Exploring Africa's Potentials of Biopower for Low Carbon Development

Abstract

Clean and Improved energy access is the topmost priority in the African continent and the globe at large due to persistent energy demand rise and the challenge of climate change. The persistent increase in the energy demand arising from population exponential growth is particular more severe on electricity as more fundamental due to its multiplying impact on virtually all sectors of economy. This paper tries to explore the potentialities of Biopower for Africa’s low carbon development. In doing so, the review of the electricity generation has been done for the continent with the analyzed chances of scaling up the power supply mix by high and efficient utilization of the lignocellulose biomass resource potentials for biopower, and in the same manner, lowering the depleting fossil fuel consumption for environmental concerns and benefits. Manual analyses were done as well as applying M.S EXCEL forecasting and also the incorporation of RETSCREEN Baselines thoughts. The result is obvious on the fact that for the 2014 baseline power assessment, a 50% reduction of fossil fuel uptake and incorporation of 90% of the explored total lignocellulose-based biomass resources for bio-power will ensure electricity increase by 79.9% with a high greenhouse gas emission savings of 171MT. Moreover, on basing the analyses to 2030 power projection scenario showed an electricity increase by 43.46% with the greenhouse gas emission savings of 194MT based on 25% reduction of fossil fuels with addition of 90% of total biomass resource. Therefore, this is obvious to the fact that Africa is fortunate with huge un-tapped Biomass resource of which having appropriate policies in place for their full utilization in a sustainable way as proposed, will give a better room for changing the story-line of energy deficit in the continent particularly as it relates to power sector being an area of most concern with multiplying impacts.