Techno-economic assessment of a utility-scale wind power plant in Ghana

Ghana's electricity generation mix does not include utility-scale wind power plants to contribute to its power supply. Thus, the country is yet to harness the potential benefits that wind energy could offer, such as diversi-fication of the energy mix, promoting a low-carbon economy, and increasing power generation capacity. This study evaluated wind turbines suitable for developing wind power plants in Adafoah using multicriteria decision-making methods. After that, RETScreen software was employed to perform and evaluate the techno-economic viability of deploying a 10 MW utility-scale wind power plant for electricity generation. The results showed that wind turbines ranging from 1 MW to 1.5 MW are suitable for the study site. Also, developing a 10 MW wind power plant would generate about 93 GWh of electricity annually with a capacity factor of 22%. The findings also reveal that a feed-in tariff (FiT) lower than US$0.15/kWh is not lucrative for wind power development in Adafoah. Furthermore, without financial incentives, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) from the wind power plant is about US$0.143/kWh. In addition, deploying the wind power plant saves about 33% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared to the utility grid. The sensitivity analysis also demonstrates that the project's financial indicators are resilient to capital subsidies, inflation, discount rate, FiT, and wind speed variations. The study's findings suggest that wind energy development in Adafoah and similar locations can improve energy access, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote sustainable development. This study's findings are useful to decision-makers, stakeholders, and investors in developing the wind power sector in Ghana.