The Embassy of Ghana, in Washington D.C. recently organized a one-day workshop on "Energy and Infrastructure in Ghana". The Workshop was amongst the series of activities organized by the Mission to mark Ghana's 50 th Anniversary Celebrations. Ghana like many West African countries has in recent years been facing challenges in its energy and water delivery, as demand far exceeds supply. It is in this light that the Embassy invited experts and stakeholders to discuss the challenges facing the energy and water sectors with the hope of brainstorming and making recommendations, on how Ghana could develop its energy resources on a more sustainable basis. Participants at the workshop included Senior Ministers of State, top officials of Electricity Corporation of Ghana and Volta River Authority (VRA), officials of Montgomery County (Department of Environmental Protection), the EXIM Bank of USA, US Business Executives from Houston (which happens to be the energy capital of the world) and friends of Ghana. In his introductory remarks, H. E. Dr. Kwame Bawuah-Edusei, Ghana's Ambassador to the United States noted that the importance of the workshop, (which was taking place at a time Ghana was facing energy crisis) could not be over-emphasized. He, therefore, expressed the hope that by the end of the workshop, pragmatic short, medium and long term contributions would be made to help address the energy challenges facing Ghana. Honourable Hackman Owusu Agyemang, Ghana's Minster for Water Resources, Works and Housing, who was the Chairman for the occasion, indicated that apart from being the only haven of peace in the troubled West African Sub-region, Ghana had also put in place, systems and modalities such as the Double Taxation Act and other generous incentive schemes to attract Foreign Direct Investment which would make Ghana a destination for potential investors. He lauded the current excellent and cordial relations between the US and Ghana and said this should encourage US investors to go to Ghana. He added that it had been projected that Ghana would attain the status of a middle income country and have access to 75% portable water by the year 2015. He, however, indicated that one major setback had been in the area of energy and invited participants to come out with suggestions that would help address Ghana's energy problem. Some of the observations and comments made during presentations included: Ghana's energy portfolio had changed from pure hydro to a mixture hydro/thermal. The thermal component in the mix was expected to increase and dominate. A major challenge to the energy sector was how to obtain investment capital for expansion to assure reliable electricity supply in the future. The challenges in the energy sector presented significant investment/opportunities. The development of the West African Gas Pipeline was expected to significantly reduce thermal plant fuel cost whilst the West African Power Pool was expected to open up electricity markets. Future prospects for Ghana's electricity supply were bright in spite of the short term challenges. Over the next 5 years domestic demand for electricity was expected to grow at an average rate of about 7.6% An approximate amount of US $240.8 million was needed for the next five years by the Electricity Company to revamp its operations. Participants were also informed that some of the strategies that had been put help address challenges included the installation of additional thermal generation plants and the importation of power from outside; the importation of millions energy saving lamps; intensification of Revenue Protection Unit's activities to control and stem commercial losses; the installation of prepayment metering system nationwide and the commitment of Public Utilities Regulations Commission (PURC) to review major tariffs every 4 years so that consumers could pay realistic economic tariff. After a day of fruitful deliberations, the following recommendations/suggestions were made by the participants as to the way forward: It was agreed Ghana could learn the from the success story of Montgomery County (a County in the State of Maryland, USA) by diversifying its power generation and not relying only on hydro and thermal. Montgomery County presently depends on Coal ? 52.5%, Nuclear ? 37.20%, Gas ? 6.90%, Hydro ? 1.40, Oil ? 1.10 as well as methane gas, solid waste and wind compared to Ghana's dependence on mainly hydro and thermal. The EXIM Bank was in the position to provide potential investors in the energy sector with the necessary assistance in the area of funding for goods and services of US origin under the Banks Export Credit Insurance and Guarantees schemes. In view of the capital intensive nature of investment in the energy sector, it was suggested that Ghanaians could internally form cooperative groups, build up the necessary equity and then contact the EXIM Bank and other financial sources for the necessary financial support to enable them invest in the energy sector. There was the need to explore waste to energy technology. Interested potential investors present at the workshop were directed to contact the Ministry of Energy and other relevant agencies in Ghana for further discussions. A proposal was put forward that to be able to attract independent Power Producers, there should be tariff reform to reflect the actual cost of production. It was noted, however, that was important to improve upon the service delivery first before the upward review of tariffs. It was also explained that the Government was ready and prepared to absorb any additional costs that would be incurred by the Independent Power Producers should they decide to invest in Ghana. Government was to make it a major policy to build one power generating plant every year depending on availability of resources. The country should explore other types of renewable energy no matter how insignificant its contribution would be to the national grid and systematically develop and improve on them over the years. There was an urgent need for an improvement in the distribution network by the service providers and attention given to the regular maintenance of equipment. There was also the need for Government to be more aggressive in sourcing for funds in view of Ghana's good credit rating.