Elephant grass (pennisetum purpureum): a potential source of biomass for power generation in Ghana

Abstract

The Government of Ghana has introduced into its energy mix many thermal generation plants, which utilize natural gas and light crude oil to augment the electric power need of the country. However, these come with high fueling cost and frequent interruption in the supply chain. One area which has not been explored is the use of biomass for electrical power generation. Pennisetum purpureum K. Schumach grows in the wild as grass in the dry semideciduous forest zone and the distributional range covers an area of approximately 2.1 million hectares. The grass has potential as a biofuel feedstock for power generation. This paper gives an overview of the potential use of pennisetum purpureum as a cheap and readily available source of biomass or biofuel for electric power generation in Ghana