Ghana has one of Africa’s highest rates of access to electricity. In 2014 this was estimated at 72%, with over 87% in urban areas and nearly 50% in rural areas. The country also exports power to its neighbours, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso.
The Ghanaian power industry is unbounded, comprising generation utilities, transmission and distribution companies, and independent power producers. Nevertheless, the West African nation has been facing perennial power rationing over the years due to fuel supply challenges. Ghana is looking to diversify its power resources.
The Republic of Ghana has been proactive in defining targets and goals for sustainable development. The Ghanaian government has aimed to build an infrastructure to achieve 10% of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies as part of the national demand for energy in Ghana by 2020, according to the Renewable Energy Act (2011) documented in the 832nd Act of the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana, which has recently been amended to 2030, was translated into the Generation Master Plan as 10 percent of the electricity generation mix. This focused exclusively on grid-connected applications, essentially 6 percent disposable and 4 percent variable renewable energy power. Investor interest in developing variable renewable energy power has increased at a time when a thermal power generation is expensive, and backup capacity in nearing zero.
Other policies and strategic frameworks regarding renewable energy include Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program in Ghana (SREP) Investment Plan (2015), the Strategic National Energy Plan (2006-2020), Energy Sector Strategy and Development plan, and Bioenergy Policy for Ghana (2010-onwards). These policies unanimously aim to expand and develop renewable energy opportunities in Ghana by building practical frameworks and formulating constructive projects.
In spite of this comparative success, annual demand growth of 10% calls for increased generation capacity. Disruptions in natural gas supply have reduced the production of thermal power plants. Since 2012, utilities have resorted to load shedding to meet the peak demand of 1,745 megawatts (MW).
Ghana’s rich array of renewable energy resources can address energy insecurity and help to expand energy access. These resources include, biomass, solar and wind energy.
Solar energy is a highly attractive and emerging renewable energy in Ghana due to environmental and social factors. Withal, the solar market remains quite stagnant due to budget constraints and conventional attachment to energy sources. The energy commission of Ghana reported that the country’s own abundant solar energy of daily irradiation levels ranging between 4.5-6.0 kWh/m2/day, with the highest levels mostly in the north of the country, and the amount of sunshine ranges from 1,800-3,000 hours annually.
Daily Briefing: Ghana Sign Agreement with Switzerland for Climate Action
Diverse projects supervised by licensed companies can thus ignite investments and expansion of solar energy. A sum of 8 MW of grid-connected installations were operational at the end of 2014, and so far only one utility-scale solar PV facility (20 MW) is under construction, but the Energy Commission has issued provisional licenses for more than 1.8 GW of generating capability.
Ghana has significant hydropower potential that is currently being utilised by the Akosombo, Kpong and Bui hydro plants, which supply a total of 1,580 MW. At present, there are 22 small and 17 medium-sized unexploited sites with capacities ranging from 15-100 MW and a combined total capacity of around 800 MW.
Bioenergy is another potential renewable energy that could benefit the country’s power system. The general term of “bio energy” includes biomass, biofuel, and municipal waste-to-energy. Biomass in the form of charcoal are widely used in rural regions of Ghana – thanks to energy crops such as jatropha and oil palm fruit, but data from the energy commission show that its usage is diminishing, aligning with the government’s long term purpose.
Substantial investments have been made in the production of both and the Government has plans to further increase output. Investigation highlighted the country’s potential for biodiesel production from oil palm fruit, in which it is also one of the leaders in Africa, based on the increase in production over the last ten years. Biomass co-generation plants, which use sawmill residue and oil palm waste have a total capacity of over 6 MW.
On the other hand, Biofuel did not undergo as much attention as other energy sources, but could be implemented in automobile or farming industries. Moreover, waste-to-energy is another sustainable option as the organic composition makes up more than 60 percent of the total waste in Ghana.
The energy commission of Ghana reported that wind energy could be another potential power source, although it’s not necessarily the most viable gateway in the face of electricity shortage. The wind capacity in Ghana is seen as marginal average annual wind speeds are 4-6m/s at 50m above sea level along the coast and on some islands. Nevertheless, some areas near the border with Togo have wind speeds above 8m/s. Wind resource assessments were taken at eight sites on the coast between 2011 and 2013. The results depict the average monthly wind speed at 60m elevation. This highlights the potential for development of approximately 300 MW of wind farm capacity.
Taxes on energy consumption are being used by the government to finance power development, including renewals. Nonetheless, institutional and policy issues have constrained market development for renewable energy, including large hydropower.
The demand sector included the residential, commercial and service, agricultural and fisheries, transportation, and the industrial. The supply sector, including the fuel supply options, power generation technologies, generation mix, greenhouse gas emissions, costs for electricity sub-sectors, and job opportunities.
Meanwhile, the performance of Ghana’s renewable energy policy on grid connected electricity has been poor compared to its target. The vital reasons for this unsatisfactory performance may be attributed to partial implementation of policies, lack of market driven support schemes, lack of pricing policy framework, weak grid network, limited access to funds and inconsistencies in renewable energy development strategies.
Moreover, legal and regulatory issues such as lack of legislative instruments by regulatory agencies incumbent upon achieving the renewable energy policy target, lack of independence of institutional structure and the lack of regulatory assessment are some of the key reasons behind this argument.
The implication of these issues is that, investors lose confidence in the government’s ability to maintain and achieve both current and future renewable energy policy goals. Investors become uncertain and this leads to underinvestment in renewable projects and subsequently, failure in achieving renewable energy targets.
The time has therefore come for the Government of Ghana (GoG) to assess the grid conditions to accommodate variable renewable energy. This will further help establish technology-specific targets and related definite capacity additions, thereby increasing market confidence and competition. This may lead to reductions in power generation costs.
Consequently, the Government must show the same effort and commitment to renewable energy as they have shown for non-renewable energy sources over the years. Ghana should comprehensively harmonize renewable energy, regulatory and fiscal policies with the domestic electricity pricing regime.
Market driven support systems should be prioritized for cost effectiveness and minimum governmental influence. These reforms can help eradicate some of the major hindrance to sustainable electrification in Ghana while the lessons provide a learning curve for other African countries.
Be First to Comment