Hon John Abdulai Jinapor
Yapei Kusawgu
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. On behalf of the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, kindly permit me to extend my sincere gratitude to this august House for the opportunity to brief it on the steps being taken by the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition towards our transition towards clean and renewable energy.
Mr Speaker, I would like to acknowledge Hon Tweneboa Kodua Fokuo, Member of Parliament (MP) for Manso Nkwanta, for his remarks on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 77/327, which designates 26th January, as the International Day on Clean Energy, marking the anniversary of the founding of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in 2009. Ghana, a founding member of IRENA, continues to be a key advocate for renewable energy development and climate action globally. I commend the UNGA for this recognition.
Mr Speaker, in the face of the global climate crisis, the Ministry is working towards transitioning Ghana to a netzero energy economy by 2070 in an equitable and just manner. In 2022, the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition developed the Ghana Energy Transition Framework, which was launched at United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt. This 40-year roadmap targets a future where Ghana’s electricity demand would reach about 380,000 gigawatt hours (GWh), supported by 83GW of installed generation capacity, including 21GW from renewables. The transition framework, is estimated to cost about US$560 billion and seeks to deliver affordable electricity at a generation cost under 4.5 cents/kilowatt hour (kWh). This focuses on four key policies thus: decarbonisation, energy access and security, energy efficiency and cross-cutting issues.
Mr Speaker, to complement this long-term vision, I wish to highlight specific actions and plans that the Ministry is pursing and implementing to harness renewable energy resources for Ghana's socio-economic growth in an inclusive manner. First, we intend to pursue a public sector energy efficiency. This is aimed at addressing rising public sector debts in the energy sector. We have developed the Public Facilities Sustainable Energy Action Plan (PF-SEAP) with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
This plan seeks to mobilise US$181 million in climate finance, focusing on solar energy and energy efficiency measures in public institutions and buildings to reduce Government’s electricity costs and ease sector debts. I am pleased to report that we have secured initial funding from the German Government under the Government Goes Solar Project, the Swiss Government, the Climate Investment Fund, and the African Development Bank to commence the implementation of this initiative. Feasibility studies are complete, and full implementation is expected to commence by the third quarter of 2025. This is aimed at ensuring that we reduce the cost of electricity especially in public institutions and bring about overall efficiency.
Mr Speaker, in the agricultural sector, the rising cost of energy is straining the operations of Ghana's irrigation systems. To address this, the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition has partnered with the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) to introduce a Water-Energy-Food nexus initiative. This aims to utilise large-scale solar power (PV), wind power and other forms of renewables to ensure that we are able to irrigate our agricultural farms to boast productivity and increase yield as far as agriculture is concerned. The first pilot project of 1megawatt (MW) solar, funded by the Korean Government, is underway at the Dawhenya Irrigation Scheme. We aim to scale this initiative across all irrigation schemes in the country in the coming months and years.
Mr Speaker, our third strategic objective is to partnerships various agencies and stakeholders for renewable energy deployment. In line with President Mahama's green transition vision, Ghana has completed its strategic investment plan for the Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in Africa (APRA), in Ghana and Africa as a whole. Presented at the 15th General Assembly of IRENA, APRA will benefit from the US$4 billion United Arab Emirates (UAE) fund for Africa. The APRA aims to help African nations triple their renewable energy goals and achieve renewable energy investments. Ghana's APRA framework focuses on transforming energy systems and promoting green industrialisation and green revolution.
Mr Speaker, capacity building for the green transition. We also seek to prepare graduates and technicians for the evolving energy market. Because as we go through energy transitioning, we need to prepare young graduates, technicians and field officers so that they can adopt to the changes as far as the green transition is concerned. In this regard, the Ministry, is collaborating with the International Solar Alliance (ISA), to establish the Solar Technology Application Resource Center at Ho Technical University (HTU) in 2024. This center will serve as a hub for training and innovation in renewable energy. We are also committed to supporting HTU's development into a world-class institution for green transition.
Mr Speaker, Renewable Energy Expansion. As you may be aware, Ghana's electricity access stands at 89 per cent of 99.8 per cent with a goal of achieving universal access by 2030. We are expanding off-grid access through renewable energy-based mini-grids, having completed some projects in Ada and awarded a contract for 35 more minigrids to benefit 70,000 people in in-land or difficult to reach communities. Feasibility studies have been completed for 150 additional mini-grids in the Afram Plains, requiring US$100 million in funding as far as these projects are concerned. The Scaling Up Solar and Energy Efficiency.
