The government has directed all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to begin the process of changing all street lights to LED bulbs.

The MMDAs are expected to present their proposals to the Power Ministry on how they intend to roll out the change. This directive forms part of government’s measures to conserve energy in the face of the increasing cost of electricity production in Ghana.

The deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor, said government intends supplying the MMDAs with the LED street lights “on condition that they will contract certified contractors; certified by the Energy Commission”.

According to the minister, “LED bulbs consume about 80 percent less than what the normal high-pressure sodium bulbs do”.

Jinapor was speaking at a ceremony by the Energy Commission to reward 100 households with Solar panels as part of the National Rooftop Solar Program. Under this scheme, the commission is facilitating the installation of 20,000 rooftop solar systems in residential facilities in 2016 alone. This is out of the total of 200,000 rooftops being earmarked under the program. 500 households have so far benefited from the program.

Applicants are expected to meet the commission’s criteria which include the changing of all lamps in the household to LED bulbs. The chairman of the Energy Commission, Dr. Kwame Ampofo said, “if each household would get 500 peak watts of the panel, it would amount to reducing the load by 200 megawatts”.

He is hopeful the program if successfully rolled out, will reduce the country’s energy deficit. “Currently, the deficit that we are experiencing is between 100 and 200 megawatts” so the investment would help us (Ghana) avoid that gap.”

Jinapor stated the program shows government’s commitment to making solar a significant contributor to the country’s generation mix.