The Minister for Energy, John-Peter Amewu, has directed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to initiate a competitive procurement process for a total of 100MW solar plant capacity.
The initiative, which is in consultation with the Energy Commission, would be from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) within the next five years and the move is in line with the country’s Renewable Energy Master Plan.
MrAmewu said this in his keynote speech at the 6th Virtual Conference of the Ghana Renewable Energy Fair themed: ‘Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient in Achieving Ghana’s Industrilisation Agenda’ in Accra.
He said: “The Renewable Energy Act 2011 has been amended to provide the legal backing for the above actions. The Amendment Bill is currently before Cabinet for consideration and approval by Parliament. The Bill also encourages small-scale self-generation and net-metering from renewables.”
The Minister explained that theAmended Bill mandates fossil fuel-based wholesale electricity suppliers, fossil fuel producers and other companies that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions to complement the global effort of climate change mitigation by investing in non-utility scale renewable energy technologies, particularly for off-grid electrification.
In view of that, he said, “I trust that Parliament will approve the bill before going on recess.
The government is implementing the rural electrification scheme to make electricity available and affordable to stimulate economic activities in all rural communities in the country.
“However, for island and lake-side communities where grid electricity cannot be extended in the immediate future, the strategy is to deploy decentralised mini-grid systems.”
By this strategy, the Minister explained that the mini-grid electrification would be an integral part of the rural electrification scheme and would be public sector-led investments where the assets and infrastructure are handled in the same manner as grid extension.
In that regard, he pointed out that the government would engage the private sector to undertake the supply and installation of mini-grid systems and hand them over to a public utility entity to manage and operate just like under the rural electrification through grid extension.
“The mini-grid consumers will pay the same electricity tariff as prescribed by PURC for the public distribution entities (ECG and NEDCO) for life-line, residential and non-residential consumer classification.
“In view of this, the existing mini-grid systems installed by the Ministry for five island communities on the Volta Lake have been handed over to the VRA to own, manage and operate,” he announced.
The Energy Minister further said procurement process is also underway for the award of contract to install and connect approximately 4,000 households in these districts.
“Earlier this month, I broke ground for the construction of the mini-grids systems for three of these communities located in the East Ada District. Even though COVID-19 pandemic has adversely delayed the implementation of the various mini-grids across the country, I wish to assure you of the NPP government’s commitment to commence and complete all these projects.
“In order to diversify our national energy portfolio, we recently completed Ghana’s first micro-hydropower plant to be known as the Tsatsadu Generating Station (TGS) under the Ministry of Energy’s renewable energy initiative with support from Energy Commission, UNDP and Bui Power Authority.
“This Plant, which will soon be commissioned by the President, has a capacity of 45kW with the possibility of adding another 45kW capacity turbine in the future. It is interesting to note that this power plant was wholly constructed by Ghanaian engineers,” John-Peter Amewu noted.
The Pwualugu Multi-Purpose power plant, which comprises 60MW hydro power hybridised with a 50MW solar plant by the VRA, has also commenced, he said.
Mr Amewu stated that VRA has also added 6.54 MW solar PV power at Lawra in the Upper West Region to the country’s energy mix.
He said installation works for additional 62MW solar plant comprising of 12MW in Kaleo by VRA in the Upper West Region and 50MW in Bui by BPA in the Bono Region are at various stages of completion.
“Let me assure you that the government is on cause to leading the way for the provision of sustainable energy for the country and I would entreat everyone to support us to achieve our targets as promised.
“In ending, I would say well done to my staff at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Commission, the utility agencies including BPA, VRA, ECG and the private renewable energy. I will also like to express my gratitude to all the Development Partners who have provided technical assistance and financial support for scaling up the penetration of renewable energy in Ghana.”
The Board Chairman of Energy Commission, Professor George Hagan, speaking about the theme said: “It gives us a great opportunity to discuss a bottom-up national strategy for industrialisation based on the sustainable development and utilisation of Ghana’s renewable energy resources. And it invites us to be creative, innovative and quick and confident to identify and use our local potential.
“To explore the theme, we have invited experienced policy makers and leaders of technological innovations and industries to lead us in our discussions over the two days of the Fair.”
The two-day virtual conference started on Tuesday.
The post ECG to generate 100MWof power from solar sources appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS