Economic Demand Analysis for Electricity in West Africa

Past and future electricity demand was analyzed for seven countries of West Africa: Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Republic of Niger, Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso (until recently Upper Volta). These countries constitute approximately 84 percent of the West African population. Primary energy resource endowments include agricultural waste, fossil fuels, hydra power, and some deposits of uranium (not uniformly distributed). Each country has some hydro power, with Nigeria having the largest resources. Deposits of crude oil have been discovered in most of the countries. Nigeria leads in known oil reserves and produces about 2.5 million barrels of oil a day. In contrast, Burkina Faso has very little available energy resources beyond a small hydro power potential.