Let’s commit more resources to solar energy

The energy sector plays a critical role in national growth and that is why every nation makes big investments in the sector aimed at improving and expanding access to affordable power.

In recent years, however, there have been calls on the government to integrate renewable energy technologies into its national electrification strategies because of the comparative cost advantage that comes with those technologies.

Many countries are gradually switching to renewable energy as the search for sustainable, cleaner and alternative sources of energy for their development needs gathers momentum.

Unfortunately, Ghana has not taken full advantage of the new drive, although there is plenty sunshine all year round.

Even though successive governments have trumpeted the need to diversify the power sector with the introduction of renewable sources of generation, the actualisation of that dream has not materialised.

Today in our energy mix, solar constitutes the lowest, which means we have not put a lot of investment into that sector.

As a result, the nation continues to rely on the traditional sources of energy generation - hydro and thermal - which have come with many challenges. Now the Akosombo Dam produces way below capacity because of the low level of water in the dam.

Thermal generation is not helping the cause because of the high cost of generation. The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) estimates that the annual cost of fuel to power the thermal plants in Ghana is estimated at about $1,140 billion.

Attempts to inject some level of importance to renewable energy saw the then Ministry of Power, through the Energy Commission, implementing a Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Programme in the country in 2015.

The programme, which planned to distribute 200,000 rooftop solar panels to homes, had the primary objective of providing 200MW peak load relief on the national grid through solar PV technology in the medium term.

However, reports indicate that the programme is facing financial challenges from two fronts — the inability of the Energy Commission to raise the GH¢533 million required to fully implement the programme to subsidise rooftop solar panels for homes and companies and the lack of interest shown in the programme by people, as many are unable to raise the minimum amount required for the installation of the rooftop solar panels.

The Daily Graphic calls on the government to do something to save this laudable programme from collapse.

Even as efforts are still underway to explore wind and solar power as alternative sources of energy in the country, there is also the challenge of how the solar power generated can be fed into the national grid.

Off-takers such as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have not come up with clear-cut systems on how to take the load generated into the national grid and this is a matter of great worry to investors.

Investors who want to put their money in the renewable energy sector of the nation would want to see how power generated will be absorbed before committing their resources into the sector.

The Daily Graphic believes that renewable energy is the way to go because thermal power is too costly, while the effects of climate change cannot support hydro generation into the long term.

Therefore, whatever it takes to shore up renewable energy should be done because that holds the key to meeting the energy needs of the country.