I will shift Ghana from fuel generated power to Solar power – Bawumia

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the vice president and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), says one of his top priorities if elected president is to transition Ghana from fuel-generated electricity to solar power.

Speaking at a meeting with the Clergy in the Upper East Region as part of his campaign tour, Dr. Bawumia said the country can reduce the cost of power by 50% if it moves to solar power.

“My major objective is to bring down the cost of power[electricity]. How am I going to do it? I want to do it by shifting Ghana away from fuel-generated power to solar-generated power. I want us to move from fuel to solar. Solar is given to us by God for free, if we have to buy fuel we need foreign exchange and we have to import it. But solar we can harness it and generate power. So I want us to bring in 2000MWs in the first four years. That is about half our consumption and we can reduce the cost of power by 50% if we move in this direction, and that is where I want us to really focus on.”

Dr. Bawumia added that his vision is to make Ghana a solar panel manufacturing country and supply the rest of West Africa with it.

“I want us when we move to solar not just to be doing solar and be satisfied with it. I want Ghana to start manufacturing solar panels as well and let us then supply the rest of West Africa with it, let’s not be just consumers of solar panels. Because what we will be doing is such a large scale in the generation of solar power that it makes sense for us to manufacture solar panels in Ghana.”