Researchers Develops Energy Portfolio That Could Efficiently Meet Energy Requirements in Africa by 2040

The foreseeable end of the cycle of oil, gas, and coal, which has also been generating a significant increase in greenhouse gases, is what causes the current energy crisis.

The electricity demand is rising as Southern Africa's economy expands quickly.

To effectively meet this demand, it will be necessary to strike a balance among social, economic, geographic, technological, and environmental factors.

Energy Crisis

(Photo : MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images)

Many scientists have spoken out in recent years to warn people regarding climate change, which is primarily brought on by the burning of coal and oil for energy, as per Solar Impulse.

Due to rising global energy demand, there will be a shortage of fossil fuels in the upcoming decades.

The availability of reserves is a significant source of concern as a result.

Energy waste refers to the wastage of energy sources, particularly fuels and electricity, and is primarily caused by the unneeded use of energy resources.

Because of this, reducing waste is a huge source of power savings and calls for both individual and group efforts.

Massive reliance on conventional energy sources leads to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), which worsens global warming and threatens biodiversity.

As a result, the environmental crisis and the energy crisis are closely related.

Also Read: Learn More About South Africa's First Solar-Powered 'Green Airport'

Africa demanding electricity

An international team led by researchers from UC Santa Barbara examined the area's resources and power grid.

With the help of this information, they created an energy portfolio that, to the best of their ability, will meet Southern Africa's energy needs in 2040, as per ScienceDaily.

They discovered that wind and solar energy are the most affordable options available there.

Furthermore, the plan suggested by their model effectively freezes greenhouse gas emissions at 2020 levels while tripling the amount of electricity the grid can generate.

Currently, California uses about the same amount of energy as Southern Africa's 315 million residents, or 275 terawatt hours.

However, according to co-lead and corresponding author Ranjit Deshmukh, an assistant professor in the UCSB Environmental Studies Program, Southern Africa's electricity demand is predicted to double by 2040.

The least expensive option for its consumers and can satisfy this demand without raising the region's electricity sector carbon emissions is to establish the region's excellent wind, solar, and natural gas resources.

The team used a variety of models that take into account a variety of structural, climatic, and economic factors to arrive at these conclusions.

In 2020, Deshmukh and co-author Grace Wu, who is a student at UC Santa Barbara, created MapRE, one of the tools.

AFM Kamal Chowdhury, the study's primary author, is a postdoctoral researcher in Deshmukh's lab who developed the hydropower model known as VIC-Res-Southern-Africa.

This model calculates the hydroelectric dams' projected and actual monthly electricity output.

The authors used an electricity planning model called GridPath, created by Deshmukh and co-author Ana Mileva, to feed data from MapRE and VIC-Res as well as current and planned generation and transmission capacity.

The recommended energy portfolio was produced by this model.

The datasets and the model would both be freely accessible and open source.

The model specifically predicted that coal power would not be cost-effective compared to these sources of renewable energy.

According to co-author Kudakwashe Ndhlukula, executive director of the Southern African Development Community Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE), the fleet of coal power plants currently in use is outdated and expensive to run.

The operation of these power plants would have been unprofitable even without greater regional integration

The region's coal-fired power plants might even be shut down earlier with funding from international climate funds like the Green Climate Fund, the authors noted.