Ques: RENEWABLE ENERGY, IS IT A VIABLE OPTION FOR AFRICAN COUNTRIES: A CASE STUDY OF ANGOLA’S ELECTRICITY.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Research Aim
Research Objectives
Research Questions
Rationale of the Study
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
Significance of the Study
Energy Availability and Utilisation
North Africa
South Africa
East Africa
Western Africa
Central Africa
Renewable Energy for poverty reduction, Energy Access
Renewable Energy Resources and Application: Criticality and Currency
Large-scale Renewable Energy System
Small-Scale Renewable Energy Systems
Electricity in Angola
Energy Resources in Angola
Hydroelectricity
Crude oil
Natural Gas
Summary
Chapter 3: Research Methodology.
Research Approach (Deductive and Inductive)
Research Philosophy (Positivism and Interpretivism)
Quantitative Research and Qualitative Research
Research Strategy
Justification of the research
Ethical issues
Limitations of the research
Conclusion
References
The renewable source of energy is important for today’s complex environment and fast depletion of energy. The renewable source of energy is generated from natural sources such as sunlight, wind, geothermal heat, waves and tides. The sustainability can be attained in regards to environment and use of energy. Africa is a developing country and re facing challenges in their energy sector. Therefore, use of renewable energy can be solution to their energy issue and dependence on oil and gas can be decreased (Afribiz.info, 2014). The purpose of the current dissertation is to assess the viability of renewable energy in African countries. The study will be present in reference to Electricity Supply Issues of Angola. The study will be further discussing the research objectives and questions along with various theories and models in literature review. On the other hand, research methodology will be presented and limitation will also be discussed so that research can be present in more presentable form (Afribiz.info, 2014).
The aim of the research is to analyse the effectiveness of renewable energy in developing the economy of a country. The research will be throwing light on in-depth analysis of reliability of renewable energy (Alexander and Richardson, 2012). The researcher has selected Angola region as the case study so that impact of reusable energy on people, industry or nation can be known.
The research objectives can be helpful for the researcher to base the research in appropriate manner (Alexander and Richardson, 2012). Therefore, it can help in presenting the topics in detail manner. The research topics can be segmented so that each topic can be explained on the basis of objectives. Therefore, research objectives are:
The research questions can be supportive in analyzing the research topics and solving the issues related to the case study. Therefore, the question has been listed down in relation to case study.
The above mentioned question can be helpful for evaluating the data and comparing the results with the objectives of research purpose.
The research work has been selected by the researcher for understanding and analyzing the effectiveness of using renewable source of energy within A. The renewable energy can be useful for the developing countries as it can be difficult in transmitting and distributing energy in rural or remote local, which is developed from fossil fuels. On the other hand, it can be expensive for transferring energy (Angelo, 2011). The concern regarding environment has made the energy supplying authorities to give more consideration towards using renewable energy. The issues of global warming, air pollution, technologies cost, etc are the main reason in adopting the renewable source of energy (ANGOLA: New Oil Power, 2007). If the energy is not used in correct manner, the country might face serious problem and their economy may be affected. Therefore, it can lead to economy downturn and fall in the development of country (Anon, 2006).
The projects of renewable energy can be helpful for the developing nations as it can be effective in making contribution in alleviating poverty. Therefore, energy can be supplied for developing business and creating employment (Angelo, 2011). On the other hand, indirect input can be made by renewable energy by delivering energy for space heating, cooking, lighting, etc to eradicate poverty. The sustainability can be attained by the utilization of energy that is renewable and it requires low cost of operation in maintaining energy. The effect of carbon dioxide and chemical pollutants can be minimized through renewable energy so that environment can be protected (Chaiamarit and Nuchprayoon, 2013). On the other side, renewable energy can be effective in ensuring economic benefits by increasing the employment of local service and improving the tourism growth. For instance, European Countries such as United Kingdom and Germany has implemented measures to develop renewable energy that helped them to produce many jobs for the people (Violence in Iraq and Nigeria, OPEC cuts output, admits Angola, 2007). The high price associated with the use of fossil fuels can be decreased by renewable energy and the people can have to bear fewer prices for gaining energy (Angola: New Oil Projects, 2008).
