Global Renewable Energy Sources and its Potential in West Africa.

Renewable energy sources make up 26% of the world’s electricity today, but according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) its share is expected to reach 30% by 2024. The IEA Renewables 2019 report predicts that by 2024, the world’s solar capacity will almost double. Before we go in-depth, the below are the key sources of renewable energy.

· Solar Energy;

· Wind Energy;

· Biomass Energy;

· Geothermal energy;

· Marine Energy and

· Hydro Energy.

Tidal Energy is also considered to be one of the renewable sources, but the return on investment and the predictability of the tides makes it less attractive, however in some parts of the world tidal energy is tapped to its best.

The top three future sources of energy are solar, wind and biomass energy. One may be surprised to see why hydro energy has gone down the list. The reasons are environmental side-effects which are caused by storing water in a large landmass. This includes extinction of tropical animals and imbalance in flora and fauna, landslides etc.

Let us have a quick look into the top three future sources of energy and its forecast in the west African region.