Assessment of the concentrated solar power potential in Botswana

Keabile Tlhalerwa and Mulalu Mulalu

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2019, vol. 109, issue C, 294-306

Abstract: A bottom-up approach that takes into account solar energy availability and land resource constraints is used to assess the technical potential for concentrating solar power (CSP) in Botswana. The CSP potential is estimated using a detailed geographical information system (GIS) based land exclusion criteria and land use data to determine land suitability in the ten districts of the country. On the basis of the national solar map of satellite-derived direct normal irradiance (DNI) information and observed DNI data combined with biogeophysical and human-induced land use constraints, it is shown that Botswana has approximately 220,016 km2 of available land to support CSP plants. Assuming that dry-cooled parabolic trough collector (PTC)-type CSP plants are deployed, an estimated nominal capacity of 3189.54 TWhy−1 or 363.86 GW could be accommodated by the available land area. The highest CSP potentials by district are found to be in the Central and Kgalagadi which have more than 90 GW each, collectively representing nearly half of the national potential. The largest proportion of available land relative to the district size was found to be the Southern District where more than two-thirds of the surface area was considered suitable for CSP. Based on the findings of the study, Botswana has a relatively huge CSP potential capable of exceeding the current peak energy demand by an order of a magnitude, subject to a policy framework that supports future investment in solar thermal power for a renewable energy mix as part of a climate change mitigation strategy.

Keywords: Bottom-up approach; Solar energy; Concentrating solar power; Land suitability; Dry-cooled PTC-type CSP technology; Renewable energy mix (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136403211930231X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:109:y:2019:i:c:p:294-306

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.04.019

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().