On the contrary, the developing countries may find it hard to produce required quantities of electricity which is possible with fossil fuel generators. Moreover, the renewable energy depends on the weather for generating power. Therefore, if weather condition is not favorable then it can affect in generating renewable energy. For instance, hydro generators require rain to pack the dams so that water can be flowed (Yamin, 2004). The developing countries may not comply with the concept of renewable energy as it can be expensive for them. The renewable energy is totally a new technology and requires high capital cost (Bodig, 2012). Therefore, the developing country may not adopt renewable energy (Angola: New Oil Projects, 2008). On the other hand, if renewable energy is adopted then the country may not develop at better rate. Many developed countries uses renewable source of energy that helps them in increasing GDP. Therefore, if developing countries do not build renewable energy then it may lack behind in developing better educational system, health care system (Zeller, 2006). Therefore, renewable source of energy can be effective for the future development and for future generation (ANGOP, 2014). The environment sustainability can be gained from the use of energy and the country image can be improved in the world map. In addition renewable energy can be stored and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be taken out by adopting different methods of generating renewable electricity (ANGOLA: New Oil Power, 2007).
The investment has been made by the government of Angola for achieving green growth that can help in promoting and increasing economic growth while decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases and pollution, reducing wastage and efficient usage of the natural resources and enhancing biodiversity. The renewable energy is totally a new technology and requires high capital cost. Angola has adopted Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) in order to supply environment friendly technology for the electricity industry in Africa and different parts of Angola (Ohunakin, 2011). According to Dresch et al. (2014), pressure of population and inadequate development of infrastructure have increased the issue of environment in Angola. It has been found that there is scarcity in the portable water, majorly in the rural areas (Asia, Africa, Middle East, 2009). On the other hand, poor practices in agriculture have led to soil erosion extremely and desertification. Moreover, Weller (2014) mentioned that deforestation has increased in Angola due to export of international tropical timber in the market which is posing the threat to biodiversity. Therefore, Angola’s government is considering the renewable energies at major vehicle in order to attain the sustainable development (Armaroli, Balzani and Serpone, 2013). Therefore, it can help in improving the living conditions of the society both in rural areas and urban areas. The energy authorities in Angola have formed three key activities in context to renewable energy such as formation of National Renewable Energy Strategy, Identification of the advantage for renewable energy and implementation of the Project. Therefore, country is working effectively towards developing and using wind energy and solar energy (Martinez and Pedemonte, 2014).
As Angola is blessed with rich energy resources therefore it provides great support in promoting the renewable source of energy. The Ministry of Energy and Water affairs in Angola takes the responsibility for the National Energy Policy and involves them in enhancing renewable energy. On the other hand, government of Angola has invested in the photovoltaic solar energy so that requirements of electricity can be met in rural areas (Assmann, Laumanns and Uh, 2006). Therefore it helps in raising the electrification level. Angola has bunch of opportunities to make an investment in the renewable energy that can be in rehabilitation or expanding the electric infrastructure in Angola. On the other side, energy sector in Angola has been restructured in order to develop the national electricity and raise the utilization of renewable energies (Barros and Antunes, 2014). Angola has been endowed with 47 hydrographical basins that can be used for generating electricity and for other purposes (Nwulu and Agboola, 2010).
It is known that there are various problems that are faced by African countries in terms of renewable and non-renewable energy resources (Burgos and Ear, 2012). At present there are various literatures that can be drawn here regarding the energy issues in various African countries. The main aim of the chapter is to provide description of the renewable and non-renewable resources in various parts of Africa and here a special emphasis is given to the case study of Angola (Bustamante-Cedeño and Arora, 2008). Africa is endowed with vast amount of non-renewable and renewable resources of energy. It is estimated that the potential of geothermal power is 14,000 MW and the potential of hydropower is 1,750 TWh in the continent (Bustamante-Cedeño and Arora, 2008). Throughout the years, abundant solar radiation is received in the continent in abundant amount and it is confirmed in the recent studies that there is abundance of wind energy in the inland areas and the coastal areas of Africa. There is abundant availability of the non-renewable energy coal in the Southern Africa. Africa has substantial amount of renewable and new energy sources and most of the energy resources are underexploited (Carneiro, 2007).
