Prospects of wind power generation in ghana

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 – 6340(Print),

ISSN 0976 – 6359(Online), Volume 5, Issue 10, October (2014), pp. 156-179 © IAEME

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PROSPECTS OF WIND POWER GENERATION IN GHANA

Eric Osei Essandoh1, Emmanuel Yeboah Osei

2, Faisal Wahib Adam

3

1The Energy Center, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Private Mail Bag, University Post Office, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kumasi Polytechnic, P.O. Box 854, Kumasi, Ghana 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,

Private Mail Bag, University Post Office, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

ABSTRACT

Globally, the level of common knowledge about the positive correlation between renewable

energy exploitation and climate change mitigation as well as the devastating effects of global warming (climate change) and the non-exhaustiveness of renewable energy resources should be enough motivation for poor countries with significant untapped amount of renewable energy resources to exploit them because of their vulnerability to climate change. Most poor developing countries with huge endowment of renewable energy resources have no strong excuse for not developing these resources into energy conversion facilities since most of their infrastructures are built with long-term loans which are relatively easy to secure than to generate revenue internally. This paper seeks to establish the fact that Ghana is endowed with relatively significant wind resource and has the necessary infrastructure that makes wind power generation a viable venture in the country. Ghana has a gross wind resource potential of 5640 MW per SWERA National Report (Ghana) and per the analysis done by this paper the total wind potential of Ghana was obtained as 5563 MW. However, due to critical constraints such as land availability, land suitability, land use and topography, the exploitable wind power capacity of Ghana has been found to range between 200 MW and 300 MW according to the Energy Commission of Ghana. It is presently prudent for Ghana to consider wind power development as one of its best utility-scale power development options because Ghana’s wind power potential is fairly good and needs to be harnessed to contribute to its energy mix (which as of now has zero share of wind energy) in order to reduce its carbon footprint (which ranged between 4 and 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year from 2001 and 2013 for the power sector) and to fulfill its desire to follow its low carbon climate resilient strategy as a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto protocols.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

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ISSN 0976 – 6340 (Print)

ISSN 0976 – 6359 (Online)

Volume 5, Issue 10, October (2014), pp. 156-179

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Keywords: Exploitable, Ghana Wind, Low Carbon Climate Resilient Strategy, Renewable Energy Resources, Utility-Scale, Vulnerability. 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Information

The feasibility of developing and utilizing wind energy resources for power generation in the windy areas of Ghana has so far not been fully established or confirmed. The prospect or possibility of wind power generation in Ghana being reviewed in this paper is largely based on Ghana’s wind energy potential without regard to the development, deployment or exploitation of Ghana’s wind energy resource. For some time now in Ghana, wind measurement campaigns have received some amount of attention from academia, Ghana Meteorological Agency, Energy Commission of Ghana and some foreign collaborators or institutions. However, real development, deployment and exploitation of the wind energy resource of the nation have not yet been realized to a large extent (UNDP, 2000; World Wind Energy Association, 2011). What this means by implication is that Ghana presently does not have or cannot boast of an operational wind power plant or wind farm.

All the credible and documented wind measurements carried out in Ghana were done onshore. As of now, investigations conducted by this paper in the form of literature review and personal interviews suggest that there is no ground (or seabed-mounted Met tower) recorded data on off-shore wind measurements in Ghana. The only available off-shore wind data is satellite ocean wind measurements from the US military and NREL computations (NREL, 2014) which covered an area of 150000km2. In view of this, this paper can state without any doubts that very little effort has been made to undertake ground-based off-shore wind measurements in the country. In light of the above, the prospects for wind power generation in Ghana being reviewed by this paper will solely be based on onshore wind measurements and other relevant factors and indicators.

The wind energy industry is immensely flourishing worldwide (Sergio, 2008) but not in Ghana at this moment in time. Currently, a complete utility scale wind power industry of Ghana can be said to be non-existent. However, a few downstream players in the wind power industry value chain who are mainly sellers of small wind power systems and some few developers are currently operating in the country.

