| As with all developing nations, the need for a stable electricity supply is vital and the West African nation ofGhanais no exception. While its energy need is keeping pace with the country’s growing population, a rise in both domestic and industrial use is placing a strain on available power supplies.
According to the Ministry of Energy,Ghanahas an installed capacity of 1,960 megawatts made up of hydro and thermal facilities. Electricity demand is currently 1,400 megawatt-hours and growing at about 10 percent per annum. It is also estimated thatGhanarequires capacity additions of about 200 megawatts to catch up with increasing demand in the medium to long term.
Dr. Alfred Ofosu Ahenkorah, Acting Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission, has indicated that the demand for energy inGhanais expected to increase from about 6,900 gigawatt-hours in 2000 to 24,000 gigawatt-hours by 2020.
The existing power plants are unable to attain full generation capacity as a result of limitations in fuel supply owing to rising fuel prices and uncertainty in rainfall and water inflows into the hydroelectric power facilities. Frequent power cuts in the country, with its resultant load shedding, have been a concern not only to the business community inGhanabut also to President Mahama’s government. With these challenges, energy experts have turned to alternative sources of power.
Ghanais well endowed with renewable energy resources, particularly solar and wind energy. The development and use of renewable and waste energy resources have the potential to ensureGhana’s energy security and also mitigate the negative climate change impact of energy supply and also solve national sanitation problems.
However, a major challenge facing renewable energy development is the high cost of these energy sources owing to the current state of their technology. Moreover, the government has shown enough commitment to the exploitation of renewable and waste energy to enhance energy supplies as well as improve sanitation in the country.
Between October 2011 and June 2012, an additional 4,300 solar systems had been installed, which brought the total solar system installations in deprived off-grid communities to 9,536 since 2009. The solar systems provide basic power for vaccine refrigeration, lighting and operating communication equipment including radio, computers, mobile phones, etc. The remote public facilities include rural clinics, schools and security outposts.
A health worker at Amoam-Achiase, Ejisu-Juaben, Western Region, Esther Dompreh, working with the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Compound, is happy about the installation of solar lights in their community health center. She said it was now possible to work into the night and also store medicines in fridges.
“The solar lights have helped reduce infant mortality rates not only in our region but also other regions in the country that are provided with solar lights,” she told ChinAfrica.
The government had also developed a program which replaced kerosene lanterns with solar lanterns in remote off-grid communities nationwide. The cost benefit of this program is enormous as the annual subsidy on kerosene is enough to provide over 400,000 solar lanterns to poor rural households.
InGhana’s 2014 budget presented to parliament, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said in order to facilitate the energy sector’s objective of increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the national energy mix from the current 0.01 percent to 10 percent by 2020, a number of projects were undertaken. These included solar systems in remote rural areas servicing schools, cooking stoves and mini-hydro projects.
Amina Fuseni, a 15-year-old junior high school student at Kasina-Nankana in the Upper East Region inGhana, has been benefiting immensely from the installation of solar lights in her village school. “I’m now able to do my homework because of the solar lamps the government has provided for our home. Previously, we had to sleep early because we did not have light to study,” she said.
(Reporting from Ghana) | 
