The Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has called on development partners to support the country’s efforts to move from fossil fuel to renewable and clean energies to promote the environment.
According to him, the government alone could not finance the country’s energy transition plan which will cost a lot to implement.
Opening the Power and Energy Expo 2023 in Accra yesterday, Dr Prempeh in a speech read for him by the Director of Petroleum at the Energy Ministry, Kwame Amoah, said the global community would equally benefit if Ghana transited from fossil fuel to cleaner energy.
The three-day event which opened yesterday and would end on Friday is being attended by over 100 exhibitors and over 4,000 businesses in the electrical and power sectors and professional buyers from all over the world for the event.
It is being organised by the Big4Sure Events in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Dr Prempeh said in 2022, Ghana launched its energy transition framework at Sharm El Sheikh during COP 27 and called for partnership to accelerate its implementation and said SE4ALL and Bloomberg were currently supporting Ghana to develop an investor friendly energy transition plan for Ghana.
“This when completed will catalyse over US$540billion investments into the clean energy space in Ghana by 2070. The installed capacity would reach 83GigaWatts, comprising nuclear 50 per cent, natural gas 30 per cent and 20 per cent renewable energy mix which will lead to the achievement of our net-zero goal,” he stated.
Dr Prempeh said one of the most compelling global conversations in recent time was how the world could ensure adequate access to energy for all its citizens.
He said the government was pursuing a number of initiatives and programmes to ensure that the country was able to meet its increasing power needs due to the growing population and mentioned some of the initiatives as the National Electrification Scheme, Self-Help Electrification Programme.
“As part of the medium-term targets, the Ministry of Energy is committed to achieving 10 per cent renewable energy installed capacity in the national energy mix by 2030. This will help achieve our Nationally Determined Contributions commitments under the Paris Agreement,” he stated.
Dr Prempeh said the Ministry of Energy was excited to be collaborating with Big4Sure Events and other partners for the ongoing Power and Energy Ghana Expo 2023 in Accra.
“This is an exciting opportunity for players across the power value chain – manufacturers, exporters, suppliers, distributors, contractors and so many others – to collaborate, exchange ideas and explore further opportunities in the sector and I have no doubt that it will continue to grow in stature in the coming years and serve as an important power hub in the West African sub-region and beyond,” he stated.
Dr Prempeh said the Ministry of Energy would continue to grow strategic relationships with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that Ghana’s energy was sufficiently responsive to the needs and challenges of an evolving 21st century society.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