Until recently, the idea of paying needed attention to the exploitation of the wind energy resource of Ghana in particular and its entire renewable energy resource in general eluded the nation even in 1973 when the world oil crisis emerged as a result of the Arab-Israeli war. This was also a time when oil was used as a potent political weapon (Forbes, 2009).

By virtue of the foregoing, Ghana can be likened to a child who during his formative phase was observed and noted to be carefree and swollen-headed and one who thought his parents will always live to support him both financially and socially.

The essence or idea behind the above analogy is that from 1966 when Ghana commissioned its first hydroelectric power plant through the 1970s (when a global oil crisis occurred) to the period before its first energy crisis in 1984 (Brew-Hammond et al., 2007), the country appeared to be less concerned or bothered about the idea that its energy demand will at one time outstrip its energy supply even with the existence of the Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) and many other energy-intensive industries at that time than now. This situation is believed to have arisen because Ghana once thought that it has abundant power supply. It is even believed that the few city dwellers and some dwellers of the urban areas at the time thought that they could even decide not to turn their lights off the whole day (Brew-Hammond et al., 2007). The perception of abundant power held in the mid 1960s came about because the population of the country at the time was low and most of the rural dwellers were not enthused about the use of electricity or modern energy services. The idea of abundant power held at that time would have been short-lived or curtailed if measures were taken to



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avoid wastage of power at that time. If future population growth, increase in electricity demand and adequate investments in the power sector have been critically and consciously considered for long term planning and analysis, energy crises in Ghana would have been avoided. Ghana’s failure to do this, has over the years plunged it into rampant power outages and load shedding which in a Ghanaian Parlance has transmogrified from “dum so, dum so” to “edu dum, edu dum”. Ghana has been importing power from Cote d’Ivoire since 1995 (Essandoh, 2014). Irrespective of Ghana’s commitment to export power to Togo and Benin, this development makes it clear that Ghana’s days of abundant power belong to the past. Ghana is now at crossroads and should not encourage its governments to play unnecessary politics with such an important need in modern life by just formulating very good energy policies on paper and leave them unimplemented for years unending. Rather, Governments of Ghana should be encouraged to scale up initiatives to expand energy access for the efficient use of its growing and energy demanding population. The crux of the current energy status of Ghana is for the citizenry to buy into prudent visions of the government and contribute immensely to the successful implementation of energy policies and projects.

In fact, Ghana is currently bedeviled with multitude of energy problems including inadequate power supply, lack of adequate investment in the power sector, high cost of fuel, relatively expensive tariff (considering the income levels of majority of the Ghanaian population), illegal connection (power theft), global warming caused by burning of fossil fuels, unreliability of power supply and unacceptable level of system power losses to name but a few.

One obvious reason why Ghana finds itself in its current energy crisis is its overdependence on its central grid (which is currently powered by about 54 % and 45.66 % of Hydro- and Thermal-power systems respectively based on the respective generation from these two technologies and the installed capacity of Ghana. The current installed capacity of Ghana is about 2917 MW as of September, 2014 (Essandoh, 2014) of which renewable energy forms a very small fraction of it. Another reason is its disregard over the years for the integration of mini-grid systems which will make efficient use of its small hydropower sites, solar resources, wind and biomass resources across the length and breadth of the country.

As a result of some of the problems outlined above and a host of others, it has now dawned on Ghana to pause and consider conserving fossil fuels and to introduce renewable energy into its energy mix to ensure diversification of energy supply and improvement of power reliability. Fossil fuels are now known to be “depletable” and a threat to global climate (Essandoh, 2012). This situation has motivated a lot of countries including Ghana to formulate policy instruments that discourage excessive or exclusive use of fossil fuels and encourage the use of renewable energy resources of which wind energy is found to be the fastest growing renewable energy resource globally (Energy Business Report, 2010).