It is evident that from the enormous potential of the hydropower only 7% has been harnessed and the hydro potential includes micro, mini and small hydro opportunities. There are limited initiatives that are taken in the country for the development of the energy utilisation (Controls on turbidite sand deposition during gravity-driven extension of a passive margin: examples from Miocene sediments in block 4, Angola, 2002). It is known that the Renewable Energy technologies (RETs) can significantly contribute to the development of energy sector in the African countries. RET can provide attractive environmentally sound technology option for the electricity industry of Africa (Doucette and McCulloch, 2011). The proportion of foreign exchange could be significantly offset by using RET as it can reduce the import cost of oil for the generation of electricity in most of the countries (Kammen and Kirubi, 2008). It is also evident that or meeting the decentralised rural energy demand the renewable energy are modular and well suited. For a capital constrained countries of Africa, the low investment level and the modular nature of most of the renewable energy technologies are most suitable for those countries (Eia.gov, 2014). The locally available resources and the expertise are utilised by most of the renewable energy technologies and thus it is evident that the local people will receive more employment opportunities but there are certain limitations that are faced by RET in the region (ElDesouky, 2014). Those include poor infrastructural facility and poor institutional framework, high initial cost of capital, pricing distortions in the region, lack of skilled manpower, weak dissemination strategies, weak maintenance service and infrastructure, and poor baseline information (Lebassi-Habtezion and Van Buskirk, 2012).
There is scarcity of energy in Africa than in the developed world. The energy consumption in the country is significantly high across the continent but the energy resource is underutilised in the economy (Energy.sourceguides.com, 2014). Since the 1980s, the overall access rate of energy has been constant whereas in most of the developing countries the electrical grid has distribution has increased by 20%. The per capita access rates are significantly falling in the Sub-Saharan Africa and according to recent trends; by 2020 there will still be lack of access to over 60% of the Sub-Saharan African people. The average electricity rate in Africa is 24% whereas the rate is 40% for most of the developing world (Ereda, 2014). It can be said that the power is often unreliable and the power loss is significant in the manufacturing sector that affects the performance of the sector. In a year, the power loss is 56 days in the manufacturing sector. In Burundi, the power is out for 144 days a year, it is 63 days in Tanzania and 25 days in Senegal (Mohammed et al., 2013). The power cuts cause greater issues for the industries operating in various countries. Damage to equipments and sales is caused due to the power outage and it also discourages foreign investment in the country (ESI-Africa.com, 2014). Thus it can be said that the growth of domestic companies has been stunted by the irregularities in the power supply and it also discourages the set up of manufacturing plants by foreign firms in the continent (Africa Oil Trade, 2011 and 2012, 2013).
Even though the electricity supply is unreliable in the continent but still the cost of electrical service is very in Sub-Saharan Africa from the other parts of the world (GmbH, 2014). The rate of protective tariff is $0.13 USD in the country whereas in the rest of the developing world, it is only $0.04-$0.08 USD. Thus it can be said that Africa is facing one of the greatest challenges at the moment in terms of creating sustainable development in the country. There is a lack of sufficient transport system in Africa (Nwulu and Agboola, 2010). It is evident that new developments in the manufacturing and the industrial sector have led to significant population growth. There has been increased urbanisation and the energy consumption has also increased significantly (Graetz, 2011). Thus one of the challenges that is faced by African countries include the maintenance and provision of widespread access to energy for the population in order to meet the improved and growing standards of living in the continent (Africa Oil Trade, 2011 and 2012, 2013). It is estimated that by 2025 the environmental problems will double or triple as the population will increase by over a billion people in terms of the present annual growth rate of population of 2.2% (Ohunakin, 2011). But the electricity generation is less than 1% from the renewable resources in Africa and thus it is very important to increase the electricity generation and improve the utilisation of renewable resources so that the access to the affordable energy resources can be increased (Hammond, 2011). It is also important to manage the environmental impacts related with energy, stimulate the economic growth, improving the energy governance and ensuring the security of the supply with the help of diversification (Renewables in Africa, 2009).
