Comparison of renewable energy potential in relation to renewable energy policy in ECOWAS countries

The objective of this paper is to investigate the renewable energy potential of four ECOWAS countries; Nigeria, Ghana, Mali and Senegal. The study considers five renewable energy resources; Solar, Wind, Biomass, Hydro and Geothermal. The potential of these resources are compared to the renewable energy policies in each of these countries. This will help to ascertain if these policies focus on improving the country's most promising resources. From the study, Nigeria has huge Hydro, Wind, Biomass and solar potential and also has major policies to support growth of its potential. However, direct policy focus should be made to Hydro resources as it shows the most promise for Nigeria. Ghana have good Wind, Biomass and solar potential but limited Hydro resource potential and her policies seem to be focused on its potential strengths. Similarly, Mali have good Wind, Biomass and solar potentials but are also limited in their Hydro resource potential. However, Mali seems to be lacking in policies to directly improve these resource. Senegal has huge Solar and Wind resource potential but are infinitely limited in their Hydro potential. Senegal has good policies to improve rural electrification however policies to properly harness their enormous wind potential is lacking. While none of the ECOWAS countries consider have/use any policy to improve the utilization of geothermal resources, the study shows that Nigeria and Senegal show the most promise in development of this resource.