Ghana is at the moment almost at its threshold when it comes to the development of its large hydro-power sites. Ghana cannot have a single hydropower station with the capacity of any of its existing hydropower plants or stations namely, Akosombo Hydro-electric Power Plant (1020 MW base load plant which is the first-built and largest ever hydro-electric power plant of Ghana), the Kpong Hydro-electric Power Plant (160 MW base load plant which is the second-built) and the Bui Hydro-electric Power Plant (400 MW peaking plant which is the third-built and the all time second largest hydro-electric power plant of the nation). In addition, it has been established that apart from wind energy, none of the other available renewable energy resources in Ghana namely, solar, biomass and the various identified individual small hydropower sites have an exploitable power capacity of up to 300 MW (as presented in Table 1 below). Even though, the total power capacity of some twenty-one (21) identified mini hydro-electric power sites in Ghana (with capacities ranging between 4 kW and 325 kW) is estimated to be 840 MW (Ministry of Energy, 2010 cited by UNEP RISø, 2013). It is economically inexpedient to consider the simultaneous development and construction of all these 21 small hydro-electric power plants ahead of a wind farm that can be obtained along a long



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stretch of relatively flat land. It will therefore be prudent presently for Ghana to consider wind power development as its best utility-scale power development option. One of the bases of this assertion is the evidence provided in Table 1. In addition, Ghana’s wind power potential is fairly good and needs to be harnessed to contribute to its energy mix (which as of now has zero share of wind energy) in order to reduce its carbon footprint and fulfill its desire to follow its low carbon climate resilient strategy.

The carbon emissions of Ghana from the power sector ranged averagely between 4 and 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year from 2001 to 2012 (Bessah and Addo, 2013). A standard or a complete feasibility study (i.e. a feasibility study which comprises all of its three basic components or dimensions namely technical, economic and environmental components or aspects) might be conducted and the outcome of the study in addition to other key factors such as legal and institutional policy framework might be used to determine the prospect of developing any power project.

The prospect of generating wind power on utility or large-scale at any candidate site mainly and critically depends on the wind resource. Following an order of importance, other resources that need to be considered are land, wind energy conversion technology (machines/facilities), human and financial resources.

Resource constraints and/or factors that can affect the generation of wind power or any other source of power include:

� Rich source of the required energy � Land availability and usability � Land suitability for the type of power technology � (soil strength, topography and flow angle for a “fluid” resource like wind) � Permit and zoning regulations /Public Outreach � Access roads � Transmission lines/transformer sub-stations or load centers � Technology Maturity � Financial Schemes /Benefits from Policy support � Legal/Institutional framework

In light of the above, it is hoped that the yet to be built utility-scale wind power plants of

Ghana will be supported by the Renewable Energy Law of Ghana (Act 832, passed in December, 2011), a well-organized power industry, robust transmission and a reliable distribution network, adequate accessible roads to the power plant and substations, qualified and competent work force among others. It is believed and hoped by this paper that the Renewable Energy Law of Ghana will be subject to amendments when the need arises. The Renewable Energy Map of Ghana is shown in Figure 1 below while Figure 2 shows the Electrical Transmission Network of Ghana.

Table 1: Ghana’s Exploitable Renewable Energy Sources Source: Kpekpena, 2011



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Figure 1: Renewable Energy Map of Ghana Source: Mahu and Madjinou, 2012

Figure 2: The Electrical Network of Ghana. Source: Mahu and Madjinou, 2012



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1.2 Profile of Ghana

Republic of Ghana is the official name of the country under review and it is called Ghana for short. Ghana lies between approximately between Latitude 4.0º N and 12º N and longitude 3.1º W and 1.2º E. It has a total surface area of about 238533 km2 which is made up of a land area of about 227533 km2 and water area of about 11000 km2 (Index Mundi, 2011 cited by Essandoh, 2012). It shares border with Cote D’Ivoire on the West, Republic of Togo on the East and Burkina Faso on the North while the south portion goes into the Gulf of Guinea. Ghana has a tropical climate but with different weather for the Southern and Northern regions. The seasons in Ghana are dry and rainy seasons. It is divided into ten (10) regions namely, Western Region, Central Region, Greater Accra Region, Volta Region, Eastern Region, Ashanti Region, Brong Ahafo Region, Northern Region, Upper West and Upper East Regions. The national capital is Accra in the Greater Accra Region. According to the 2010 Population Census conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service, the total population of the country is estimated to be 24,658,823. The geographical map of the Republic of Ghana is shown in figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Geographical Map of Ghana

1.3 Global Objective

The global objective of this study is to determine whether it is possible for Ghana to generate a noticeable share of its electricity from its wind resource.



