning and are an important step in tackling the Sustainable Development Goals.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been at the epicenter of an ongoing global dialogue around the issue of energy poverty. More than half of the world's population without access to modern energy services lives there. It also happens to be a sub-continent with plentiful renewable energy resource potential. Hydropower is one of them, and to a large extent it remains untapped. This study focuses on the technical assessment of small-scale hydropower (0.01-10 MW) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The underlying methodology was based on open source geospatial datasets, whose combination allowed a consistent evaluation of 712,615 km of river network spanning over 44 countries. Environmental, topological, and social constraints were included in the form of constraints in the optimization algorithm. The results are presented on a country and power pool basis.Energies 2018, 11, 3100 of 21Recent studies indicate that the decentralization (typically of a scale less than 10 MW) of energy systems can help in addressing energy poverty [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Off-grid or mini-grid systems can be a viable near-term alternative to grid extension in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa [15]. The prospect for decentralized energy supplies are further enhanced by the continent's abundant renewable resources. Further, the local employment is developed for deployment and maintenance of local renewable electricity generating equipment [5]. A cornerstone in the movement towards renewables is hydropower [16,17]. Role of HydropowerHydropower is a technically mature and economically competitive renewable energy source that can provide significant advantages in the operations and stability of energy systems [16]. Across Africa, hydropower is responsible for 74.2% of all non-fossil fuel electricity use [18]. In 2017 the total installed hydropower capacity in Africa was 35.34 GW [16], producing approximately 131 TWh of electricity; hydropower accounts for about 21% of the total installed capacity in the continent [16,18,19]. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, the installed hydropower capacity (as in 2017) was estimated at 30.4 GW [16]. Despite this, around 92% of the 300 GW potential still remains untapped [20].The opportunities for expanding hydropower are considerable and could help support electricity provision in remote African communities, especially when developed in a small, decentralized scale [21,22]. Given favorable hydrological conditions, hydropower offers a relatively low levelized cost, continuous generation without storage requirements, and the ability to operate both in isolated or interconnected (to a national grid) mode [23]. It is estimated that the installed capacity of small-scale hydropower (below 10 MW) in Sub-Saharan Africa surpasses 476 MW [24,25].According to [21,24], the small-scale hydropower resource potential in the region is estimated at 12,197 MW, with the eastern part of the continent showing the highest potential. Szabo et al. [9] consider small-scale hydro as a very suitable option for rural electrification in Africa, showing high poten...

The authors wish to make a change in author names (adding new author—Dimitrios Mentis) to this paper [...]

As part of efforts to decarbonise, power systems around the world will need to cope with increasing shares of intermittent renewable generation from technologies such as wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) in the coming decades. One promising solution to this challenge is cross-border electricity interconnectors. This study is an independent combined techno-economic and financial analysis of an electricity interconnector between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and India. A techno-economic model of a combined India-GCC power system was developed using OSeMOSYS, an open-source energy system modelling tool and combined with a financial model. The models were applied across 75 scenarios covering a range of cost variables and solar PV locations in the GCC. We find that a techno-economic case for a GCC-India interconnector is clear: an interconnector is part of the least-cost ‘optimal’ power system in 64 of the 75 scenarios studied. The trend of electricity flows gradually shifts from the India->GCC direction in 2030 to the other way around by 2050. The overall trade volumes are influenced by the location of the solar PV farm; locations further to the west contribute towards higher trade volumes in the GCC->India direction. Of the cost variables considered in the study the overall (social) discount rate is most strongly correlated with the interconnector trade volumes. The financial case for the CCG-India interconnector is less clear. Of the projections developed for the scenarios from the technoeconomic model, only a small number are immediately investible. It is also expected that a smaller interconnector will be a more attractive investment opportunity, for a trade-off in total system cost reductions.

As part of efforts to decarbonise, power systems around the world will need to cope with increasing shares of intermittent renewable generation from technologies such as wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) in the coming decades. One promising solution to this challenge is cross-border electricity interconnectors. This study is an independent combined techno-economic and financial analysis of an electricity interconnector between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and India. A techno-economic model of a combined India-GCC power system was developed using OSeMOSYS, an open-source energy system modelling tool and combined with a financial model. The models were applied across 75 scenarios covering a range of cost variables and solar PV locations in the GCC. We find that a techno-economic case for a GCC-India interconnector is clear: an interconnector is part of the least-cost ‘optimal’ power system in 64 of the 75 scenarios studied. The trend of electricity flows gradually shifts from the India->GCC direction in 2030 to the other way around by 2050. The overall trade volumes are influenced by the location of the solar PV farm; locations further to the west contribute towards higher trade volumes in the GCC->India direction. Of the cost variables considered in the study the overall (social) discount rate is most strongly correlated with the interconnector trade volumes. The financial case for the CCG-India interconnector is less clear. Of the projections developed for the scenarios from the technoeconomic model, only a small number are immediately investible. It is also expected that a smaller interconnector will be a more attractive investment opportunity, for a trade-off in total system cost reductions.

This paper introduces a machine learning-based model to forecast reservoir water volumes in India. In areas with high water stress, having access to timely information on forecasted water availability could help decision-makers avoid the risk of acute water-driven power outages and advocate for long-term, water-prudent policies and management. This forecast can flag when drought-like conditions threaten water supply, but should not be used to inform reservoir management operations.