Renewable energy is the new paradigm- VRA Chairman

The Board Chairman of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr. Kweku Awotwi, has led a delegation of stakeholders in the energy and cocoa sectors to inspect a solar facility implemented by cocoa processors, Cargill Ghana Limited.

The entourage included the Chairman of HFC Bank (Gh,) Ltd, Mr. Charles Zwennes, Programmes Manager at GIZ and Renewable Energy Consultant, Steffen Behrle, Chairman of African Tiger Holdings Limited, Mr. Henri Wientjes as well as executives from VRA, Energy Commission and COCOBOD.

The facility tour afforded these stakeholders the opportunity to gain insight into this energy project and discuss how it supports government’s vision in both the energy and cocoa sectors.

The delegation was briefed by Pieter Reichert, Cargill Ghana Managing Director, after which they were conducted round the solar facility by Richard Adjei, Cargill Ghana Plant Maintenance Manager.

Speaking to journalists after touring the facility, Mr. Awotwi said Ghana’s industrial sector needed innovation with energy solutions and Cargill’s approaches reflect this new paradigm. He stressed the need for effective partnerships in the energy sector to yield the desired results.

“As players in the energy sector, we strongly consider options in renewable energy as the game-changer in our quest to provide adequate and reliable power supply. Our industries in particular require a lot of energy to stay in business and relying on the national grid alone may not be enough and that is why we need to be innovative with our power generation solutions".

"Significantly, we see what Cargill has done as part of the new paradigm that we are embracing as far as the provision of power is concerned".
It is also important that the private sector partners with government if we are to achieve our objective of an energy-sufficient economy,” Mr. Awotwi said.

On his part, Renewable Energy Consultant, Mr. Steffen Behrle said Cargill’s solar initiative will consolidate Ghana’s budding renewable energy prospect. He encouraged other companies to consider Cargill’s example.

“Ghana has great potentials in renewable energy. We know a lot of businesses who are making efforts to tap into this sector. What Cargill has done with this solar project is to lead the way and I am excited to encourage more businesses in the private sector to come up with such energy-efficient plans” Mr. Behrle remarked.

Representatives of various stakeholder agencies who spoke to journalists after the tour expressed confidence in the project stressing that initiatives in Clean Energy is the way to go for industries.

Background

Cargill Ghana Limited, in October 2017 successfully installed and brought on stream, a 565kWp solar facility at its premises in the Free Zone Enclave, Tema. This €720,000 energy project which forms part of Cargill’s global strategy of enhancing sustainable and environmentally friendly ways of generating power for industrial production, is going to produce a total of 764MWh of electricity annually to augment power supply at the factory premises.

It was designed and installed by LED Lighting and PV Solar solutions company, Dutch & Co. (Gh.) Ltd, EPC Contractors of the project. The facility was commissioned by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on November 8 after which it was formally launched and introduced to stakeholders on Monday November 27, 2017.