Newly published research supports Congo’s sustainable energy transition

Researchers from the Republic of Congo and Leeds have estimated the country’s solar resources to support its transition to sustainable energy.

A new paper by a team of researchers from the Republic of Congo, together with Professor Jon Lovett from the School of Geography at Leeds, has estimated the solar resources available to support development of solar power in the nation’s planned sustainable energy transition.

The research came out of the Royal Society Department of International Development-funded ACERA project led by the University of Leeds created to tackle the challenge of universal access to clean modern energy in sub‐Saharan Africa.

Solar power’s contribution to development objectives

The research was led by PhD student Fils Prosper Tchissambou of the Laboratoire de Physique Appliquée, Institut National de Recherche en Sciences Exactes et Naturelles in Brazzaville. Fils says, “Using solar power to help achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 ‘access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’ will contribute to broader development objectives, including environmental protection, economic development, and social well-being. Although there is an electricity access rate of around 67% for the urban population this falls to about 12% for the rural population and these are the people who could most benefit from solar power.”

The team compared actual solar radiation measurements with those obtained by satellite remote sensing. Professor Clobite Bouka Biona of the Université Marien Ngouabi (UMNG) in Brazzaville says “In regions where ground measurements are sparse, satellite-derived databases such as SolarGIS provide valuable information on the spatial and temporal distribution of solar radiation and can therefore support preliminary solar-resource assessment.” The satellite data enables estimates of solar power generation potential to be made in remote parts of the country, but this needs to be calibrated against data obtained from instruments on the ground to ensure accuracy.

Connecting scientific evidence with practical solutions

Co-author Dr Maryse Dadina Nkoua Ngavouka, Executive Director of the Centre d’Excellence d’Oyo pour les Énergies Renouvelables et l’Efficacité Energétique explains the policy context of the research “Congo aims to increase the electricity access rate, currently at 32%, to 81%, with 90% in urban areas and 50% in rural areas, focusing on localities with more than 1,000 inhabitants. This will require approximately 79,000 additional rural connections, or 16,000 connections per year. In terms of financing, the public sector is expected to invest more than $3,000 million by 2030 in off-grid solar systems, mini-grids, and clean cooking. The total financing amounts to $11.5 billion, with around 70% from private sources and 30% from public sources. Through the Oyo Centre of Excellence, we seek to connect scientific evidence with practical energy solutions, while strengthening technical capacities and regional cooperation in Central Africa.”

Results presented in the paper show a strong correlation between the SolarGIS estimates and the ground measurements, but Professor Bernard M’Passi-Mabiala from the Université Marien Ngouabi (UMNG) in Brazzaville who supervised the research has a note of caution and says the work needs to be ongoing: “SolarGIS calibration measurement campaigns will still be required to consolidate this work in the country's other climatic zones because seasonal local meteorological factors, such as variable cloud cover during the rainy season and dust accumulation on sensors and solar panels during the dry season.”

Leeds-Africa successful research partnership

Jon Lovett, who was principal investigator on the grants from the UK Royal Society and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) that provided the equipment for the project said, “The research presented in the paper is one of the many outputs from the successful partnership between teams in Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Leeds. In UMNG there were three Ph.D. students and seven masters students working with the equipment bought through the project funds. For Congo, this was the first time students from a Physics background had the possibility to defend their master’s with actual experimental work. This led a lot of enthusiasm for researchers to do more experimental physics research and the nationally important capacity building needed for an energy transition founded on the principles of sustainable development.”