Ghana�s Energy Sector Receives US$4 Billion Boost

A sod-cutting ceremony has been held at Ada for a US$4 billion 1,000 megawatts power plant which will use tidal waves to generate electricity. The Minister of State in charge of Private Sector Development, Mr Rasheed Pelpuo, who represented the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, said generating energy from renewable sources had brought hope to the country since it would reduce the cost of energy generation. �Harvesting energy from God-given resources is an opportunity that should not be missed, especially since it will spare the country the use of our scarce foreign exchange in buying fuel,� Mr Pelpuo said. The $4 billion project, which is being developed by a private sector energy company; TC�s Energy, will start by generating 14MW of power before scaling up to 1,000MW. The President�s representative stated that the current challenges in the energy sector called for innovative programmes to enable the country to surmount them, and that was the reason why the government was supporting investors in the renewable energy sector. He further stated that in view of the pressures on government finances, there was the need for the private sector to join hands with the government and that was why the Private Public Partnership was supporting investors to develop the energy sector and called on the Energy Commission and others to continue working with them to achieve that dream. The government has made a commitment to increase the current installed power generation capacity of 2,845.5MW to 5000MW in the medium term. It will do this in partnership with independent power producers IPPs) such as TC�s Power. Under the country�s energy policy and Renewable Energy Act, 10 per cent of power generation will come from renewable sources such as hydro, wind, biomass and solar by 2020 and the government is providing incentives to attract IPPs. Currently, about 32 provisional licences have been granted IPPs to produce power from renewable sources. A Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Benjamin Dagadu, said it was the government�s policy to make electrical energy available for industrial as well as domestic use and also make Ghana a net exporter of power. �The government is, therefore, encouraging the participation of IPPs in the power generation business and it is expected that most proposed capacity would come through private sector participation,� he added. The Executive Chairman of TC�s Energy, Mr Anthony Opoku, thanked all stakeholders, especially the chiefs and people of Ada, who had helped the company �to come this far.� He said the solution to the country�s energy challenges lay in the use of renewable energy and the most appropriate is the tidal and sea waves, which research and investigations had proved to be suitable for the shores of Ghana. He indicated that the sod-cutting ceremony was the beginning of the fulfillment of a dream that started a few years ago and said he believed that the sea wave technology was Ghana�s answer to its energy problems.