Celebrating 60th milestone: VRA moves to reduce power cost

The Volta River Authority (VRA) has begun an ambitious move to drive down the cost of power in the country through innovation and digitisation, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the authority, Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, has said.

The move, he said, would help boost economic activities and ensure the competitiveness of Ghanaian businesses.

“Innovation and digitisation will be the major enablers of the business, so we are preparing ourselves for the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technology advancements that will manifest globally,” he said.

Digitisation, he said, would facilitate the integration of the other sources of clean energy into Ghana’s power generation mix and help the VRA better monitor and maintain its generation assets for improved, stable and reliable power operations.

“We see a future for clean, cost-efficient, diversified sources of energy mainly through solar, wind and biomass," he said.

Mr Antwi-Darkwa was speaking at the 60th anniversary of the VRA in Accra yesterday.

The 60th anniversary of the state-owned power generator was held on the theme: “Celebrating 60 years in the power business: Our legacy, our future”.

The event, held under strict COVID-19 protocols, brought together players in the power generation and distribution sector, including the Managing directors of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr Kwame Agyeman-Budu; the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO), Mr Jonathan Amoako Baah, and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO), Mr Moses Tawiah.

E Mobility

Mr Antwi-Darkwa noted that E-mobility, which encompasses the use of fully electric, conventional hybrid, plug-in hybrid, as well as hydrogen, to fuel vehicles, offered another business opportunity for the VRA to explore.

In the short term, he said, the VRA would establish charging stations for electric vehicles across the country and explore the means of establishing an assemblying plant for electric vehicles in the near future.

Smart city

He said the authority had, as part of its digitisation drive, commenced a project to convert Akosombo into a ‘Smart City’ by transforming it to become the technology hub of the country.

He said that would be done by leveraging the infrastructure and human skill sets that were abundant in the Akosombo area.

Aside from that, he said, the VRA was also working on a rooftop solar project at its head office in Accra to serve as a precursor to the establishment of solar parks and rooftop solar facilities in the Akosombo, Aboadze and Akuse enclaves.

Already, he said, the authority had embarked on a number of renewable projects to meet the national demand in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Renewable energy

The projects, he said, included the 60-Megawatt (MW) Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam Project which had an additional solar component of 50MW.

The authority was also constructing the 19.6MW Kaleo/Lawra solar plant and a wind project in Ada and Anloga, according to the CEO.

“We will also continue to nurse other potential renewable projects on the Oti River, as well as a pipeline of solar projects at Bongo, Walewale and other parts of the country,” he said.

Partnership

Mr Amoako Baah congratulated the VRA on the success it had chalked up in the past 60 years and encouraged its leadership to remain dedicated to the development of the power sector by maintaining its leadership role.

Mr Agyeman-Budu, for his part, noted that the umbilical cord of the ECG was tied to that of the VRA and called for a close working relationship to help address some of the challenges in the power distribution sector.