North Africa
There is dominance of gas and oil in North Africa. From the available oil reserves in Africa, approximately 50% are obtained by Libya and the program and the regulations worth USD $5 billion is implemented in Libya for the reduction of Carbon emission (Haugen and Musser, 2012). There is also prevalence of resources such as gas and oil in Algeria along with the natural gas. The solar capacity is extremely relevant in North Africa (UNIDO, 2009).
South Africa
Of all the coal reserves of Africa, around 91 percent of all the coal reserves are contained in Southern Africa. Around 70 percent of the Uranium/Nuclear resources are in the South Africa. In the hydro resources in Southern Africa follows the Central Africa (Healey, 2005). The potential of hydroelectricity is found in Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Zambia, Mozambique and Congo DRC. An international initiative is taken by Mozambique for contributing to sustainable energy (UNIDO, 2009). The Living in the Finite Environmental program by USAID, in accordance with the African Society, 15 protected areas have been secured (van der Linde, 1996). South Africa alone contains 6th largest reserve of coal on the planet and other renewable resources in South Africa include bio-energy, wave energy, hydropower, wind and solar power etc (HENRICHSEN, 2005).
East Africa
The sustainable use of natural resource is promoted in East Africa (Iea.org, 2014). The community-based wildlife management in Uganda and Kenya strengthens the environmental and forestry management practices and it also enhances the coastal zone integration (Iea.org, 2014). Various instrumental energy plans has been organised in Kenya for supporting the economic growth and development (Iracleous and Alexandridis, 2005).
Conservation of biodiversity is one of the main goals in Tanzania and the local actions of Mkuranga, Bagamoyo, and Pangani are supported by the USAID for the promotion of sustainable marine and coastal resource management through coastal tourism, marine culture, and small-scale Enterprise development. Given the arid climate, there is an essential push for the geothermal power in the region.
Western Africa
Between 1991 and 2000, there has been 500% increase in the electricity access in Ghana but there has been a fall in the per capital consumption during the same period (STEWART, IAN J., 1997). That affected the usage of electricity by making is unaffordable (Iracleous and Alexandridis, 2005). An energy action plan was established was developed by Ghana for taking initiatives for the sustainable energy (van der Linde, 1996). It is evident that Nigeria is one of the electronic products dumping ground. There are several toxic substances and metals that are dumped in the ground (Renewables in Africa, 2009). There are some coal reserves in West Africa, especially in Nigeria and some nuclear resources are also available in West Africa (Jakab, 2010). There are several initiatives that are taken in Guinea for the environmental protection and it is expected that the progressive steps will create exchange trade opportunities and improvement in the agricultural production technologies (Kaltschmitt, 2013).
Central Africa
There is abundance of hydro-electric resources in Central Africa due to the presence of various rivers in the region (Langwith, 2009). It is estimated that 4 million tons of carbon emission could be saved annually if the South African coal power can be replaced by the hydroelectric power. In Congo low voltage power lines has been created by utilising the hydro power in the region (Le Billon, 2005). In this context around USD $32 million has been spent and it has helped in achieving sustainable electricity availability to 140,000 people in the region (Lehner and Weißbach, 2009). The protection of forest resources is one of the strong focuses of Central Africa and around $48 million has been contributed by USAID through partnership fir developing Central African Regional Programme for the improvement of the governance of forests (Ohunakin, 2011). The loss of biodiversity can be reduced along with the rate of forest degradation for the management of the protected area (Lehner and Weißbach, 2009).
One of the major issues that are faced by the African countries is in terms of the reduction of poverty and the development of the various countries (South Africa introduces feed-in tariff for renewable energies, 2009). It is evident that in the absence of adequate energy supply the social and economic development cannot be achieved by Africa. Thus it is very important that modern energy service is accesses in the country for the essential service development and increase in the productivity. The reliable energy facilities cannot improve the social inequality and these are necessary for the improving the economic growth in the region (Macauhub English, 2014).
There are basically two types of energy system that contributes to energy needs of Africa.
