Electrification planner for Ghana using open-source WebGIS
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Date
2022
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Publisher
Journal of the Ghana Institution of Engineering
Abstract
Energy system planning provides information, such as electrification rate and access, essential to match demand and supply of energy. As countries strive to rapidly grow their economies and increase the living standards of its citizens, energy planning system is essential to keep track of assets, accessibility, adequacy, availability, and distribution of energy resources across locations targeted for development. In Ghana, the Ghana Energy Development and Access Project (GEDAP) was mandated to provide up to 100% electrification rate to the citizens by 2020. While this time has elapsed, public information system showing the spatial distribution and statistical analysis of electrification rate and access in communities and local administrative areas remain scanty. Such decision support system, which can inform energy investment decisions and policy formulation by local and international investors is not readily available, impeding on the Government of Ghana’s (GOG) electrification expansion efforts. It also hinders the nation in attaining the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a decision support system on electrification rate in Ghana. The study used energy access data and open-sourced Geographical Information System (GIS) to map the spatial distribution and provide statistical analysis of electrification rate in the country. The resulting information was connected to a WebGIS that can provide access to query, manipulate, and visualize electrification rate in the
counting. The developed system estimated that, presently, Ghana has an electrification rate of 85.16% as of November 2020. This information, and the system in general, will aid decision makers to make swift decision and provide geospatial evidence-based report in achieving 100% electrification rate in the country
Description
This is an article published in Journal of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (2022) 22 : 1; https://doi.org/10.56049/jghie.v22i1.14
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Citation
Journal of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (2022) 22 : 1; https://doi.org/10.56049/jghie.v22i1.14