‘Gov’t will pursue policies for sustainable energy’

Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum John Abdulai Jinapor has assured that government and its agencies, especially those in the energy sector, will continue to pursue aggressive and sometimes difficult policies to ensure that the country has sustainable and reliable energy for growth of the economy.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2nd West Africa Clean Energy Environment (WACEE) exhibition in Accra, Mr. Jinapor stated that the energy sector continues to be an essential component of national development that requires critical investments and management -- or else the country risks facing another shortfall in energy supply as happened earlier this year.

“This year we had some problems with the supply of energy and had to embark on load-shedding that affected our revenue greatly; the energy challenges also brought about a low level of economic activity and investor confidence, which affected government revenue; meaning some developmental projects couldn’t go on as scheduled,” the Deputy Minister further stated.

He also stated that government is committed to promoting Renewable energy -- which has culminated in enactment of the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 832), leading to activities in the industry growing steadily. Consequently, this has led to the issuing of 15 provisional licences with estimated capacity of nearly 1000MW.

He said the Feed-in-tariff scheme, Purchase obligation, Off-grid electrification, Licencing regime, Connection to transmission and distribution systems are some the key provisions of the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 832) aimed at creating a congenial atmosphere for the renewables sub-sector.

Dr. Alfred Ofosu Ahenkorah, Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), on his part stated that the key provisions in the Renewable Energy Act will guarantee the sale of electricity generated by the sector; adding that by 2020, 10% of energy consumed in Ghana will be generated by the renewable energy sector. Present at the opening of the West African Clean Energy Exhibition were Dr. Charles Wereko Brobbey, former Chief Executive of VRA, and stakeholders in the renewable energy sector from Ghana, Africa and Europe.