The Minister of Energy, Mr John Peter Amewu, says government has introduced a competitive bidding process for renewable energy projects with focus on Utility-Scale Solar power plants.
According to him, this comes as a result of steps taken to address the challenges the ministry inherited in the Renewable Energy sector.
Mr Amewu said this when he spoke to the media in Parliament after responding to a question by Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, on the floor of the House on what the Ministry of Energy had done by way of investment in renewable energy for the past one year.
He then explained that besides the investment by Independence Power Producers(IPPs) in the renewable energy sector, the Ministry is also facilitating investment by government in projects such as the construction of the first phase of 17MW Solar Park by VRA in Lawra and Kaleo in the Upper West Region at a cost of US$25.3 million.
“The rest include the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose hybrid (50MW Solar and 60MW hydro) project as well as the construction of the first phase of 50MW Solar PV plant to be hybridised with the 400MW BPA hydro power plant, which had commenced at a cost of US$48.”
He said 10MW of solar power was expected to be connected to the national grid by the end of this quarter and the remaining 40MW is expected to be completed in November 2020.
He also identified the signed Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to the tune of 2,265MW with an average price of cent19/KWh, which, he said,
“was far above what the electricity network could accommodate, as a major challenge.”
Additionally, PPAs were signed for tariffs as high as cent31/KWh more than twice the average end user tariff.
Mr Amewu indicated that government had reduced the capacities from 2,265MW to 515MW, which could be accommodated within the country’s electricity network.
“It has re-negotiated and reduced the Price/KWh from an average of cent19/19KWh to cent12/KWh; and further engagement with scheduled PPAs is ongoing to achieve tariffs below cent10/KWh, which is the Ministry’s ultimate goal.”
He said those actions were undertaken to correct the imbalance in investment by renewable energy IPPs.
Mr Amewu said the Ministry had put a moratorium on new PPAs until the 515MW signed PPAs have been executed.
It had also developed a Renewable Energy Master Plan, which clearly provided the capacity and investment required on yearly basis.