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The specific objectives are as follows:

� to review Ghana’s wind energy resource assessment with potential for large-scale electricity generation

� to establish the prevailing conditions that make it possible for future development of wind power plants in Ghana

� to identify some of the challenges that confront Ghana in its attempt to generate wind power

1.4 Justification

Excluding the wind energy resource, the total potential of Ghana’s untapped exploitable water energy and other renewable energy for power generation is about 260 MW while that of the wind resource alone ranges from 200 MW to 300 MW (as presented in Table 1). Unlike the fossil fuel, wind energy is not an import commodity and for this reason it does not attract any international politics in its supply. It is also infinite, clean, free, ecologically friendly and a renewable energy resource. The proven and advance green energy technology for wind power generation makes it possible for the drastic reduction of the variability of the wind resource by integrating geographically dispersed wind farms. Wind energy is a renewable energy which is regenerated in several time-scales - seasonally or yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, minutes or seconds. With the whole world’s concern for climate change mitigation and the global call for the implementation of carbonless power project worldwide, it is just in place for Ghana to develop its wind power technology to expand its energy mix towards the global goal of reducing the carbon emissions or footprint in the atmosphere and as well meet its energy supply roadmap target of supplying 10 % of its total energy from renewable energy excluding large-scale hydropower generations by the year, 2020. 1.5 Scope/Limitation of Study

This paper is designed to review wind measurements carried out in the country and bases its analysis on annual average wind speeds for moderate to excellent wind sites through the use of the RETScreen and HOMER Software. Both primary and secondary time-series data were not available for a more comprehensive and rigorous analysis. The data used for the analysis in this research work was not validated by this study but by a secondary or tertiary source. The paper also used other relevant factors of technical, economic, ecological, institutional or regulatory considerations to establish the possibility of generating wind power in Ghana in the near future. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

This section of the paper intends to use the following few sub-topics to serve as the

theoretical background for the subject matter under investigation.

2.1 Conversion of Wind Energy into Wind Power

Wind energy may be scientifically defined as the kinetic energy of the wind (Fang, 2014). Wind has kinetic energy because it is air in motion. Wind power is technically defined as the useful application of wind energy (Ian-Baring, n.d., (Nelson, 2009). It does not however include the use of wind energy for recreational purposes, evapotranspiration, respiration and cleansing of atmospheric pollution.

In other words, wind power may be defined as the conversion of wind energy into mechanical or electrical power (Nelson, 2009). The term wind power fits best devices or machines that make use of mechanical power derived from wind energy directly or machines that convert the mechanical power derived from the wind into electricity. Machines used to convert wind energy into



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mechanical power are called windmills while the machines used for converting wind energy into electricity are called wind turbines (Mathew and Philip, 2011).

2.2 Wind Prospecting

Wind prospecting may be defined as a site investigation or assessment which is carried out to identify suitable areas for the development of wind power projects. It is also defined as the search for a suitable location for a wind power project (Second Wind Co. Ltd., 2010). The selection of the best candidate wind site may be informed by the availability of wind prospecting tools such as wind resource maps and other regional resource data, topographical maps, transmission line and distribution line maps and databases, street maps, property maps, aerial photographs, or Geographical Information System (GIS) and associated data layers for the area (3Tier Inc., 2011, Bailey, n.d.). Onsite or direct wind measurement for a bankable wind power project should be done after a suitable candidate site has been identified through wind prospecting. 2.3 Wind Resource Assessment

Wind resource assessment provides information necessary to determine whether the wind resource of an area is viable for a wind power project especially a utility- or large-scale project (3Tier Inc., 2011).

It is the practice of collecting wind data at a candidate wind power generation site for evaluation (Second Wind Co. Ltd., 2010). Wind speed is the most critical factor to consider in a wind resource assessment. Wind speed defines how fast air moves in the atmosphere or how fast it moves from one point to another on an astronomical object such as the earth. It is also defined as the wind run per unit time. Wind run is defined as the amount of wind that passes an area (Nelson, 2009). An accurate wind resource assessment is highly dependent on the quantity and quality of the input wind data (Elliot et al, 2010). The first step in any wind power project after identifying a suitable site is to predict and determine the wind resource characteristics of the identified suitable wind site. The decision and plan to quantify the wind resource of an area is followed by the selection of a suitable site for the wind monitoring system. The ultimate goal of a wind resource assessment at a potential site is to estimate the wind speed, calculate the annual energy production and quantify all related uncertainties (Nor et al., 2014, Lowenstein, n.d).

