Ghana: renewable readiness assessment
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Abstract
Formerly known as the Gold Coast, Ghana is on the West Coast of Africa. In 2014, the population stood at 27 million, with a relatively high rate growth rate of 2.4% per annum. Its gross domestic product (GDP) has been increasing by about 5.5% per year on average, peaking at 15% in 2011 due to the start of crude oil production. Biomass, consisting mainly of wood fuel like firewood and charcoal and to a lesser extent crop residues, accounts for half the Total Primary Energy Supply. Oil is the second most widely used source of energy in Ghana, accounting for 40% of primary energy supply, followed by hydropower and natural gas accounting for 7% and 3% respectively. Large hydropower and oil-fired plants provide most of the electricity (64% and 36% respectively). The Ghanaian power industry is unbundled and consists of state-owned utilities. The generation utilities are the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Bui Power Authority. The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) are responsible for transmission and distribution along with independent power producers (IPPs) like Sunon Asogli and CENIT Energy. Access to electricity is around 72% with over 87% for urban areas and just under 50% for rural areas. In 2012, total generated electricity in Ghana stood at 12,870 gigawatt-hours (GWh) with demand at 9,000 GWh. This means the country is a net power exporter to neighbouring countries Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso. However, domestic demand is growing annually by about 10% and is expected to reach around 24,000 GWh by 2020. This will require an increase in generation capacity to more than 3.5 gigawatts (GW) by 2020. Furthermore, recent constraints in the supply of natural gas caused by damage to the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) have severely curtailed the capacity of thermal power plants to meet peak demand. This amounts to around 1,745 megawatts (MW). This has forced the utilities to practise periodic load shedding since August 2012. Ghana enjoys excellent renewable energy resources, particularly biomass, solar, wind and, to a limited extent, small (1 MW - 30 MW, according to Economic Community of West African States — ECOWAS) and mini (100 kilowatt (kW) - 1 MW) hydropower. When combined with aggressive measures to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy development can contribute substantially to expanding energy access while reducing the latent energy crises stalking the country. Although, Ghana abounds in renewable energy resources, the bulk of this potential largely remained untapped. In 2011, a Renewable Energy Law (Act 882) was adopted to provide fiscal incentives and regulatory framework to encourage private sector investment. The provisions of the Renewable Energy Law includes: Feed-in Tariffs (FiT), Renewable Energy Purchase Obligations (RPO), Net Metering (distributed generation), Off-grid Electrification for Isolated Communities, Promotion of Clean Cookstoves, Research and Development, Renewable Energy Fund (RE Fund), and the establishment of a Renewable Energy Authority (REA). This report presents the output of the Renewables Readiness Assessment (RRA) process in Ghana. It highlights a number of bottlenecks impeding the widespread deployment of renewable energy systems in Ghana, and identifies a range of critical actions in key areas, which when implemented, could have a significant impact on the scaling up of renewable energy in the short- to medium-term. The report also identifies stakeholders who are required or expected to play various roles towards the implementation of the recommended action and the period of time within which, the actions are realistically expected to be implemented.
Description
Keywords
Renewable energy sources, Energy policy, Electric power distribution, Energy development