Chief Executive Officer of The Bui Power Authority (BPA), Fred Oware has intimated that, the Authority has installed more than 15Megawatts peak (MWp) solar panels and have surpassed the 10MWp target of the first phase of the Bono solar power park.
Speaking after the Board of BPA inspected the project, he said the authority is targeting to install between 20MWp and 25MWp additional panels before its commissioning in the middle of November.
He noted that, after the commissioning of the first phase, the Authority would continue to add on until they reach the 50MWp.
“We’re going to have 100megawatts on this site and will do it in 50s. But even with the 50MW, we will do them in bits, so we planned to do 10MWp but currently we have surpassed that.”
Explaining the broad vision of the Bui Power Authority, regarding renewable energy, Mr Oware said the Authority has planned to construct a solar park with a capacity of 250 Megawatts explaining that apart from the 50MW solar park, which is currently ongoing, they are also constructing 1MW floating solar park on the reservoir of the Bui Dam.
Mr Oware said the 1MW floating solar park is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, adding that the Authority intends to scale it up to 5 Megawatts.
He further revealed that, the Authority has also acquired sites in the Northern Regions and is planning to undertake solar projects including wind power by next year.
According to him, per the Authority’s plan, it would be able to develop 2500MW of renewable energy in line with the government’s vision to ensure that 10 percent of the country’s energy mix is from renewable.
Board Chairman of BPA, Afare Apeadu Donkor also expressed his satisfaction with the state and progress of work and commended the staff for working to ensure that the project was completed to add on to the country’s energy mix.
Other Board Members who were present at the inspection of the facility are Mrs. Sylvia Maria Asare,Dr Adams Sulemana Achanso, Mr Kwaku Bowiansa Abrefa and Mr Gabriel Osei (MP).
Earlier, this year, the Director of Renewable and Alternative Energies at the Ministry of Energy, Wisdom Ahiataku-Togobo who led a team from the Ministry to tour the facility, said the team was impressed by the level of progress and was hopeful that the first phase would be completed as planned.
He commended the Bui Power Authority for giving Ghana value for money by using quality materials for the project.
Mr. Ahiataku-Togobo noted that the project formed part of the government’s efforts toward increasing the penetration of Renewable Energy (RE) by 10 percent by 2030 as outlined in the Paris Agreement of Ghana’s Intended National Determine Contribution (INDC).
Ghana’s total utility-scale installed solar capacity now stands at 49MW, with the recent commissioning of the VRA’s 6.54MWp solar park at Lawra in the Upper West Region.
