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Government will from now to the next 12 years, deploy a total of 2 million solar lanterns to households in rural Ghana, as part of measures to phase out the use of kerosene lanterns from the system.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who announced this at the International Solar Alliance Founding Conference in Delhi, India, said government was scaling up renewable energy in the country’s power mix.

The conference aims at paving the way for innovation and aggregation in the solar sector while encouraging strong partnership to mobilise more than 1000 trillion dollars for investment towards capacity building measures, policy innovation and projects by year 2030.

“…The deployment of 2 million solar lanterns to replace kerosene lanterns currently being used by our rural non-electrified households,” Nana Akufo-Addo said. 

President Akufo-Addo observed it was unfortunate that despite the abundance of sunshine in Ghana, the country’s energy mix comprises 59 per cent of fossil fuels, 40 per cent of hydro and only one per cent solar.

He said considering the fact that the country is located around the equatorial sunbelt and enjoys high level of solar radiation all year round, there is the need to exploit it to significantly contribute to the renewable energy in the country’s power generation mix.

“Government is keen on developing utility scale solar energy projects as well as accelerating the development of many great solutions in off grid island communities for lighting, irrigation and other economic activities,” he assured.

Nana Akufo-Addo said in line with that as well as the Paris Agreement, Ghana will pursue a number of solar energy projects by 2030.

These he said includes scaling up installation of 2,000 solar systems for households, commercial and government facilities in urban and selected non electrify rural.

Government will also establish “55 mini grid electrification systems with an average capacity of a 100kw” he said.

“A major strategy to achieving these targets is to build the relevant domestic capacity in the manufacture and assembling of solar energy systems and accessories within Ghana,” he observed.

The President noted these projects would create “great job opportunities” for the youth of Ghana.

Touching on emission of greenhouse gasses, he said even though Ghana is not a major emitter, it has demonstrated its commitment under the Paris agreement to lower unconditionally, its greenhouse emission by 15 per cent by 2030.

Business friendly environment

Nana Akufo-Addo used the opportunity to tout Ghana’s business environment to attract investors into the country, especially in the renewable energy sector.

“Ghana is a haven of peace and security. My government is key on building the most business friendly environment for investment, especially investment in the renewable energy sector,” he said.

He told the conference that security and rule of law works in Ghana, adding, “investments are secured and by the end of this year, we are projected to be the fastest growing economy in the world.