2.4 History of Wind Monitoring Campaigns in Ghana

Ghana has twenty (22) synoptic stations where meteorological data is recorded. Wind measurement meant for meteorological and agricultural purposes began in Ghana as far

back as 1921 (Nkrumah, 2009 cited by Essandoh, 2012). However, wind measurements meant for utility wind power development started in 1999. The Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) Project of Ghana started in 2002 with funding from Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This project was handled by the Energy Commission of Ghana and the then Ghana Meteorological Service Department (GMSD) but now Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA). The Mechanical Engineering Department and the then Geodetic but now Geomatic Engineering Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) were contracted as local Consultants while National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of USA and German Aerospace Institute were used as foreign consultants (Ghana SWERA National Report).The historical perspective of wind measurement campaigns conducted within the period of 1999 to 2006 in Ghana is presented in Table 2 below. Eleqtra West Africa in August, 2010 undertook wind measurements at 60 m at Ada in the Greater Accra Region and recorded a monthly average wind speed of 4.95 m/s. Wind Measurements carried out recently by the Energy Commission of Ghana in conjunction GEDAP/MOE (World Bank) is also provided in



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Table 3 below. In 2012, Vestas Company, originally of Denmark took wind measurements at Kablavo near Adafoah and Anloga all in Volta Region (Essandoh, 2012).

Table 2: Historical Measurement of Wind Speeds in Ghana

Table 3: Some of the Recent Wind Measurements Carried Out in Ghana Organization

Responsible for wind

measurement

Start-

Date

End-Date Site Tower Height

(m)

Annual

Mean Wind

Speed (m/s)

Energy Comission/ GEDAP/ MOE (World Bank

Dec., 2011 Nov., 2012 Ekumfi Edumata 60 m 4.67 Dec.,2011 Nov.,2012 Gomoa Fetteh 60 m 4.53

Jan.,2012 Dec., 2012 Sege Ningo 60 m 5.47

Jan., 2012 Dec.,2012 Atiteti 60 m 5.97 Dec., 2011 Nov., 2012 Avata 60 m 5.01

2.5 Wind Resource Distribution of Ghana

Wind like any other natural resource is not evenly distributed globally, continentally, regionally or even nationally. As already indicated in section 2.1 of this paper, wind is simply air in motion and for that matter, the magnitude part of the air movement (wind speed) is very critical in characterizing the wind condition at any location. Wind speed varies from location to location and thus the wind speed at one location cannot serve as the representative wind speed for other locations outside a radius of about 3 km from the Meteorological tower at the wind measurement site. Per the Wind Map of Ghana at 50 m (Figure 4 below) developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of USA during the Ghana SWERA Project in 2002, the wind resource of Ghana is largely visibly classified as moderate winds along the coast and in the following regions; Ashanti, Eastern and Northern regions of Ghana which have some few spots of good wind in addition and Volta Region which has some excellent wind speed spots along the Ghana-Togo border in addition to some good windy sites within it as well as Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana which has some good and excellent windy sites in addition. However, further studies conducted by The Energy Commission of Ghana identified a town called Mankoadze in the Central Region and along the coast



