The Chief Executive of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Emmanuel Twum Antwi Darkwa, has said that, digitization and technology will play a vital role if the nation is going to enhance the energy market stability and ensure security.
In a presentation done on his behalf by Dr. Isaac Doku, Director for Commercial Service of VRA, at the Ghana Economic Forum under the theme “Enhancing our Energy market stability and security post COVID-19 transformational agenda”, he intimated that, digitization and technology will facilitate the availability of energy which cannot be done with the old traditional way adding that, both will facilitate monitoring and maintenance of networks in the energy
He further said that, although global energy supplies were maintained, through the covid 19 period to date, some challenges were posed in the sector pointing to the fact that, the business of the energy supply in supporting economies will have to undergo some fundamental changes to sustain energy security and also to ensure the stability within the energy market.
In addressing the topic of enhancing our energy market stability and security, he highlighted some key pointers that the nation has to focus on, as it drives toward enhancing the stability of the energy market as well as the energy security.
He noted that, capacity must be available to meet the energy demand and must always be optimized, because of the impact it has on industrial operations and associated costs to the economy as a whole.
He touched on affordability, where he stated that, price of energy must be affordable to ensure economic viability of the energy industry and the global competitive market.
“VALCO has been sited as an example. So yes, energy must be available but it must also be affordable on a global market.”
He then said that, the sources of energy generation must also be acceptable since it played a key role in energy generation.
“Gone are the days where everything was based on fossil fuel. Now financiers look at what the source of energy is before they actually invest. We have millennials today who through social media can easily stop a power company from operating because they think about climate change.”
Dr. Doku added that, sustainability and diversification were necessary because, it must be known, if the resources being used for energy is going to be sustainable, or will deplete with time, adding that, If the resource is going to be depleted then that does not ensure sustainability as we move forward.
Touching on diversification, there is the need to move away from the reliance of a single source towards a portfolio mix that combines traditional forces.
He then said how accessible the energy, to both industries and consumers, shows the critical role for the transmission and distribution networks.
He further posited that, energy is a very critical resource, and to underscore this assertion he related it to what happened during the COVID 19 pandemic that is still ongoing that, even though sectors were shut down, the nation could not afford to shut down the supply of energy.
“Whiles various sectors were shut down, energy supply could not be interrupted being one of the critical resources for the economy. The criticality of energy as a resource whose supply cannot be interrupted even during a global pandemic being experienced brought to the fore certain challenges that have to be addressed to ensure that we have energy security, and also ensure stability in the energy market.”
He then said that, the pandemic had brought along some exposures, on how energy will have to be secured and reliably supplied in the new normal to ensure stability.
