Ministry to distribute free solar panels

The Ministry of Power will this year roll out a countrywide project to distribute free solar panels, with back-up batteries, to small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). Dubbed, the “Off Grid Solar Project”, the project will seek to ensure stable power supply for businesses and also wean small-scale businesses off the national grid.

The targeted group include barbers, seamstresses, tailors, hairdressers, street vendors, among other businesses.

The Deputy Minister of Power, Mr John Jinapor, announced this when an 18-member delegation from Finland visited the ministry to familiarise itself with the sector to explore potential areas for investment and collaboration.

Delegation visit

Led by the Finnish Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury, the delegation was made up of businessmen and women in the SME power sector in Finland.

Mr Jinapor urged the delegation to collaborate with Ghana and provide the country with technical assistance to implement the solar distribution project, since Finland had an ambitious renewable energy sector.

With the goal of generating 10 per cent of its generation mix from renewable sources, he said, Ghana had a long way to achieve its target.

Currently, he said, renewable energy provided one per cent to the mix, adding that there was a renewable energy framework, the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 832), in place to ensure that the target was achieved.

Deeper relations

Mr Jinapor, however, said the country would need strong collaboration with countries such as Finland which had the expertise to support Ghana as it worked hard to curtail the power crisis.

Currently, he said, Ghana was working assiduously to expand its generation capacity to more than 5,000 megawatts, while plans to generate indigenous gas to power the plants were also in place.

He said the distribution and the transmission sectors of the Power Ministry were areas which could be considered for investment.

The ministry, he said, was looking forward to stronger collaboration to deepen the bilateral relations between the two countries.

Power sector

For her part, Madam Suomela-Chowdhury said the power sector was a very important sector where Finnish companies were ready to collaborate and work with their Ghanaian counterparts.

With its expertise and experience, she said, Finland would collaborate with Ghana to ensure reliable and efficient power.