Operationalise renewable energy fund - Gov't urged
Discussants at a conference on clean energy have called for the operationalisation of the renewable energy fund to facilitate the adoption of clean energy solutions in the country.
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The clean energy sources such as solar, biomass and wind are fast becoming the centre of attraction across the world in delivering sustainable energy supply as they are more efficient, environmentally friendly and cost effective in the long run.
The concerns of the stakeholders, which border on operationalising the renewable energy fund, dominated discussions at a session on the theme ‘Nurturing Innovation Solutions for Inclusive Businesses at the Base-of-the-Pyramid’ at the fifth edition of the West Africa Clean Energy and Environment Exhibition and Conference (WACEE) in Accra.
The exhibition brought together experts in clean and renewable energy to showcase their products, while the concurrent conferences facilitated the sharing of ideas on how Ghana could exploit and make good use of her numerous renewable energy resources for the benefit of industry and the economy at large.
One of the discussants, Mr Daniel Van, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in an interview that a functioning renewable energy fund was important for the country to scale up the share of energy that came from renewable sources.
“Having a renewable energy fund can help boost investments in power generation and go a long way to attract businesses to the country, due to reliable energy,” he said.
Mr Van said notwithstanding the immense benefits of renewable energy, there was a school of thought that it was very expensive to embark on in the short term, but cost effective in the long term,” he noted.
Another discussant, Mr Anim Agyeman, said the ability to raise the needed funds was very critical to the full deployment of renewable energy in the energy mix.
”Like many countries in Sub Saharan Africa, Ghana has been going through energy crisis. Simply, the country is unable to meet energy demand, partly due to population growth, lack of implementation of energy policies, financial difficulties, among others,” he said.
For instance, the country’s renewable energy law and policy is targeting a 10 per cent renewable energy sources to the country’s energy generation mix by the year 2020.
But Mr Agyemang said policy makers felt reluctant to implement those policies and that was why the country found itself in power crisis with businesses laying off workers.
Renewable Energy Act 2011
To ensure the full utilisation of renewable energy, Ghana passed the Renewable Energy Act 2011 to provide for the development, management, utilisation, sustainability and adequate supply of renewable energy for generation of heat and power and related matters.
Section of the act also provides for the establishment of the Renewable Energy Fund, which is yet to be operationalised to serve the purpose of providing financial resources for the promotion, development, sustainable management and utilisation of renewable energy sources.
For the purposes of achieving the objective of the fund, moneys from the fund shall be applied primarily to the provision of financial incentives, feed-in-tariffs, capital subsidies, production-based subsidies and equity participation for grid interactive renewable electricity, mini-grid and off-grid renewable power systems for remote areas and islands, renewable energy projects for non-electricity purposes, among others.
Monies from the fund may also be applied for the promotion of scientific, technological and innovative research into renewable energy, research into the establishment of standards for the utilisation of renewable energy.
Responses
The Project Advisor of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Energy Commission, Mr Ebenezer Ashie, indicated that the framework for the fund had already been developed and would soon be implemented.
He said the fund would help cushion the extra expenses needed to generate and transmit renewable energy because the huge upfront investment was a disincentive to its adoption in the country.
Going forward, he said, the government was working closely with stakeholders in the clean energy industry to generate the required energy for the country, with its advantage of checking climate change.
WACEE
The 5th West African Clean Energy and Environment Exhibition and Conference 2016 brought over 40 exhibitors, with a specialised German and Dutch Pavilions. The unique exhibition showcased solutions in renewable energy, water treatment and environment.
The three-day packed conference ran simultaneously along with the exhibition. The German technical cooperation (GIZ), Zoomlion and the Renewable Energy Association of Ghana (REAG) were some of the partners of the conferences for which experts were assembled from Germany and Ghana for presentations.
Sub-themes include “Linking policy and practice – realising solutions for energy security, waste and the environment”, Challenges and Opportunities of Recycling End of Life vehicles and “Nurturing innovative solutions for inclusive businesses at the Base of the Pyramid”.
