The Energy Commission of Ghana has said that, Ghana will not be able to use cheap hydro sources of power to expand generation capacity to support its rural electrification program and as a result will have to rely heavily on expensive thermo plants if growing demand is not checked.
The situation has compelled the Energy Commission to press on government to fast track implementation of energy conservation initiatives for the country. The nation got to this status after recording higher demand for power in the last few years.
Speaking with the media, Director of Energy Efficiency and Climate Change at the Energy Commission, Kofi Agyarko said the growing demand is worrying and could affect the country economically.
“Now, Ghana has hit its wit-end as far as cheap hydro power is concerned. Now any future expansion of generation capacity will have to come from thermal, and thermal is expensive. That is how come sometimes we struggle to adjust tariffs upwards and it comes with a whole lot of resistance.
“Thermal is expensive by way of the crude oil that we use as fee stock. It is expensive also by way of maintenance. It is expensive by way of carbon dioxide it emits into the atmosphere.”
Mr. Adjarko further said that, if the trend is not checked and demand for power continues to grow then, “we as a people will have no alternative than to cost money to expand generation capacity, which is building more power plants”.
“And that money, you as much as I do know that can be applied to certain sensitive sectors of the economy that will bring prosperity to all of us.”
The Rural Electrification programme of Ghana through grid extensions is aimed at extending electricity power lines to connect about 59,000 customers in 530 communities in 26 districts in ECG operational areas.
The government of Ghana, through the then Ministry of Energy in January 2009, set objectives to increase power generation capacity from 1,810 megawatts (MW) to 5,000 MW by 2015, and also make electricity accessible to every part of the country by 2020 by enhancing the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity throughout the country.
Ghana has made significant progress in extending electricity access across the country, particularly in rural areas where access levels rose from 1% to 63% of the population between 1991 and 2014.
Ghana, according to reports generates 80 per cent of its energy using hydro sources of power generation with thermal and renewable energy contributing the other percentage.
As the population of the country continues to grow, demand on the other hand is increasing rapidly, slowing down the project which has brought about other energy conservation methods being sort after.
Thermal energy, a form of power generation is the process of obtaining energy by burning fuels such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to convert into electric energy by using power generating facilities. Although ideal, this method of power generation is said to be very expensive.