Large-scale Renewable Energy System
The large-scale use of renewable energy sources are applied specifically in wind, solar, geo-thermal, modern biomass and in hydropower (Midthun and Hiti, 2012). Among the hydro resources of the continent only 5% of the hydro power potential has been exploited (Spellman and Bieber, 2011). It is estimated that total hydro power potential fir Africa is equivalent to the consumed electricity in United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and France put together (Manahan, 2011). There is greater potential for the hydro power generation in the Inga River and other countries having hydro power potential includes Zambia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, Gabon, Ethiopia, Egypt, Cameroon, and Angola.
The biomass energy is also used in large-scale for solid fuel production, biogas production, heat co-generation, gasification, liquid fuels production, and for the process of heat (Nagayama, 2009). In the continent various agro-based industries like sugar, rice mills, palm produce, wood-based industries and paper and pulp use their waste products for the power and heat generation (Morales, 2014). Thus it can be said that there is a good potential for the generation of power in these countries (Morales, 2014).
In many parts of Africa, the geothermal energy is used in abundant amount and it has the potential for the generation of 14,000 MW power (Novoa and Jin, 2011). The wind energy is used globally in large-scale for the electricity production and over the past decade the new installations have increased in Africa for the use of wind energy for electricity generation. Though it is evident that Africa still lacks the precise information about hydropower and that constrains the wind energy projects. In the countries Ethiopia, South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco most of the energy projects have taken place.
A serious problem is faced in urban areas in terms of solid and liquid waste disposal as it can be converted to energy (Solarin and Shahbaz, 2013). The liquid waste handling and treatment system existing in the municipality can be renovated for generating electricity for powering the treatment plants. Thus Africa faces major challenge in terms of urban waste management (Saunders and Chapman, 2004).
There is very limited amount of large scale solar energy projects due to the cost constrained. The feasibility studies can be established in details for assessing the potential of the solar power generation (Saunders and Chapman, 2004). At present the solar thermal power energy is implemented in South Africa only and various plans are implemented in other countries for the generation of power.
Small-Scale Renewable Energy Systems
The small-scale renewable energy system has been increased in Africa for increasing the energy access in the country. There are basically two types of small-scale energy systems and they are wind power and photovoltics. The solar PV system is highly documented in South Africa and Kenya. It is evident that the solar energy system has high upfront cost (Strbac, 2007).
The small hydropower system supplies energy to remote communities and it can help in the development to those regions. The capital cost is also lower for the small-scale hydropower system than the large-scale system. There is a large potential in most of the African countries for the small hydro system. At present these hydropower systems are exploited and special emphasis is given on the rural communities. In a number of African countries the micro hydro power system has been introduced (Renewables in Africa, 2009).
Due to the high capital cost the biogas digester dissemination has not been successful for the household application. This has been unsuccessful due to negative public perception, high labour cost and insufficient feedstock and water. Pilot projects have been implemented in Senegal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mali, Faso, Burkina, Niger, Kenya, and Ghana. The Appolonia project has been installed in Ghana for supplying the electricity in the country (Truc et al., 2012). The biogas is also produced from cow dung and the biogas Africa Project has also helped in utilising the resources in the country (Renewables in Africa, 2009). The majority of the Sub-Saharan households rely on the wood fuel for the purpose of heating and cooking. In the rural areas, the main source of fuel is wood fuel and in poorer urban households charcoal is commonly used as a main source of fuel (Trojan Battery expands global presence, opens Africa office, 2014). However the households have to use charcoal due to shortage of alternative energy in terms of brownouts and electricity blackouts. There has been improved use of biomass cook stoves all over Africa (Renewables in Africa, 2009).
The electricity infrastructure of Angola was damaged during the civil war of the nation and afterwards it received financial assistance from China and made improvements in the power sector. But it is evident that the country still faces problems in terms of electricity generation and supply in the area. The people have to rely on biomass and waste for their needs of household energy use (Reuters, 2014). The electricity sector of Angola is dominated by the state company Empresa Nacional de Electricidade. There are some other private companies as well that provide energy in the country. The country is planning on commercialising the natural gas resource of the country and it is expected that the resource will be very important in the coming years. The country has also discussed with the international atomic energy about developing nuclear power programs in the region (Okafor, 2009).