Through the Ghana Scalingup Renewable Energy Program (SREP), we are deploying 12,000 net-metered solar PV systems across homes. This is to ensure that people with solar systems in their homes, can feed back into the grid when they have excess. That is to say that if one consumes more than they require, one should be able to feed it into the system, so that those who have a deficit can benefit from one’s solar system. Then at the end of the month, we can net-off and if there is a credit or deficit, we can clear that based on the clearing system. When this is achieved, would greatly improve renewable energy deployment across homes, businesses, and public facilities, and this is backed by US$85 million in grant financing from African Development Bank (AfDB),
Climate Investment Funds (CIF), State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and the Government of Ghana.
As of 2024, Ghana's solar capacity had reached about 205MW to be specific, with an additional 200MW under construction. Our goal is 400MW of solar capacity by 2026. A 30MW floating solar plant is currently under construction at Bui Hydropower Generation Station, with all floater components manufactured locally, showcasing our commitment to depend on local capacity towards our green revolution and industrialisation. This technology offers higher performance efficiency and optimises space utilisation. The Ministry has plans to expand further significant development in the renewable energy value chain as we move on.
Mr Speaker, women play a critical role as far as energy consumption is concerned. In this regard, the Ministry has already launched the Women in Energy Initiative to address gender disparities in the sector. Let me assure this House that we are committed to ensuring that gender is integrated into the green transition and value chain. Institutional Strengthening remains a cardinal point if we want to achieve this objective. In line with that, the Renewable Energy Act, 2011 (Act 832) (Amended) in 2020 (Act 1045), based on my instructions, we are elevating the Renewable Energy Unit of the Ministry into a directorate, Renewable Energy and Green Transition Directorate in order to bring a sharper focus, provide them with the impetus and the resilience to achieve our objectives.
More importantly, the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition is progressing steadily with the establishment of the Renewable Energy Authority (REA), an agency which would be charged with the responsibility for planning, coordinating, and implementing renewable energy programmes and projects in Ghana. The draft framework and draft Bill have been prepared and are currently undergoing technical reviews. It will be laid before this august House before the end of this year.
Mr Speaker, with your permission, let me thank the German government, through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), for their ongoing technical support in developing the REA. Mr Speaker, the Ministry, in accordance with the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 832), will establish the Renewable Energy Investment and Green Transition (REIGT) Fund which seeks to accelerate and mobilise domestic and international resources to aggressively deploy renewable energy investments in Ghana. We intend to launch this Fund this year and, our strategy, based on the support we get from this House, would be to take a component of fossil fuel-based funds
Mr Speaker, I was reiterating the point that this Government will soon establish and operationalise the Renewable Energy Investment Fund aimed at accelerating investments in the renewable energy space. We intend to mobilise domestic and international resources and the norm today is that we take a component of revenue from fossilbased fuel and use that component to finance renewable based investment.
Mr Speaker, under your guidance and with support from this House, we would soon come with some proposal which seeks to channel some funds from fossilbased fuel into renewable and green investment. The REIGT Fund will provide funding support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), research and development, innovations, liquidity guarantees for utility-scale renewable electricity generation, creation of strategic green economic zones, acquisition of clean and renewable energy data, green certification regime, local manufacturing renewable energy technologies, capacity building and managing the end-of-life (EOL) of clean and renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency and conservation management, solar streetlight deployments, off-grid electrification (standalone and mini-grids) for last mile access, public sector renewable energy investments, e-mobility charging infrastructure development, promotion of productive uses of energy, and nonrenewable electricity investments including clean cooking, et cetera.
The potential sourcesfor financing the Fund will be the national budget and money approved by Parliament. These include premium payable under the Renewable Energy Purchase Obligation, multilateral and bilateral donors, donations and various levies, including carbon taxes (polluter-pay regime), electricity generated from nonrenewable and renewable energy sources, waste management, oil and gas development, among others.
Mr Speaker, this Fund, when operationalised, would serve as a turning point and catalyst for government and Ghana to accelerate its pace towards the green transition that we all envisage. Mr Speaker, in our bid to step up efforts toward the green transition, the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition has outlined the following upcoming projects: On 12th February, 2025, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed a facility with LMI Holding for the construction of a 200MW solar park as part of our green transition agenda, smart DAWA eco-city and green industrial park project. This initiative promises job creation and expand market access for Ghana’s products. The Ministry is supporting the Volta River Authority (VRA), in partnering with the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) and the European Delegation, to develop a 150MW solar project, incorporating battery energy storage systems to address intermittency issues associated with solar power stations. This will help us supply power not just during daytime but also in the night. This is a new technology that most advanced countries are pursuing and Mr Speaker, Ghana intends to follow suite.