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of Ghana to be endowed with good wind energy resource (Osei and Essandoh, 2014). The coastline of Ghana stretches from the Western Region to the Volta Region and has a length of 565 km (Atuguba and Amuzu, 2006). According to the windreport.465.pdf of Ghana (2011) portions of the middle belt of Ghana specifically, Ashanti Region and some parts of the Eastern Region are endowed with some amount of class 3 (moderate) and class 4 (good) winds. Similarly, portions of Northern Region of Ghana are endowed with moderate and good wind resources while Brong-Ahafo and Volta Regions are established to be endowed with moderate, good and excellent (class 6) wind speeds. The study conducted by (Agbeve et al., 2011), corroborates the fact that the best wind resource of Ghana is along the Ghana-Togo border close to the highest mountain in Ghana, Mountain Afadjato which is 885 m high above sea level (a.s.l) and extends between the Volta River and the Ghana-Togo border in the Northeast to Southwest direction (Ntiamoah-Baidu et al, 2001 cited by Wiafe and Adjei (2013)). The National or Public Utility Entity and the largest Power Generator of Ghana, the Volta River Authority (VRA) in August, 2012 selected a total of eleven wind sites comprising six (6) in Volta Region namely Anloga, Lekpoguno, Akplabanya, Anloga West2, Elavanyo and Ayitepa, three (3) in the Central Region which are Mankoadze, Amoama North and Amoama South and one wind site each in the Eastern and Northern regions namely, Nustapong and Gambaga respectively to undertake wind measurements and subsequently develop a wind farm if the selected sites prove to have good wind regimes. Other wind sites which are also being explored for future wind power development by VRA are the Tuobodom Wind Site in the Brong Ahafo Region, Nkwatia Osubaso Kam Wind Site in the Eastern Region and the Lolonya-Pute block in Greater Accra Region. VRA intends to generate 150 MW of wind power by 2015. Table 4 and Tables 5a & 5b below provide several classifications of the wind resource of Ghana while Table 6 also shown below provides the regional distribution of Ghana’s wind resource. A map showing the wind resource distribution along the coastline of Ghana is shown in Figure 5 below.

Figure 4: Wind Map of Ghana at 50 m (NREL, 2014)



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Table 4: Land Area of Ghana Endowed with Class 3 and above Wind Resource at 50 m (Based

on NREL, USA Classification)

Tables 5 a & b: Classification of the Wind Potential of Ghana (Source: Agbeve et al, 2011)

Table 6: Moderate-to-Excellent Wind Resource Potentials of Regions in Ghana



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Source: Energy Commission, 2006

Figure 5: Wind Resource Distribution along the coast of Ghana

3. METHODOLOGY

This study reviewed literature on past and recent wind resource assessments carried out in Ghana to ascertain the wind power potential of Ghana and carried out RETScreen Analysis to verify the assertion that the total wind potential of Ghana is 5640 MW. The Energy Model Worksheet of the RETScreen Software was employed to do an analysis based on the identified land area of 1128 km2 established to be the share of the total surface area of Ghana endowed with moderate-to-excellent wind resource. The analysis was carried out using monthly wind speed distributions that yield the average of the range of values for the annual average wind speeds obtained at 50 m for the moderate, good, very good and excellent windy sites across the country identified by the Ghana SWERA Project and presented in (Agbeve et al., 2011). The monthly wind speed distributions modeled by this paper for the moderate, good, very good and excellent wind sites of Ghana were manually tabulated and graphed using the HOMER Software. A wind Map at 50 m showing 50 MW wind sites in Ghana and a map showing electricity transmission grid with and without road network based on currently available data were produced using the Ghana Energy Access (Ghea) Toolkit recently developed by the Energy Commission of Ghana with support from United Nation Development Programme (UNDP). 4. RESULTS/DISCUSSIONS AND INDICATORS

The average values of the range of wind speeds recorded at 50 m for moderate-to-excellent wind resource sites in Ghana have been computed and provided in Table 7 below in addition to other attributes.



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Table 7: Moderate-to-Excellent Wind Resource at 50 m

In order to justify the RETScreen energy model analysis, arbitrary values of monthly average wind speeds for a year duration whose annual average value is equal to that of the moderate wind sites of Ghana (7.45 m/s) obtained by NREL, USA were assumed for the moderate wind site in a manner that the percentage difference between the annual average wind speed of the moderate site and its individual monthly wind speeds was within a tolerance of 30 %. The arbitrary monthly wind speeds were selected with regard to the monthly wind speed distribution of Ghana. The percentage increase between the annual average wind speed of the good wind sites (8.10 m/s) and the moderate wind sites were computed and applied on the arbitrary monthly average wind speeds of the moderate wind sites to get the respective monthly average wind speeds for the good wind sites. Similarly, the percentage increase between the annual average wind speed of the very good sites (8.70 m/s) and the good sites were also computed and applied on the monthly average wind speeds of the good sites to get the respective monthly average wind speeds for the very good wind sites. The same procedure was applied to the excellent and very good wind sites to get the respective monthly average wind speeds for the excellent wind sites. Per this procedure, Table 8 shown below was derived.

