The number of people without access to electricity in Ghana is about 5 million, representing about 15 per cent of the population, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Despite the progress that has been made in the past years, with the proportion of people having access to electricity increasing from 45 per cent in the past two decades to 85 per cent in 2019, there is still a lot that needs to be done on this front.

Based on the IEA’s assessment, the majority of progress on this front over the past decade has been sustained as a result of grid connections. But then, a rapid rise of off-grid systems also contribute to this trend. However, currently, the ban on renewable energies’ power purchasing agreements (PPAs) indicates a strain to the increase in off-grid systems.

According to its 2020 World Energy Outlook database, 93 per cent of the country’s population living in urban areas have access to electricity. Comparatively, the proportion of the populace with access to electricity in rural areas is about 75 per cent.

Furthermore, in the West African sub-region, Ghana’s electricity access rate of 85 per cent follows that of Cape Verde which reached an access rate of 96 per cent, whereas Nigeria has an electricity access rate of 62 per cent.

Given the total number of people without access to electricity in West Africa, the number of Ghanaians who do not have access to electricity as a share of the number without access in West Africa is about 3 per cent.

Also, Ghana, home to over 30 million people, is numbered among several other countries in sub-Saharan Africa region experiencing progress in providing access to electricity including other countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal and Rwanda, the report indicated.

Access to Electricity in Africa

In Africa, the number of people gaining access to electricity doubled from 9 million a year between 2000 and 2013 to 20 million people between 2014 and 2019, outpacing population growth. However, a vast majority of the African populace, that is, around 579 million are without access to electricity as at 2019, declining from 610 million in 2013.

However, the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening to reduce the pace of ensuring access. Governments are now faced with difficulties as they consider ways to alleviate energy poverty and expand access, pushing countries farther away from achieving universal access.

As a result, governments’ priorities have shifted, supply-chain disruptions and social distancing measures have also slowed access programmes and activities in the decentralised energy access area, the report indicated.

“Sub-Saharan Africa, home to three-quarters of the global population without access to electricity, has been particularly hard hit, and recent progress achieved in the region is being reversed by the effects of the pandemic.”

The report suggests that mobilising development finance institutions and donors is critical to ensuring that energy access progress continues. It also recommended decentralised solutions as the least-cost way to provide power to more than half of the population gaining access by 2030.

“The least expensive way to achieve universal electricity access in many areas appears to be renewable energy sources: in addition to increasing grid-connected electricity generation from renewables, declining costs of small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) for stand-alone systems and mini-grids is key in helping deliver affordable electricity access to millions.”