AHK Ghana organises high-powered delegation to Germany
Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK Ghana) has organised a high-powered delegation trip to the 2016 InterSolar trade fair in Munich, Germany.
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The five-member delegation drawn from the Energy Commission included its Board Chairman, Dr Kwame Ampofo, Dr Rudith King and Mr Innocent Akwayena, both board members; Ms Cecilia Agbenyega, Board Secretary and Head of Legal at the Commission, and Mr Frederick Ken Appiah, a technical staff at the renewables department of the Commission.
The trade mission was led by a Renewable Energy Expert and head of the energy and environment department of AHK Ghana, Mr Michael Neulinger. He has been seconded to AHK Ghana under the Experts Programme of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
As part of a specialised so called “Delegationsreise” organised by AHK-Ghana, the 2016 Intersolar Munich delegation trip was organised from Ghana to Germany as a way of exchanging ideas, know-how, building new relationships, visiting ongoing projects and experiencing first-hand the management, integration, regulation, utilisation, transmission, financing and control of both grid connected and off-grid renewable energy technologies in Germany.
The InterSolar fair, which brings together major players in solar energy technology across the world to showcase the latest technology, breakthroughs and trends in the industry, afforded the Energy Commission, which regulates the country’s energy sector, to familiarise itself with trends to inform its regulation.
AHK Ghana also facilitated the participation and coverage of trade delegation by the Daily Graphic, as Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd and Access Bank Ghana Ltd also lent their support.
AHK’s itinerary for the delegation included visits to some solar and biomass projects in some German cities. They also interacted with the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology as well as the German Solar Association to gauge some emerging issues in the renewable energy/solar space in order to inform their regulatory directives and provisions.
The Energy Commission currently has the mandate to implement a solar rooftop programme in Ghana. The programme is to eventually allow the commission to provide 200,000 solar panels for free to Ghanaians who have their basic systems in place, the Balance of System, and change their electrical bulbs to light emitting diodes (LED).
AHK support
AHK Ghana and the German technical cooperation (GIZ) have been supporting the country as part of their bilateral relations. The German Chamber organisation promotes bilateral trade for its Ghanaian and German stakeholders.
A major event of AHK in Ghana is the annual West Africa Clean Energy and Environment Exhibition (WACEE) and conferences, which will come on in September this year.
Creating opportunities
At a meeting with the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, Dr Ampofo recounted some of the inroads Ghana had made with renewable energy with the passage of a law, which implementation he said was progressing to create a conducive framework that would attract investors.
Currently, Ghana has installed solar capacity of 22.5 megawatts, the largest in West Africa, but the country is still interested in utility scale projects to increase generation from clean energy sources.
“The interest is there to have solar projects and the Commission’s 200,000 solar rooftop project is expected to create a market which will be attractive to the private sector to come in,” he said.
Dr Ampofo assured investors that the commission was always ready to listen to the market and amend the regulations if required to ensure a better environment, saying “this means better regulation.”
The State of Bavaria
The representative of the State of Bavaria, Mr Sebastian Stawowski, said the federal state was interested in development issues such as rural electrification and water.
He said the state already had good bilateral relations with Ghana and had already organised a number of conferences and seminars to build the capacity of people in its area of interest, such as renewable energy, water and sanitation. That, Mr Stawowski said, the state would continue to pursue going forward.
