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Energy
The energy sector plays a pivotal role in the devel-
opment agenda of Ghana. With the advent of the
post-colonial era, the energy sector was envisioned
to be a major driving force in the transformation
of the economy from one largely sustained on the
wheels of subsistence farming to one that is fully in-
dustrialized. This began with the construction of the
hydro-electric dam at Akosombo, a major initiative
by the then CPP government which opened up the
economy and the energy sector in particular to the
exploitation of the power-generating potential of the
country. Subsequently, other forms of energy have
been tapped including renewables, nuclear energy
and fossil fuels.
In this light, government’s overall goal for the sec-
tor has been to develop and sustain an efficient
and viable energy sector that provides secure, safe
and reliable supply of energy to meet Ghana’s de-
velopment needs in a competitive manner. This is
to assure a universal access and choice of modern
energy forms to all Ghanaians without exception
thereby contributing significantly to national revenue
and economic growth by becoming a net exporter of
oil and power by 2012 and 2013 respectively. Thus,
Ghana’s energy sector can be classified into power
and petroleum sub-sectors.
Overview
POWER GENERATION
Traditionally, woodfuel continues to provide a signifi-
cant source of energy to many households in Ghana
consisting of about 70 percent of Ghana’s energy
consumption. This consumption level has engen-
dered the creation of sustainable energy develop-
ment in the country through proper management and
the use of an alternative to wood charcoal through
the use of bamboo. However, Ghana’s power sup-
ply sources are mainly from hydro-electricity, ther-
mal from light crude oil and a small percentage from
photo-voltaic solar. The objective of the Government
is to achieve a target of 5,000 MW of installed power
generation capacity by 2015. This level of capac-
ity is believed to enable Ghana to supply adequate
electric power to meet the growth in national electric-
ity demand and also for export to our neighbouring
countries.
In this light, Government’s outlook for 2010 is fo-
cused on upgrading the transmission and distribu-
tion systems while scaling up rural electrification to
ensure increasing access to electricity by household
and industry.*2010 Budget Statement
HYDROPOWER
Ghana has made significant strides in maximizing its
hydropower potential which is pegged at about 4,000
megawatts. Aside the construction works on the 400
megawatts Bui Hydroelectric Project, the Government
of Ghana has also signed a Memorandum of Under-
standing (MOU) with the Brazilian Government for the
development of Juale River and Pwalugu hydro pow-
er plants at the cost of USD$555 million with a gen-
erating capacity of 87MW and 48 MW respectively.
The construction of the hydro-dams forms part of the
planned system generation expansion under the En-
ergy Commission’s Strategic National Energy Plan-
SNEP- covering the period between 2006 and 2020.
This also includes the construction of the 93MW He-
mang hydroelectric power dam which is expected to
be completed by 2015.
Akosombo Power Plant
Upon completion of all the power plants under con-
struction, the country’s total installed power genera-
tion capacity would reach 3,500 megawatts by 2013.
Currently, electricity consumption in the country is
estimated at 7.095 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), while
production capacity is pegged at 6.489 billion kWh. The
demand for power consumption in the country is ex-
pected to grow at 7.6% over the next five years.
The policy objectives of the expansion programme
are to ensure security of electricity supply, minimum
negative environmental impacts in electricity supply
and to ensure universal access to affordable electric-
ity service.
RENEWABLES
Ghana has huge potential for electricity generation
from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind,
biomass and small hydro. To maximise this, steps
are being taken by Government to provide the nec-
essary legal basis for the rapid development of re-
newable energy in the national energy mix by estab-
lishing a Renewable Energy Law as part of meeting
the objective of security of supply of energy. Also, a
combination of technical and regulatory instruments
will be enshrined in the law to compel utility compa-
nies to procure a predetermined percentage of their
electricity supplies from renewable energy sources.
To consolidate its search for strategic energy solu-
tions, government facilitated the preparation of a
training manual for Solar PV testing, installation and
maintenance.