Analysis of Angola's potential for the installation of biomass power plants

Abstract

The increase in electricity production based on fuels fossil fuels leads to an increase in greenhouse gases and social conflicts due to global warming. For these reasons, the research on alternative sources of sustainable energy is also increasing. Forest biomass can be an important fuel source for energy producing, such as in thermoelectric power plants. Previous research in Portugal have demonstrated that the annual amount of agroforestry residues can be an alternative source of fuel for thermoelectric plants. Although agroforestry and livestock production in Angola is different from that practiced in Portugal, the production of agroforestry residues and the way to use them follows the same principles. The main aim of the present research is to estimate, through MODIS satellite images processing and classification, the availability of forest biomass and to identify potential places for thermoelectric power plants installation. The work was derived in of geographic information systems and remote sensing environment. The MODIS images made it possible to calculate the NDVI vegetation index and estimate the existing biomass using forms previously presented by other authors. Through cartographic algebra techniques, they were introduced conditioning factors for the power plants installation, such as the terrain morphology, the proximity to the road network and the proximity to nature reserves. The achieved results shown that Angola has a potential in forestry biomass that allows the installation of up to 17 plants of 11 GWh-1, 12 of which are located close to the current high voltage electrical network or in a situation of direct connection to the network. Of these 12, 4 are close to actual hydroelectric power plants, so they can work in addition to production. The results also shown that the farms dedicated to forestry production are located close to the power plants buffer zones as well the railway network. Thus, the residues of forest exploitation, that these farms generate, can be marketed as fuel for these power plants. The farms dedicated to agricultural production are also located close to the potential plants, so they can use the energy produced and sell their vegetable residues as fuel.

Keywords:
Angola; forest biomass; alternative energies; GIS; satellite images