<p>Bio-Electrification Potential: A Comparative Approach to Assessing Bioenergy Potential in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)</p>

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) struggles to provide electricity access to meet basic energy needs, with about 65% of its inhabitants lacking reliable access. Renewables like solar, wind, and hydro are mainly promoted for rural electrification projects across SSA, which is supported by various integrated electrification models used in the region. However, there is limited consideration for bio-electrification systems in these models. Our study focuses on developing a systematic approach of integrating bio-electrification into current models and an alternative for assessing bioenergy competitive potential. Nigeria was chosen as a case study, and the Global Electrification Platform (GEP) version 3 was used in our analysis. Six scenarios were developed from GEP and analysed using the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of the least cost technology and biomass gasification system parameters. Our results show that, from a cost perspective, more than 50% of the mini grids considered, excluding mini-hydro systems across all six scenarios, can potentially be powered using bioenergy. Our results also show that, in some locations, the Available Feedstock Funds (AFF), which represent the total cash available to purchase and deliver biomass residues, can reach as high as $208/ton. Finally, bioenergy systems tend to be more competitive with other renewables under high energy demand scenarios and higher tiers of electricity access (i.e., tier 4).