Mr Speaker, our efforts to diversify the baseload electricity mix with nuclear power which provides it with baseload capacity at an affordable price would continue to be pursued and is progressing steadily with the establishment of a National Nuclear Regulator and owner or operator company. This seeks to build capacity for nuclear regulation and operation in Ghana in the shortest possible time. Two sites have already been identified for acquisition to host Ghana’s first nuclear power plant. Discussions are underway with the People’s Republic of China, the United States of America (USA), and the Russia Federation for the deployment of safe, carbon-free and affordable nuclear power for industry and for export.
Mr Speaker, to conclude, I wish to reiterate that the Ministry remains committed and resolute towards ensuring that Ghana benefits from the global shift toward clean and renewable energy.
The Ministry will continue to collaborate with our development partners to:
(i) Mobilise resources for the implementation of APRA, PFSEAP, Net-metered renewable energy program, Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program to expand access, especially, offgrid access and e-mobility;
(ii) Support capacity-building initiatives, including upgrading the Ho Technical University Solar Technology Application Resource Centre (STAR-C), the Renewable Energy Centre of Excellence at the University of Energy and Natural Resources among others, to fast-track ideation, innovation and, market development and growth, with special focus on women;
(iii) Provide technical and financial assistance to establish the Renewable Energy Authority, elevate the Renewable Energy Unit to a Directorate in line with Renewable Energy Act 832 as amended Act 1045 and expedite the establishment and operationalisation of the Renewable Energy Investment and Green Transition (REIGT) Fund;
(iv) Accelerate investment to achieve universal electricity access and clean cooking ahead of the 2030 target; support accelerated deployment of charging infrastructure for e-mobility and collaborate with the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to domestic the e-mobility market; and
(v) Accelerate the prioritisation of the KfW loan facility for the Government Goes Solar this will ensure that public universities, institutions, this august House, Parliament House, and other critical state agencies are put on solar energy in order to reduce dependence on the national grid.
Lastly, Mr Speaker, I wish ensure and assure this House that the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition would continue to collaborate with this House and other state agencies in our quest to accelerate the pace towards achieving our green transition and, doing so, in a just and equitable manner. The Ministry also honours our financial obligations to the international organisations of which Ghana is a member, including International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and International Solar Alliance (ISA).
On this note, Mr speaker, let me thank you, once again, for this opportunity. I am most grateful.
Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh
Nsawam/Adoagyiri
Mr Speaker, let me, from the outset, commend the Minister who has demonstrated clarity in terms of vision. He has also demonstrated abundant understanding of the sector and definitely continuity, in terms of programmes started by the previous government.
I would want to commend him highly for it. Mr Speaker, in times past, concerns and actions towards renewable energy, as at my last check, was more of a desk officer operation. I hear the Minister wants to, in line with the vision to upscale, upgrade to the extent of an Authority, which is commendable. But in this country, we often move with speed to upgrade. So, while the Minister is seeking to upgrade, he should also look at giving the Authority the necessary oxygen to be able to prosecute on its deliverables.
Mr Speaker, he made a point on solar system and excess being fed into the national grid; wonderful point. But because of the need on solar panels, we may probably also have to look at what happens in other jurisdictions. Kenya, for instance, have reduced the import duties on solar panels, so the private sector has come in and the business is booming.
The importation of solar has become a business for private hands, and it is helping to facilitate the transition. So, I would want to suggest that the Hon Minister takes a look at that. Indonesia, now, is manufacturing its own solar panels, and I am happy that he said part of the solar farms we have in this country, accessories used for the establishment of these farms were locally manufactured. For me, that is the crux of the argument. We have discovered lithium and we have bauxite.
Lithium and bauxite constitute more than 60 per cent of the raw materials that are used in the manufacture of solar. So, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) could be engaged, and he has said in his address that the Ho Technical University (HTU) would be upgraded. Hon Minister, if I have your attention, the Ho Technical University would be upgraded and they will have a department dedicated for this line of action.
I would like to encourage the Hon Minister to go on that tangent, so that we could also upscale. He mentioned public sector energy efficiency, which is wonderful. The seat of Government, other public institutions, Parliament, and all these institutions, if we could have solar installed, it would help to reduce our bill on electricity. But when I heard all his narration, I heard the Korean Government and German Technical Cooperation Agency (GIZ); there is little on Government of Ghana’s (GoG) investment. Of course, the Kaleo Solar Power Farm—
Mr Speaker, that is located in your Constituency—was started by the NPP Administration. The NPP Administration started it, and they are continuing. I need to commend them on that. The Bui Power Authority (BPA) Solar Farm was started by the NPP Government and they are continuing; I want to commend them highly, but I am saying that they need to do more in terms of government-owned investment. We cannot be overly reliant on the GIZ and the Koreans.