Table 8: Monthly Wind speed Distribution for Ghana’s Moderate-to- Excellent Wind Sites

The Monthly wind speed distributions for the moderate, good, very good and excellent wind sites of Ghana have also been generated with the Homer Software and are shown below in Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9 respectively.



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Figure 6: Modeled Monthly Wind Speed Distribution for Ghana’s Moderate Wind Sites

Figure 7: Modeled Monthly Wind Speed Distribution for Ghana’s Good Wind Sites

Figure 8: Modeled Monthly Wind Speed Distribution for Ghana’s Very Good Wind Sites



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Figure 9: Modeled Monthly Wind Speed Distribution for Ghana’s Excellent Wind Sites

A Siemens AN BONUS -1MW wind turbine was selected to do the analysis on the 1128 km2

windy land of Ghana. The Power/Energy Curve of the selected turbine is shown in Figure 10 below. Relevant parameters obtained in the RETScreen Energy Model analysis are shown in Table 9 below for the moderate, good, very good and excellent windy sites of Ghana. The rules of thumb of 7 rotor diameters between turbines in the direction perpendicular to the prevailing wind and 10 rotor diameters between turbines in the prevailing wind direction were employed to determine the number of turbines used in the RETScreen Energy Model Analysis for the various wind resource sites depending on their land sizes.

Per the analysis of the RETScreen Energy Model and as presented in Table 9 it is established that the gross power output that can be produced from all the windy lands of Ghana is 5563000 kW (5563 MW). This value is 77 MW less than the value computed during the SWERA Project (5640 MW).

Figure 10: Power/Energy Curve of a Siemens AN BONUS 1 MW Wind Turbine

(Source: RETsreen)



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Table 9: RETScreen Wind Energy Model Results for the Windy Areas of Ghana

A wind power project as it has already been indicated in the introductory section of this paper is highly dependent on indicators such as good wind resource sites, accessible transmission and road networks among other equally important factors and for this reason the Ghea Toolkit was used to generate a Wind Map of Ghana showing proposed sites capable of generating 50 MW wind power at 50 m (Figure 11 below) and the electrical transmission network of Ghana with and without road networks (Figure 12 and Figure 13 respectively shown below).



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Figure 11: Ghana Wind Map at 50 m depicting Proposed 50 MW Wind Sites (Produced with

the Ghea Toolkit)



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Figure 12: Electricity Transmission Grid Network with Road Network (Produced with the

Ghea Toolkit)



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Figure 13: Electricity Transmission Grid Network without Road Network (Produced with the

Ghea Toolkit)



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4.1 Key Stakeholders in the Power Sector of Ghana

In spite of its energy crisis, Ghana has a well constituted and organized power sector. The power sector of Ghana involves the Ministry of Energy, a governmental agency which spearheads the Energy Sector of Ghana with the support of other key stakeholders in the sector. The key stakeholders or players in Ghana’s power sector and their roles are shown in the diagram below (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Key-Stakeholders in the Power Industry of Ghana (adopted from Barfour, 2009)

4.2 Ghana’s Renewable Energy Law, 2011 (Act 832)

Republic of Ghana’s Renewable Energy Law (Act 823) was enacted on 31 December, 2011. The inception of this act was a partial and not a complete indication of the readiness of Ghana to encourage the development, deployment or exploitation of its renewable resources since the feed-in tariffs for the various new renewable power technologies were not initially incorporated in the Act or announced alongside the introduction or release of the Renewable Energy Law.

4.2.1 Object of Act 823

The Object of the Renewable Energy Law of Ghana (Act 823) is to provide for the development, management and utilization of renewable energy sources for the production of heat and power in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner.



