Prevent dumping of renewable energy products - Govt urged
The government has been charged to empower the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to deal with unfair trade practices such as dumping of renewable energy products and components to help encourage the use of renewable energy in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tino Solutions Limited, Mr Postino Dugle, who made the comment, observed that the present situation where renewable products and components were imported into the country without the state ensuring proper standards requirements was counterproductive to the operations of genuine players in the renewable business.
“The only way the government can encourage the use of solar power is to prevent the dumping of renewable energy products onto the market,” Mr Dugle told the Daily Graphic shortly after a workshop on renewable energy at the weekend in Accra.
The workshop was organised in partnership with Jinko Solar, an international company in the solar business. It was aimed at educating technicians on modern trends in the industry.
Mr Dugle noted that players in the renewable business wanted the government to set up a regulatory regime to ensure standards were maintained in the country.
“In Ghana, it is unfortunate we find most sub-standard products on the market. If we encourage cheaper products onto our market which will be destroyed in a few months, it means we are eroding the confidence of customers,” he stated.
Mr Dugle observed that his outfit, Tino Solutions Limited, had trained close to 300 technicians in basic system design and installation of solar systems.
He underscored the need for technicians to always keep abreast of modern methods and procedures to install solar panels.
“Our training programmes are basically to bring the latest technology to Ghanaians. For the past three years, we have trained close to 300 technicians in basic system design and installation of solar systems,” he added.
He explained that a proper technician needed to understand the processes and dynamics before he or she climbed a roof to install a solar panel for a client.