Gov’t Will Make Electricity Affordable – Bawumia

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said Government was working to bring down the cost of electricity generation to below 10 US Cents per kilowatt hour to make electricity affordable to Ghanaians.

To that end, he said, one of the key changes going forward, was that the Ministry of Energy and the Electricity Company of Ghana had been tasked to use competitive tendering procedures for the procurement of renewable energy electricity.

Under the scheme, the Vice President said the winner of the tender would be guaranteed a Power Purchase Agreement, Connection Agreement and Government Enhancement to make it possible for it to easily reach financial close and ensure that the nation got value for money in the procurement of renewable energy electricity.

Vice President Bawumia announced this when he officially opened the Fourth Ghana Renewable Energy Fair in Accra, under the theme: “Renewable Energy: Exploiting Energy Resources at the District Level”.

The three-day event provides a platform to promote renewable energy technologies and to create linkages between the various stakeholders in the renewable energy space, including researchers, entrepreneurs, industries and consumers.

The fair, jointly organised by the Energy Commission and the Ministry of Energy, involved conferences and exhibition of renewable technologies, which attracted captains of industry, energy experts and the development partners.

Vice President Bawumia said Government would promote the development of cost effective utility-scalable solar energy projects, which would accelerate the development of mini-grid solutions in off-grid and island communities for lighting, irrigation and other economic activities.

He said the contract award would be subjected to competitive bidding to enable government to adopt the most efficient technologies and achieve value for money.

He said Government was supporting the Volta River Authority to develop two utility-scale PV plants totalling 12 MW in the Upper West Region and 75 MW wind power plant at Anloga.

He urged the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority to seriously consider the use of cost effective utility-scale renewable energy technologies in their irrigation schemes for areas that are remote from the national grid.

Vice President Bawumia challenged the Energy Commission to use its mandate to promote renewable energy and to proactively engage the relevant Ministries and Agencies as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), to assist in identifying areas for cost effective utility-scale renewable energy technologies to enhance the country’s development plans.

He said government inherited a number of power purchase agreements for the supply of renewable energy electricity, which was signed by the previous government during the energy crises, some with tariffs as high as 18 US cents or more per kilowatt hour.

“As the price of solar panels has fallen, “rooftop” solar systems have become increasingly attractive to house owners and businesses.

“The National Rooftop Solar programme was introduced to facilitate the adoption of solar PV systems in our homes. Government has now decided to widen the scope of the programme to include installation of solar PV systems for selected non-electrified rural electricity.

“This is part of efforts towards the achievement of universal access to electricity by 2020,” the Vice President stated.

According to him, the Energy Commission piloted the installation of solar home systems for 200 households in the Kwahu East and South Districts in the Eastern Region, last year, and it was expecting that the Commission would scale up same project in other parts of the country that are yet to be connected to the national grid.

He said Government was working to achieve the vision of universal access to electricity, saying that, the electricity access rate now stood at about 85%.