IRENA-ECREEE workshop: Renewable energy planning for the West African Power Pool

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) held a workshop on the Western African Power Pool system planning model. The workshop, which took place on 10-12 December 2012 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, was part of a wider Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) training programme, “Energy Planning Support for the Elaboration of Renewable Energy Action Plans for the ECOWAS Countries”, organised by ECREEE together with partners. 

The workshop brought together professional staff from the planning offices of electric utilities, along with specialised organisations and institutions involved in power sector planning and development. The aim was to acquaint energy planners in the region with energy planning methodologies based on an ECOWAS renewable energy planning tool (subsequently dubbed the System Planning Test model for West Africa, or “SPLAT-W”) and to identify possible areas of collaboration. IRENA developed the tool by adapting the West African Power Pool Model developed earlier by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). SPLAT-W is being disseminated to ECOWAS member states within the framework of the IRENA-ECREEE Capacity Building Initiative for the ECOWAS region.

Participants of the workshop were energy planners from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

Prospectus

Meeting announcement

Outcome of the workshop

Presentations

Introduction to the workshop
Asami Miketa, IRENA

Energy planning approaches
Dolf Gielen, IRENA

IRENA’s ECOWAS Renewable Energy Planning Model (SPLAT-W): Modelling approach MESSAGE
Mario Tot, IAEA

MESSAGE software installation
Mario Tot, IAEA

IRENA’s ECOWAS Renewable Energy Planning Model (SPLAT-W): Main modeling assumptions
Bruno Merven, IRENA

IRENA’s ECOWAS Renewable Energy Planning Model (SPLAT-W): Main results
Asami Miketa, IRENA

IAEA’s capacity-building activities in the region
Mario Tot, IAEA

IRENA energy planning activities
Dolf Gielen, IRENA

Promoting a sustainable market for PV systems in the ECOWAS region (ProSPER)
David Vilar, ECREEE

Model files for download

Country results extraction file

Tutorials
Extracting results of a given scenario for a single country
Developing an alternative scenario in a case study for a single country
Running standard scenarios with the WAPP model

Full descriptions of the scenarios and methodologies are given in IRENA’s publication, West African Power Pool: Planning and Prospects for Renewable Energy [English | French].

More information on the MESSAGE software can be found on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) website here.