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4.2.2 Provisions of Act 823

Ghana’s Renewable Energy Act seeks to make the following provisions or clauses: i) a framework to support the development and utilization of renewable energy sources and ii) an enabling environment to attract investment in renewable energy sources.

a) the promotion of the use of renewable energy. b) diversification of supplies to safeguard energy Security. c) improved access to electricity through the use of renewable energy sources. d) the building of ingenious capacity in technology for renewable energy sources. e) public education on renewable energy production and utilization and f) the regulation of the production and supply of wood fuel and bio-fuel

In a nutshell, Ghana’s Renewable Energy (RE) law provides:

� a legal and regulatory/institutional framework � a Feed-in-tariff scheme � a Renewable Energy Purchase Obligation � a Renewable Energy Fund

In satisfying provision (a) of Ghana’s RE Law (Act 823), given above, a feed-in-/feed rate

tariff scheme which seeks to guarantee the sale of electricity generated from renewable energy sources was announced in September, 2013 about two years later after the passing of the RE Law. It is believed that the late announcement of the feed-in/feed rate tariff might have waned down the interest of prospective investors in the renewable energy sector of Ghana because the feed-in tariff is the main force that drives the decisions of private investors to implement power projects.

The feed-in - tariff scheme consists of

a) the renewable energy purchase obligation (REPO) b) the feed-in-tariff (FIT) rate and c) the connection to transmission and distribution systems.

4.3 Challenges to Wind Power Development in Ghana � Lack or low level of comprehensive National Wind Database � Lack of local and foreign investments in the yet to be born wind power industry in Ghana � Inadequate finance support schemes (from the state) � Complex land tenure system � Late expression of interest in wind power technology by power generators in the country � Lack of adequate local expertise in wind power technology

5. CONCLUSION

Ghana has some potential in wind energy. This potential needs to be tapped to diversify the

energy mix of Ghana, increase access to electricity and as well improve the reliability of power supply and energy security of Ghana.

The ability of Ghana to pursue its renewable energy Act will help Ghana to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions or footprints especially in its power generation and transportation sectors. The object of Ghana’s Renewable Energy Act poses a big challenge and the achievement of this act by the year, 2020 will climax a successful story to be told about Ghana when indeed Ghana is capable to



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produce 10 % of its power supply with renewable energy sources excluding large hydropower generations by 2020. With respect to the exploitable renewable power potentials of the different renewable energy resources in Ghana, Wind power generation should be Ghana’s best option for the century when it comes to its RE power development. It is interesting to note that, the exploitable wind power capacity of Ghana (200-300 MW) as a percentage of its current hydropower generation capacity of Ghana ranges between about 13 % and 18 %. In a nutshell, wind energy is a viable renewable energy resource that can be developed and exploited in Ghana since it has a fairly good wind resource, a robust transmission system, adequate access roads, a well coordinated power sector stakeholders, legislative and institutional frameworks that guarantee the implementation of a wind power project. 6. RECOMMENDATIONS

More wind measurements should be taken by both Governmental agencies and private

entities to build a more comprehensive wind database for the entire country to provide a more reliable and readily available preliminary wind data for almost all the country to provide developers and investors with desktop wind data that will serve as a good bait to attract them to carry out a real (or onsite) wind data measurement to pave way for the development of a wind power project. Considering the wide spatial coverage of telecommunication masts across the entire country, telecommunication operating companies should be motivated by the National Communication Authority to take standard wind measurements at about 30 m and above so as to use them to build a useful database to be adopted for research and especially pre-feasibility or feasibility study of wind power projects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Immense gratitude goes to the Organizers of the DAAD Alumni Workshop on “Climate

Change and Sustainable Development in Emerging Countries” Workshop and the INEES Wind Energy Workshop which took place in September, 2012 at University of Flengsburg, Germany for mooting the idea and asking the lead author of this paper as a participant to make a presentation on the topic, “Prospects of Wind Energy in Ghana”. This single action definitely motivated the lead author to collaborate with the co-authors of this paper to come out with this work. We are also grateful to Ansole Regional Arm of West Africa (ARMWA) for accepting a draft version of this paper for presentation during its conference in April, 2014 at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). REFERENCES

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Prospects of wind power generation in ghana

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