CONTRIBUTION TO THE IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF THE HYDROELECTRIC POTENTIAL OF DEVELOPABLE WATERFALLS IN MIDDLE GUINEA

Abstract

Guinea's energy potential is immense and diverse: hydraulic power, biomass, solar and wind
energy. With a very dense hydrographic network, over 1100 water ways. Guinea has a hydroelectric potential
estimated at more than 6000 MW for guaranteed energy of 19300 GWh/year. To date, certain site of pico, micro
and small hydroelectric power stations of developable waterfalls in Guinea still remain unidentified and evaluated
by researchers and services of the National Energy Directorate. The present study is part of this dynamic, its
objective is to identify and evaluate the hydroenergetic potential of unstudied developable waterfalls. The
methodology adopted in this present work consists of: identifying the different developable waterfalls, evaluating
the hydrological regimes and their hydroenergetic characteristics. To this end, a certain number of criteria are
taken into account, which are: the criterion of proximity of the site to electrified localities; the theoretical criterion
(flow and head) and the socio-economic criteria. The following results were obtained from this study: 30 sites
were inventoried, including 25 sites studied and 18 validated in the region. The total gross power of the sites
studied is 810.262 kW, with a minimum of 5.787 kW recorded in the locality of Korbè in Lélouma and maximum
of 264 kW in the locality of Kakoni in Gaoual. The development of these waterfalls would significantly improve
the energy needs of these rural areas.