EC, UNDP sign agreement on renewable energy

The government’s efforts to diversify the country’s energy mix and bridging the energy supply gap are to be given a major boost with a renewable energy project that seeks to provide an alternative energy supply for the nation.

This follows the signing of an agreement yesterday between the Energy Commission (EC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to roll out the China-Ghana South-South Cooperation on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer Project.

The project will focus on technologies such as solar/wind energy for irrigation, biogas, mini hydro and improved cook stoves.

Furthermore, it will focus on private sector participation and development, with the view to ensuring its sustainability.

The four-year project, scheduled to be executed from 2015 to 2018, is being funded by the Danish government at a cost of $2.72 million, with the UNDP acting as the coordinator, while China will provide technical expertise.

Among others, the project will tap into Chinese renewable energy technologies to address the energy needs of the country and facilitate the transfer of those technologies from China to Ghana.

The Executive Secretary of the EC, Dr Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkorah, and the acting UNDP Resident Representative, Gita Honwana Welch, signed for their respective institutions at a ceremony in Accra witnessed by a Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr John Jinapor.

Electricity supply

About 25 per cent of the country’s population did not have access to grid electricity, according to Dr Ofosu-Ahenkorah.

Renewable energy, therefore, provides an alternative source to bridge that gap, as the government seeks to diversity the country’s energy mix.

Essentially, the project seeks to promote Ghana’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Action Plan which promotes the productive use of energy.

Ghana is the second African country, after Zambia, to undertake such a project with China, which is said to have 60 years’ experience in renewable energy production.

The signing of the agreement follows two-year preparatory work by the EC and other partners on the renewable energy initiative.

Mr Jinapor said the project could not have come at a better time, in the wake of challenges in the energy sector and as the government made efforts to diversify the country’s energy mix.

He, therefore, pledged his ministry’s support to ensure the success of the project.

Foreign partners

The Deputy Head of Mission and Head of Cooperation at the Danish Embassy in Accra, Karin Poulsen, said Ghana and Denmark had been collaborating in renewable energy development in Ghana for some time now.

“This is truly, for us, a landmark occasion and we are proud to be part of it,” she said in reference to the signing ceremony.

The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Sun Baohong, said the project demonstrated that China and the UNDP had a common commitment towards Ghana.

She expressed delight in the fact that the UNDP chose China for the project and pledged her government’s commitment to ensure its success.

For her part, Madam Welch observed that nowadays partnership for development had become multiple in nature and lauded the China-Ghana South-South Cooperation on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer.

“We want the project to represent the best practice in South-South cooperation,” she added.

Writer’s Email: kofi.yeboah@graphic.com.gh