CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON PROJECTED PV POWER POTENTIAL UNDER RCP 8.5 SCENARIO IN BURUNDI

Abstract

This work focuses on analysis of climate change effects on Photovoltaic (PV) power output in the Eastern and Northeastern of Burundi. Monthly temperature data from meteorological stations and solar irradiance data provided by SoDa database were considered as observed dataset for the historical period 1981-2010. Projection climate data from eight Regional Climate Models of CORDEX for Africa were used over the near future period 2021-2050. The change in temperature and solar irradiance were analyzed and the effects of these climate changes were assessed to show their impacts on PV power potential. The results indicated increasing trends and change in temperature for about 2°C over this near future period. The solar irradiance change was revealed negative with a high interannual variation for all regions and the mean decrease ranges between 2 and 4 W/m². The findings revealed also a negative change in PV power potential close to zero for all regions with a high change occurred in NLL. Indeed, the contribution of each parameter to PV power potential change was negative all over regions. However, the projected climate change does not predict a huge PV power potential change by 2050. Therefore, Burundi may invest in producing electricity energy from PV systems.