Ghana to access €100m German support to support renewable energy sector

Ghana will receive €100 million this year from the German government under its 'Compact with Africa’ Programme to support the country’s renewable energy sector.

Germany is providing the funding through its technical cooperation agency, GIZ, and development bank, KfW.

The two countries are currently finalising modalities of the financial support which will include technical and vocational training for Ghanaians in the renewable energy sector.

Event

The Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy, Mr Hans-Helge Sander, disclosed this at the opening of the 2017 West Africa Clean Energy and Environment (WACEE) Exhibition and Conference in Accra on Tuesday.

“Ghana has been named as one of the three countries in Africa to benefit from the bilateral reform partnership within the G-20 ‘Compact with Africa’ Programme. The initiative will bring up to an additional €100 million to support the renewable energy sector in Ghana,” he said.

Mr Sander explained that the financial support was a government-to-government arrangement, which meant that the federal government would task GIZ and KfW to implement Germany’s contribution.

“I am pointing this out because lately, several private companies have approached the embassy with requests for information about how the private sector can benefit from the German offer.

“As I said, there will be no direct opening for cooperation between the German government and private companies,” the deputy head of mission stated.

However, he added that there would be options for participation through public tenders and calls for proposal when KfW, GIZ and the Ghanaian government start implementing the funding from the compact.

Asked how the fund would be implemented, Mr Sander told the Daily Graphic that the implementation would be done through the Government-goes-Solar initiative or other programmes.

“Details of the implementation are still under discussion between the two governments,” he added.

Measures

The Director In-charge of Renewable and Alternative Energy at the Ministry of Energy, Mr Wisdom Ahiataku-Togobo, who represented the minister of energy, said the government was putting in place policies and measures to help attract private sector investment into the renewable energy sector.

“Ghana has followed the footsteps of Germany and has enacted a Renewable Energy Act which seeks to create the enabling environment for attracting private sector investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency,” he said.

He said the country had also realised some modest growth in the renewable energy sector as it could now boast a 22.5-megawatt (MW) capacity of utility scale solar farm.

“We can also boast a waste-to-energy power plant in operation at Ashaiman which has tremendously improved the sanitation situation in the Ashaiman District,” he said, adding that the government intended to replicate that in other districts.

WACEE 2017

Mr Ahiataku-Togobo said the WACEE had become the leading fair on renewable and waste management in West Africa, adding that the platform would offer stakeholders the opportunity to engage with key players in the sector.

The three-day event is on the theme, “Renewable Energy and Environmental Technologies in the Context of Sustainable Development-Future Challenges and Directions.”

More than 250 exhibitors, mainly from Europe, West Africa and Ghana, are exhibiting their wares and solutions in water treatment, renewable energy and waste management in the three-day event.