If indeed we believe in the concept of energy transition, then we, as a government, must make dedicated funds and all the funds they want to establish: Green Funds and all that—Because they said they are going to reduce taxation, I do not know where they are going to get the money to support these funds they would be establishing, so they may have to take a good look at that.
Mr Speaker, the concern about the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and the carbon credit is something we have not been able to buy into, probably because of our capacity. If the Ho Technical University is going to be upgraded and would have a department dedicated to this—Minister, do not let it be just mere words; I have confidence in you. Do not come to Parliament and say this and the next moment we say the same thing. He has also mentioned that he is making a move in irrigation, just to feed into agriculture productivity, which is very good. International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and GIZ are supporting.
We want to see more from the Government’s side, especially on the mini-grid, and this is something we have to do. The Germans have shown class when it comes to solar in terms of the lifespan of the cells that are used. Probably we should get closer to the GIZ and be able to make a difference. Mr Speaker, let me commend the Minister, and to conclude, I want to suggest that IRENA has shown the way and the matter on nuclear—
As at independence, Dr Kwame Nkrumah spoke about our nuclear energy needs, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has a welldefined blueprint; we do not need to reinvent the wheel. I see that the Minister is very spot on when it comes to the understanding of what has happened before and the way is clear. We should not have any excuse why we cannot exploit our nuclear potential; so, we in this House want to give him all the confidence.
Mr Speaker, we hope this would not just be mere words. I hope it would not just be mere words. Minister, it would not be mere words. In conclusion, there is a fine balance we need to find as a country. The argument is made by experts. The Europeans have polluted to be where they are today. In terms of emission, what Africa emits, and in this context, Ghana emits, is insignificant. However, we have been hoodwinked into believing that adoption of green energy and solar is the way out. I do not know. Do we have to pick and choose? We also have to develop our industries. So are we saying goodbye to fossil fuel because all the industrial countries—Germany is shutting down its coal plant because they are transitioning.
However, we have not been able to develop our industries. That is the crux of the matter. Would solar help us and facilitate the development of our industries? These are questions we need to ask ourselves well, and if the answer is no, then we have to strategically position ourselves. We cannot suddenly transition. It has to be a gradual process, so that along the line, we can also upscale and develop our industries duly.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity. I am grateful.
Hon Ayariga Mahama
Bawku Central
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. Let me thank the Minister for attending upon the House and giving us such an exhaustive briefing on the progress in transitioning to clean and renewable energy.
Mr Speaker, I think he has given a very detailed programme and strategy, and we can only urge the Minister to apply himself diligently to the execution of the strategy, and also the programme that he has outlined. I see already that Ghana is making significant strides in trying to develop our solar-sourced energy.
Mr Speaker, there is one thing that I was keenly waiting to hear from the Minister's strategy that I did not hear, and that is biogas. In all this strategy, what are we doing about biogas? I recall when I was Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, and around that time, we had this energy crisis and some headmasters approached me and complained about, at that time, the erratic power supply problems that we had and the frequent turning off of lights.
And I said, but you have 1,000 students on campus. They said, yes. I said, the 1,000 students are all power generators walking around because if they just applied themselves and used biogas technology, they could generate electricity for themselves. I actually went as far as travelling to Germany, because Germany has really advanced the technology for using biogas to generate heat that then powers generators to provide electricity.
And then, like he said, they actually sell it to the state and make money out of it. So, most villages had their own independent power generation plant based on biogas technology because they have the animals, they have the waste material from the farms, and then they have the human beings, and working together efficiently, they generated enough electricity for their own consumption and very often, also fed it into the system. So, if one goes beyond just the traditional known sources, which is solar, and we also exploit biogas technology, I believe that we can augment the power challenges that we have in this country.
Also, if one looks at the study of the deployment of technology, I think that when it comes to renewable energy and particularly solar, it is the northern part of the country that has the longest periods of sunshine and opportunity to really exploit the use of solar energy. Therefore, considering the universities that will host the study of renewable energy and the development of local capacity, if one considers the technical universities in the Upper West, Upper East or the Northern Regions, it would really help because that is where the opportunity really exists for the extensive usage of solar power. So, it would be good to consider adopting one of those universities also as a platform for teaching and disseminating the knowledge and technology for solar power.
Mr Speaker, it is a very impressive presentation, and I commend the Minister for coming to brief us. I believe that Members will find the presentation very useful. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
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