Biogas Project To Add 600MW Power To National Grid

Nearly 600 megawatts (MW) of power will be added to the national grid from a biogas facility four years from now, President John Dramani Mahama has said. The Norwegian company implementing the project, APSO Ghana Limited, has planted more than two million trees in the Brong Ahafo Region to bring the project into fruition. President Mahama made this known at a joint news conference with the Norwegian Prime Minister, Ms Erna Solberg, Wednesday, the second day of his official visit to that country. He explained that the biogas project was one of a number of projects geared towards increasing power generation in Ghana, as well as diversifying the energy mix. The President said beyond providing electricity, the biogas project was designed to provide employment and also protect the environment. He commended Norway for its support in building the capacity of Ghanaians in the management of the gas and petroleum sector, as well as supporting the implementation of safe environmental practices. Ebola outbreak While commending Norway for its support to Ghana towards the prevention and management of a potential Ebola outbreak in the country, President Mahama said the outbreak signalled the need for governments to invest more in the public health sector to deal with any disease outbreak. He expressed optimism that with the support coming from the international community, the disease would be contained soon. ECOWAS Summit President Mahama said Ghana would, on November 6, 2014, host an ECOWAS Heads of State Summit with representatives of global agencies and governments to deliberate and come up with measures to contain the Ebola disease. He expressed the hope that Norway would be represented. Answering a question on Ghana's preparedness to deal with Ebola, he said the country had set up three treatment centres in Tema, Kumasi and Tamale, while a national response team, together with an inter-ministerial committee, was supervising the processes. He said all passengers on flights to Ghana were screened at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to help isolate and deal with any passenger with an elevated temperature, while the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) was also equipped to investigate any Ebola case. Prime Minister Ms Solberg noted that there was potential for increased co-operation between the two countries, contending that because of the level of transparency associated with doing business in Ghana, many Norwegian companies could invest in Ghana. She said the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (NORFUND) was available to support Norwegian companies interested in viable commercial activities in Ghana. Ms Solberg said Norway was not only supporting Ghana to prevent the spread of Ebola into the country and its management if need be but also sending medical support to the affected countries. Seminar on Energy Later at a seminar on energy, Mr Finn T. Jacobsen, a representative of APSO Ghana Ltd, commended President Mahama for what he termed the massive investment and attention paid to the energy sector in Ghana. According to him, Ghana had not witnessed such attention and investment in the energy sector since the construction of the Akosombo Dam. Responding to concerns raised by some potential investors in the energy sector, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, said the requisite legislative framework had been enacted to support investors. As a result, he said, the government was pursuing aggressive reforms in the energy sector to deal with all challenges.