The energy in Angola basically describes the electricity and energy production, consumption and the export from Angola. In the Energy Policy of Angola, more detailed policies for Angola have been described. It is evident that in Angola, the hydroelectric power is the primary driving force of energy (OIL AND GAS: Angola, 2009). In 2009, the primary energy use in Angola was 7 TWh per million persons in 2009. In Angola people suffer from blackouts daily and in order to improve the situation, the government announced $17 billion US dollars planned in the investment of energy in the area (OIL: Angola, 2008). It is expected that the plan will alleviate the paucity of the available energy in the region. The energy resource in Angola has increased at a lower rate in every year. In 2007 the energy resource production was 1,104 Twh. In 2008 it was 1,231 Twh, in 2009 it was 1,174. The CO2 emission has also increased significantly. In 2008 it was 12.92 Mt and it 2012 it was 15.72 Mt (OIL/GAS: Angola, 2009).
Hydroelectricity
There is extensive hydroelectric power resource in Angola and it is stated that the power resource exceeds the present needs. The Cuanza River and Capanda Dam provide cheap power to the industries and two dams on the Catumbela River produce power for the Benguela and Lobito areas (Reuters, 2014). The Matala Dam that is situated 180 km of the Lubango also produce the power for the area and near the Namibian Border the Ruacana falls Dam is situated and it was completed in 1970s and the power station of the dam is in Namibia. In 2003, a hydroelectric station on the Cuanza River at Kapanda was started. In 2002 only three dams were operational in the country among the six available dams. $200 US million dollars were spent for the repair of the dams in the location as the dams were damaged extensively due to civil war. In 2002, 1.728 TW h electricity was generated in the country and among that 65.5% came from hydropower and 34.5% came from fossil fuel. In the same year a total of 1.607 Tw.h was the electricity consumption in the country and total capacity was 700 MW.
Crude oil
Angola ranks second in the Sub-Saharan Africa for the production of crude oil. Since 1973, crude oil has been the chief export of Angola and it is also the major source of revenue for the government (OIL: Angola, 2013). In 1994, the revenue from crude oil was $2.9 billion and it accounted for 95% of the government revenue (OIL: Angola, 2014). The oil reserves have been increased to 8.8 billion barrels in 2004 and the oil reserves are along the Atlantic coast and mostly in the northern border area between Soyo and Quinzau and in the off shore Cabinda region. Several oil companies were engaged in production in 1999 and one of the large subsidiaries was Chevron of the Cabinda Gulf oil company.
Natural Gas
The total gross natural gas production in the region was 8.4 km3 in 2002. The estimated reserve of natural gas in was 45 km3. The domestic demand for refined petroleum has increased significantly in the country and various projects has been undertaken here for using natural gas resources in the country. Chevron Texaco and Sonangol joined forces in a $2 billion project in 2002 for liquefied natural gas project in the offshore fields of Angola. In 2002 Angola fined $2 million to Chevron Texaco for the cause of environmental damage.
Here it can be said that Angola is a country in South Africa and it is bordered by Namibia on the South and on the north there is the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is Zambia in the east and Atlantic Ocean is in the west coast. The country does not have wind potential or coal reserves but the there are capacity for solar power, natural gas and oil reserve. In this chapter various energy sources has been discussed for African countries and for Angola.
The research is based on primary data. Primary research is based on primary data. The researcher can gain insight into the topic by conducting primary research (Research Methodology – An introduction, 2014). The primary data gathered will be supported by secondary data in order to make the research more reliable towards the readers. The primary research is conducted by using various methods. The methods of primary research are preparation of questionnaires, conducting interviews, conducting market research, direct observations. There are various advantages of primary research. The researcher can conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis with the primary data. However collecting primary data is a difficult task. Collection of primary data is time consuming (Research Methodology – An introduction, 2014)The primary data has to be authentic and reliable. In the present research , the researcher has used the deductive approach. Amongst the two types of research approach , the researcher has used the deductive approach. The deductive approach will provide a pattern solution to the research problem. The philosophy used by the researcher in the present study is interpretevism. Since the research is based on addressing the social aspect of the country. Thus the theory of interpretivism has been used. It will provide a deeper analysis of the topic. It will provide a solution to the aforesaid problem and determine whether the use of renewable source of energy is a viable option for Angola. The researcher will use the primary data for qualitative analysis (Research Methodology – An introduction, 2014). In depth analysis of the research can be done by conducting structured interviews with the governing bodies that are responsible for taking decisions related to the oil industry (Kothari, 2004) ; (Gupta, 2003).
