The Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government has installed more renewable energy than any other government in the country.
He said the government was responsible for approximately 75 per cent of the country’s renewable energy stock of 151 MegaWatt of power (MWp).
“Out of the total of 151MWp of installed renewable energy capacity, 114MWp was implemented by the NPP government,” he noted.
The minister said this on Tuesday when he took his turn to speak at the inauguration of a 13MWp Solar Power Plant at Kaleo in the Upper West Region by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The plant which is equipped with control room, medium voltage switch guard for evacuation of power, containerized substation and transformers, among others was installed by the Elecnor SA, from Spain with funding from the German Development Bank.
Dr Amin said history would be kind to President Akufo-Addo for being the President to have achieved the largest deployment of modern renewable energy capacity integration in the country since independence.
“This makes Ghana a leader in modern renewable energy deployment in West Africa,” he pitched and said the effort was in line with the country’s Renewable EnergyMasterplan which was also developed by the NPP government.
He mentioned that the goal of the energy sector was to install a minimum capacity of 1,350MWp of modern renewable energy by 2030 and expressed confidence that target was possible under the leadership of the NPP.
He added that the government would continue to ensure that most of the new power projects were positioned at strategic geographic locations of the country in order to improve access to electricity, provide jobs and draw the engineering practice and technology closer to the doors of Ghanaians.
The President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, Naa Dikomwine Domalae while, commending government for the timely delivery of the project, also thanked the chiefs of the area for releasing land for the installation of the facility.
He encouraged President Akufo-Addo to embark on more of such interventions to provide jobs and enhance development of the area in order to reduce north-south migration of the youth.
Mr Kofi Tutu, the Board Chairman of the Volta River Authority which was responsible for the implementation of the project, used the opportunity to commend the staff of the Authority for their oversight responsibility in ensuring that the project was delivered on time.
As part of its corporate social responsibilities, Mr Tutu announced that the Authority would rehabilitate the Kaleo District Assembly Primary School and provide it with sanitation facilities.
“We will continue to grant access to students of technical universities in the Northern regions to undertake practical studies on solar power generation at all our solar facilities,” he added.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, WA
