The Board Chairman to SunPower Innovations, Board Chair Professor Oheneba Boachie -Adjei says renewable energy is the future and is something we need to embrace.
Professor Boachie-Adjei made this statement while speaking at the commissioning of the Special Ice Factory’s one Megawatt solar project, which he said was very wise of the company to have undertaken because it was going to reduce energy cost as it is a cost saving project.
“After going through the plant and the processes, I recognised the overhead and the precision that are in the operation and I was very impressed. It is expensive but what they are producing is also making life possible and that is in the water that they are producing, which takes a lot of energy. So, I think it was very wise of them to consider this project which is hopefully going to reduce the energy cost.”
Professor Boachie-Adjei commended Special Ice for undertaking the project and SunPower for delivering it. He further said he believes more of such commissioning will be seen throughout the country in the coming years.
He further expressed his pleasure at the Energy Ministry’s partnership which is going to provide the support needed and the guidance that is required to make sure things are done effectively, safely and efficiently and on time for the benefit of the country at large.
Founder and CEO of SunPower Innovations, Ernest Amissah who spearheaded the project also admonished everyone gathered to think about climate change. He said we produce and pollute the environment and the significant impact of carbon emission on the environment is being seen all over.
He also gave a breakdown of the project and how it was going to operate.
“What we have here is over 3000 solar panels. We have three interconnection points, two 250’s and 500 Kilowatts making it one Megawatt.
“All the solar panels generate energy; AC power is what we require for consumption. So, the DC energy generated by the solar panels is converted into AC power by the invertors. So, all that energy from the panels go through the invertors and the invertors will convert its AC so that all the equipment will be able to use it and when it does that then it supplies into the machine or the equipment here at the factory.”
Mr. Amissah also revealed that, they faced a challenge of space constraint due to the scattered nature of the buildings which on the other hand made them come up a structural engineering strategy in executing the project.
He went on to say that, Special Ice demand is about 1.3 megawatts which does not peak during consumption making the 1 Megawatt ideal because it will give them the savings they need.
He also added that, this project is the maiden one for the commercial and industrial space in Ghana and urged production companies to consider it since it will cut down energy cost and help them hire more workers as well.
