Ghana’s Flagstaff House and its lawmaking chamber will soon be depending on solar energy as their source of power.
Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, confirmed the move saying it was the right sign to the rest of the nation. His comments follow the ratification of a framework agreement on renewable energy by the government.
“It makes a lot of sense that in order to utilize our solar and produce the necessary demonstration effect for the rest of the country, that significant buildings adopt solar. So the Ministry of energy building, the Parliament House of Ghana and Jubilee House must all go solar. This is going to send the right signal to the rest of the nation that the government is behind it and that is the proper thing to do,” he added.
400 MW Solar Plant
Under the energy agreement, a 400MW solar plant will be erected in the country. Ghana became the 14th country in the tropics to ratify the agreement. It qualifies the country for a US $10 billion facility towards development and promotion of renewable energy
Despite being a regional and continental economic giant, rampant power disruptions in recent years have been a threat to lots of businesses. The country has long depended on hydroelectric energy from its biggest power facility, the Akosombo Dam.
The power distributor, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has also been indicted over failure to collect power bills. An investigative piece by the country’s biggest undercover journalist revealed damning findings against the ECG.
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Anas Aremeyaw Anas’s work titled ‘President’s Assignment – Stealing the People’s Power,’ did a thorough probe into the ailing power sector.
At the time of the release of the three-part documentary, Anas and his Tiger Eye team exposed multinationals and individuals who had piled up debts with the ECG. Among others, the presidency and most government institutions were all owing the ECG.
