Solar Energy Powered Decentralized Smart-Grid for Sustainable Energy Supply in Low-Income Countries: Analysis Considering Climate Change Influences in Togo

Kokou Amega, Yendoubé Laré, Ramchandra Bhandari, Yacouba Moumouni, Aklesso Y. G. Egbendewe, Windmanagda Sawadogo and Saidou Madougou
Additional contact information
Kokou Amega: West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (Wascal), University Abdou Moumouni of Niamey, Niamey P.O. Box 10662, Niger
Yendoubé Laré: Laboratoire d’énergie Solaire, Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Lomé, Lomé P.O. Box 1515, Togo
Ramchandra Bhandari: Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT), Technische Hochschule Köln, Betzdorfer Strasse 2, 50679 Cologne, Germany
Yacouba Moumouni: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Higher Colleges of Technology, Ras Al Khaimah Women’s Campus, Ras Al Khaimah P.O. Box 4792, United Arab Emirates
Aklesso Y. G. Egbendewe: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Lomé, Lomé P.O. Box 1515, Togo
Windmanagda Sawadogo: Chair for Regional Climate and Hydrology, Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany
Saidou Madougou: Laboratory of Energetics, Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Automation and Industrial Computing (LAERT-LA2EI), University Abdou Moumouni of Niamey, Niamey P.O. Box 10963, Niger

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-24

Abstract: A smart and decentralized electrical system, powered by grid-connected renewable energy (RE) with a reliable storage system, has the potential to change the future socio-economic dynamics. Climate change may, however, affect the potential of RE and its related technologies. This study investigated the impact of climate change on photovoltaic cells’ temperature response and energy potential under two CO 2 emission scenarios, RCP2.6 and 8.5, for the near future (2024–2040) and mid-century (2041–2065) in Togo. An integrated Regional Climate Model version 4 (RegCM4) from the CORDEX-CORE initiative datasets has been used as input. The latter platform recorded various weather variables, such as solar irradiance, air temperature, wind speed and direction, and relative humidity. Results showed that PV cells’ temperature would likely rise over all five regions in the country and may trigger a decline in the PV potential under RCP2.6 and 8.5. However, the magnitude of the induced change, caused by the changing climate, depended on two major factors: (1) the PV technology and (2) geographical position. Results also revealed that these dissimilarities were more pronounced under RCP8.5 with the amorphous technology. It was further found that, nationally, the average cell temperature would have risen by 1 °C and 1.82 °C under RCP2.6 and 8.5, in that order, during the 2024–2065 period for a-Si technology. Finally, the PV potential would likely decrease, on average, by 0.23% for RCP2.6 and 0.4% for RCP8.5 for a-Si technology.

Keywords: climate change impact; PV potential; cell temperature; Togo (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9532/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9532/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:24:p:9532-:d:1004799

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().