According to Bodig (2012) to continue any kind of research, it is very much necessary to select a proper research approach. The selection of the research approach is very important because the entire backbone of the practical research is standing upon the research approach. Martinez and Pedemonte (2014) stated that the selection of best-fit research approach assists the researcher to approach towards the intended goal.
According to the deductive research, approach is concerned with the logical reasoning of the research phenomena. According to Bodig (2012), the deductive research approach widely followed by the researchers because it helps the researcher to attain the research goal through providing the logical reasoning of the multiple adjacent factors related to the research. The other reason for the selection of the deductive approach in the research is that it helps the researcher to start from the detail and helps to reach the specific intended outcome. The main feature of the deductive approach is that it reduces the risk of failure as it starts the investigation form very detail and through the logical explanation, it reaches to the intended outcome (Jahn, 2010). The other reason why this research is popular that if there researcher found any kind of errors in the hypothesis or any explanation it does not takes the researcher to start from the initial point. According to Dresch et al. (2014) the chances of error in this approach is very low as it approaches through logical steps (Vogel et al., 2011).
The inductive approach is very much based on the observation (Ary et al., 2014). According to Weller (2014) the main feature of the inductive approach is that it tries to reach the intended outcome through the development of the patterns on the research objective (Barbieri et al., 2010). However, Martinez and Pedemonte (2014) criticized this research approach through saying that the due to the bottom up approach if the researcher found any of the hypothesis or the pattern is wrong then the researcher needs to start the entire research approach from the very beginning (Kumar, 2005).
However to continue this research the researcher will follow the deductive research approach. The main reason for this is that the nature of the topic indicates that the matter is very wide but the intended decision is whether the renewable energy will be a viable option for Africa or not. To identify the viability it is very important to consider all the possible detailed aspect of the energy sector of the country. Therefore, to continue this research the researcher will follow the deductive research approach not the inductive research approach (Hinkel, 2011). The main reason for not following the deductive research approach is that the patterned solution provided by this research approach does not fits properly when the research is very much related with the social and economical aspect of the country and the viability is the main criteria for decision making (Weller ,2014); (Flick, 2014).
The research philosophy helps to acquire the possible knowledge about the research topic. According to Dresch et al. (2014) to continue any kind of research it is very much necessary to acquire the relevant knowledge otherwise the researcher will fail to meet the intended outcome (Hammersley, 1993).
According to Bodig (2012), the most widely used research philosophies are the positivism and the Interpretivism. The positivism is the most scientifically structured research philosophy. On the other hand, the interpretivism firstly collects the relevant data from the multiple sources and then it develops the ideal framework based on the collected data (Crossan, 2003; p-46-55). According to Weller (2014) interpretivism is the best-fit research philosophy when the research topic is very much connected with the human relations and the social aspects. Whereas, the positivism is very much fit when the research phenomena is very much related with the scientific or patterned objective. According to Weller (2014), positivism philosophy helps the researcher to develop its understanding about the research topic through the repetitive observations.
To continue this particular research the researcher will follow the Interpretivism research philosophy. The main reason for selecting interpretivism as the research philosophy is that the research subject is very much related with the social aspect of the country (Webb, 1989;p-403-410). The main theme of the research is that whether the renewable energy will be viable for the African countries or not. To understand the viability of the intended project it is very much required to understand the socio-economical orientations of the African countries. Moreover, it is very much necessary to analyze the present energy infrastructure of the country to identify the capability of the energy sector to adopt the renewable energy production and distribution within their respective regions. Therefore, after considering all these areas the researcher has decided that the research will be carried through the interpretivism research philosophy.
