Approximately 75% of Burkinabè, predominantly in rural areas, still lack electricity access at home. This energy poverty also impacts productive sectors like agriculture and small enterprises, as well as public facilities such as education and healthcare. To gauge the electricity requirements to tackle energy poverty and project them to the year 2060, the Multi-sectoral Latent Electricity Demand (M-LED) model is implemented in Burkina Faso. The analysis aims at supporting effective planning of electricity access infrastructure and allocation of resources with careful assessment of the diverse energy needs across space, time, and sectors. Under a baseline scenario, for example, the total electricity demand including latent is predicted to reach 11.4 TWh by 2030 (compared to the current demand of around 2.7 TWh). The demand is projected to be distributed across 6 TWh for residential load, 1.9 TWh for commercial and micro-enterprise sectors, 335 GWh for irrigation, 3 GWh for crop processing and less than 2 GWh for healthcare and school facilities. However, scenarios of more ambitious agricultural policy could increase the national demand to 12.9 TWh by 2030. Improving electricity planning in agricultural areas will help enhance agricultural productivity, avoid food waste, support food security targets, and improve the quality of healthcare and education sectors. Achieving such ambitious objectives will require improved or ambitious electricity planning programme from the government of Burkina Faso. Our analysis of results from the developed model devotes specific attention to the implications for water-energy-agriculture-development interlinkages.

Valorisation of local and low-cost eco-materials have become an imperative for the sustainable development of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) in West Africa. In this study, the compatibility tests were carried out. These involve the application of jatropha curcas oil (JCCO) and ceramic balls, which were developed from clay coal bottom ash and sands with a focus on Burkina dune sand ceramic. The aim was to assess the applicability of using JCCO as heat transfer fluid in CSPs with direct thermocline thermal energy storage. The tests involve the use of a small container to put in contact with Jatropha oil with ceramic balls for 2160 hours and at 210 °C. From the chemical properties’ analysis, the peroxide value in the oil decreases with aging time while the acidity increase. However, the acidity remains below the limited value that is 25 mg KOH.g^-1. Therefore, thermal properties that drive heat transfer and rheological properties (density, thermal conductivity, kinematic viscosity and so on) were not adjusted significantly at the storage temperature (of about 210°C). Thermal stability temperature decreased to 261.93°C for the oil aged alone as against 263.41 °C for the one that was put in contact with filler material. In the nutshell, there is no incompatibility between JCCO, and the new thermal energy storage material (TESM) developed. These couple of materials could be suitable for thermocline energy storage in CSP plant and for other applications like there use in solar cooker box.

In this study, the thermal performance of the parabolic trough collector (PTC) has been addressed under Ouagadougou climate conditions. Thus, after developing a model, the effect of mass flow on PTC performance showed that the Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) temperature difference increases when the mass flow rate ($\dot{m}$) decreases while the thermal efficiency (${\eta }_{th}$) increases. For $\dot{m}$ of 1 kg s⁻¹, a collector length of 46.8 m or collection area of 230 m² is required to obtain an outlet temperature of 210 °C with an average ${\eta }_{th}$ of 82.69%. This paper can support the decision for a demonstration plant implementation regarding JCO use in the CSP plant.

Burkina Faso has a low rate of access to electricity, characterized by disparities between residential areas. In 2024, the electrification rate stood at 34.2%, with only 10.2% in rural areas. To address this shortfall, electricity generation using stationary diesel engines is a promising solution. However, the cost of diesel limits the use of these engines in conventional diesel mode. Thus, the use of alternative gaseous fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) appears to be a viable solution. The engine operates in dual fuel mode, with LPG as the primary fuel. This study examines the combustion characteristics of a Lister Petter diesel engine using LPG as an alternative gaseous fuel. The objective is to compare the engine’s combustion parameters in both operating modes (pure diesel and dual fuel). An analysis of cylinder pressure curves and heat release rates shows combustion parameters comparable to those of pure diesel. However, dual-fuel mode results in lower pressure peaks, particularly at low loads. An 8.5% reduction in maximum pressure in the diesel-LPG mode at 20% load. The introduction of gas prolongs the ignition delay, enhances the diffusive combustion phase, and extends the duration of combustion. Furthermore, the relative instability of combustion in dual-fuel mode results in an increase in the coefficient of variation of the indicated mean pressure (COVIMEP). At 20% load, the COVIMEP reaches 11.5% in diesel-LPG mode while maintaining stable engine operation. These results point toward the future use of syngas on a test bench built around the Lister Petter engine.

Rural areas in Burkina Faso suffer from very limited access to electricity. In 2024, the rural electrification rate was estimated at 10.2%, compared to 87.8% in urban areas, for an overall national rate of 34.2%. Electricity generation using stationary diesel engines is a viable solution to address this disparity. Decentralized power generation facilities continue to face operating costs associated with diesel fuel and environmental concerns. In this context, the use of gaseous fuels such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or synthesis gas as the primary fuel in dual-fuel diesel engines could significantly mitigate this limitation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the overall performance and emissions of a Lister Petter diesel engine operating in dual-fuel mode at low and medium loads. The engine operated on diesel-LPG at a constant speed of 1,500 rpm under partial load. Specific fuel consumption in dual-fuel mode increased by 0.04 kg/kWh at low load compared to that of pure diesel, resulting in a maximum decrease in overall efficiency of approximately 2%. The two engine operating modes have comparable CO ₂ emissions. However, the diesel-LPG mode emits more CO and reduces NOx concentrations in the exhaust gases by an additional 25%. A maximum decrease of 60°C in the temperature of the exhaust gases was observed at medium load.