Revolve Magazine publication
Ghana. West Africa´s Energy
hub
With over
75% of the primary energy coming from its own renewable resources, at first
glance one could conclude that Ghana today is close to self-sufficiency;
however, the actual rates of access to energy services are low. A favorite for
business and entrepreneur opportunities, the country is building a solid
commitment with policy, technology and industry players to emerge as an African
champion of energy access from renewable sources before 2020.
Today´s
Ghana is rushing towards achieving energy independence, being the 1st
west African country in 2012 world Bank ranking for doing business and 5th
African behind Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana and Tunisia.
Recent
discoveries have awakened international interests and put Ghana on the list of
energy-relevant regions of the world, despite the fact Ghana’s gross energy
supplies have traditionally depended on biomass (often traded on a
non-formal-and therefore recorded-basis),
oil and less significantly,
hydroelectric plants.
Given that
75% of Ghana’s primary energy is obtained from its own energy resources it
could seem it is close to self-sufficiency. However this data does not reflect
in what way is the energy used nor its rate of access. As observable in figure
2, about 40% of total consumption occurs under some form of modern energy, and
comparing the two figures, it is remarkable the difference between the total
primary energy and the final energy use, from which we can confer losses (15%)
are responsible.
6.8 M Ghanaians have no access
to electricity.
Despite
having a national average rate of access to electricity of 60%, which is quite
an accomplishment compared to neighboring west African countries, 6.8 million Ghanaians
have no access to electricity. This lack of access occurs mostly in northeast
and northwest rural areas where the access is estimated to be about 25%.
The
strategic National Energy Plan, goals to achieve 100% electrification rate,
including 30% of renewable energy sources among rural areas by 2020. This
second target is also quoted as a contributor to the goal of achieving a 100%
security of supply of fostered by periodic episodes of drought experienced in
recent years, affecting hydroelectric generation capacity.
Considering
the figures on energy uses and access, our initial conclusion on Ghana’s energy
clean self-sufficiency becomes clearly precipitated, but the good news is that
the country is taking solid steps towards achieving it before 2020.
After
numerous pilot projects by international developers, the policy icebreaker was
the inclusion in the SNEP (2006) objective to increase the use of renewable
energy sources to 10%.
In December
2011, the renewable energy act 832 was passed by the Ghanaian Parliament,
enabling the completion of the aforementioned goals. Such a policy stepping stone would not have
been possible without the backing of Ghanaian research, industrial and civil
society, as well as the international investors that are shaping Ghana as the
renewable energy hub of West Africa with multiple components:
Research
and Technology hub:
Linked to top U.S. Asian and European
counterparts Kwame Nkrumah University of science and Technology has become
reference in solar energy and biomass training hundreds of local scientists and
engineers. The feasibility of electricity generation from biomass will be
analyzed in a joint study by the Kumasi institute of technology, Energy and
Environment (KITE), KNUST and the Barcelona tech UPC.
Financial
Hub:
The
country’s stability and robust policy framework on renewable, together with the
incentives put in place, are crucial for national and international investors.
Industrial
and Transitional Hub:
Ghanaian
Industry has also reached renewable, which today counts on several companies
with large experience both national and internationally. Foreign investors can
easily find local business partners. As for today Ghana’s aim is to keep public
and private investments flowing. A goal being fostered by Minister for Energy
and Petroleum who announced advancing the target year to 2016 for achieving
universal access to electricity in Ghana. Due to that, large investors are
competing to build the biggest solar plant in Africa