The in-depth analysis of the research can be done by the qualitative research. It provides deeper understanding of the research topic. Thus in case of qualitative research smaller samples belonging to a wider group is used for conducting the research. Quantitative analysis is done to measure the effectiveness of the use renewable energy as alternative source. The research has been conducted by the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative analysis has been gathered from the secondary data. The trend of the use of non renewable sources of energy in the various African countries has been studied in the research. The quantitative analysis has been done by the data obtained from the various journals and news papers. The secondary data has been analyzed. The analysis of the data has been reflected in the research (Smith, 1982).
Qualitative analysis has been done by conducting interviews of the governing bodies that make the policies that affect the energy industry. Qualitative research may be considered as a type of scientific research. The answers by the interviewee to the various questions provide a detailed overview of the research (Davidson, 2001; p-11-20). The evidence regarding the topic is obtained from the various answers to the interview questions. The research problem can be understood in a better way. This will provide a better understanding of the research issue. The exact information about the various policies of the Government can be obtained from the answers of the policy makers. This will help in depth analysis of the topic. The people involved in the decision making process of the organization related to the energy industry has been interviewed. The information gathered from them will provide a deep analysis of the research proposal. Thus both the qualitative and quantitative analysis is crucial for understanding the research in a better way. The intangible factors affecting the research can be obtained from the qualitative analysis. It will provide a detail perspective of the entire research (Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, 2014; p-1-12) ; (Creswell, 2003).
Justification of the research
The research has been conducted in order to provide sustainable option to the African countries for using energy. The problem related to energy can be mitigated by the use of alternative sources of energy. The viability of the use of the renewable energy sources by the African countries has been analyzed in the present research.
Ethical issues
The ethical issues must be considered in order to conduct the research in a systematic way. The reliability of the research is necessary for conducting the research in an ethical way. The ethical issue must be considered to ascertain that genuine data has been collected for the purpose of the research. The data has been collected for the purpose of commercial use. There will be no personal questions in the interview that might relate to any political hassle. This will deviate the response of the people who are interviewed. The information must be kept in a confidential manner. This will maintain the authenticity of the information. The data collected from the quantitative and the qualitative analysis has to be kept in a confidential manner. This will maintain the fidelity of the research. The referencing style of the research must be appropriate in order to make the information provided in the research reliable to the readers of the paper.
The time allotted for conducting the research has been miniscule. The research could have been conducted in a detail way if the time allotment for the research was more. The information could have been gathered from variety of sources if the time allotted for the research was sufficient. Lack of time is the major issue of the present research.
The research is mostly based on primary data. Any deviation of the opinion of the respondents can alter the results of the research. This is a limitation of the entire research. Thus any kind of biasness in opinion can affect the results of the research.
Conclusion
The importance of renewable energy in the present scenario has been discussed in the research. Use of renewable energy resource will provide sustainability. Energy challenges are faced by Africa. In order to recover from the energy crisis, use of renewable source of energy is important. The electricity supply issues of Angola have been discussed. Renewable energy can be used by Angola in order to increase the GDP of the country. It will be difficult for a country to generate renewable sources of energy if the climatic conditions of the country are adverse. Promoting sustainability in Angola will result in the economic growth of the country. The investment has been made by the government of Angola for achieving green growth that can help in promoting and increasing economic growth while decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases and pollution, reducing wastage and efficient usage of the natural resources and enhancing biodiversity. It will reduce the negative environmental impact. The emission of the green house gases will be reduced to a considerable extent. The deforestation in Angola has to be reduced. This will reduce the threat to biodiversity in the country and promote greenery. The electricity issue in Angola is a major issue of the country. It is affecting the production in the country. The GDP of the country is affected. Large scale renewable energy can be manufactured from the natural resources like wind and hydropower. The ways in which Angola can manufacture renewable sources of energy has been discussed in the present study. The researcher has conducted structure interviews with the ministers of the oil industry and the Government officials in order to analyse their planning regarding generation of renewable energy sources. The primary data will provide a deeper insight into the topic. The fidelity of the research will increase and research will be more reliable towards the readers.
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