Regional Maritime University and REDAVIA Commission Solar Farm

The Regional Maritime University (RMU) in collaboration with REDAVIA Rental Solar Power has commissioned a three-container loads solar farm panel to generate 0.5 megawatts of power to reduce electricity tariffs at the University.

With the collaboration, REDAVIA will also build a world-class solar laboratory on RMU Campus at no cost to the University to support the University’s Master of Science in Renewable Engineering programme, which commences in September, this year.

Professor Elvis Nyarko, Vice Chancellor of RMU, speaking at the commissioning said the solar farm would make the University the first to have such facility in the sub-region, to train students in solar and other renewable energy technologies to the highest level.

He said the three out of the five containers installed would supply 266-kilo watts of solar power to the University during daylight and even on cloudy days.

“RMU is currently experiencing significant reduction in energy cost, which will become even more important after the installation of all the five containers,” he added.

The Vice-Chancellor said REDAVIA solar power were transparent and affordable, as they were mainly charged as monthly rental fees, based on consumption and the farm also leads to a notable reduction in carbon emissions as a result of lower consumption of grid power and on-site diesel power.

Prof Nyarko said RMU was planning to expand the solar farm and add on-site energy storage to eliminate power grid outages that were currently impacting the University’s operations on a regular basis, especially at night.

He expressed the hope that the University would eventually own its solar farm and train more renewable energy engineers of Ghana and the sub-region as a whole.

Mr Erwin Spolders, Chief Executive Officer of REDAVIA, said the Company would support the introduction and establishment of a new educational track around renewable energy, by setting up a Renewable Energy Institute in collaboration with the RMU in Ghana.

He said REDAVIA’s involvement would see ongoing knowledge transfer and staff support to help build the curriculum and practice laboratory with the aim to educate  and  prepare  African  students  for  engineering  jobs  in  this  sector,  to ensure  an  ongoing sustainable development in Ghana.

“REDAVIA’s decision to enter the Ghanaian market is based on an ambitious strategy and vision of long term involvement in the country with the aim to open a local office, hire a local team and transfer German knowledge and technology to Ghana,” he said.

He said it would connect into the existing energy infrastructure that currently consisted of the national grid and supporting diesel generators.

He said the solar resource, coupled with REDAVIA’S engineering capabilities and the Company’s ability to build up Ghanaian solar expertise could enable organisations across the country to capture the financial and environmental win-win of solar energy.

Source: GNA