Western Africa is the second-largest region in Sub-Saharan Africa for the number of people without access to electricity – about 33% of 565-million in 2023 – most of whom live in rural and remote areas where grid extension is not economically viable. Decentralised renewable energy mini-grids have emerged as an increasingly attractive option for reaching these communities, and within them battery storage plays a critical role in balancing supply and demand during periods of low resource availability. Closing this gap is central to Mission 300, which aims to expand electricity access to 300-million people in Africa by 2030.

Based on IRENA’s Strategic Energy Access Planning Support (SEAPS) framework, this report assesses the potential of solar PV mini-grids with battery storage to deliver affordable electricity access in four West African countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. Using an enhanced OnSSET geospatial model coupled with a mini-grid optimisation tool, it quantifies multiple electricity-supply scenarios defined by demand tiers, grid-expansion strategies and mini-grid cost assumptions. It introduces the ‘value of storage’ metric (defined as the difference between the total discounted lifecycle cost of a hybrid solar PV–diesel mini-grid with battery storage and the corresponding cost of an equivalent system without battery storage, where flexibility comes solely from the diesel generators) to quantify the economic contribution of battery storage and identify the scenarios in which it provides the greatest value.

The analysis finds that solar PV mini-grids with storage are central to universal access, representing a near-term market of 568 MW across the four countries, and that their value is highest where grid expansion is constrained and demand is high, reaching nearly USD 25-billion in value of storage and about 130 GWh of batteries in the scenario with highest demand. Launched at a time of volatile diesel prices, the report also shows that storage is a hedge against fuel-price shocks, with avoided fuel costs outweighing incremental investment by between two and four times. It sets out policy recommendations on integrated electrification planning, geospatial tools and institutional capacity, enabling environments for mini-grids and storage, and innovative finance and de-risking mechanisms.

Report by the International Renewable Energy Agency