The government of Ghana under H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic has cut sod for the construction of the £22.8million solar energy project in the Upper West Region to help boost the power stability in the region.
The construction of the solar facility spearheaded by the Volta River Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy is scheduled to serve 32,000 households in the region, it will also be used as a compliment to the hydro power system in the country.
The first phase of the 17Meggawatts project is divided into two, with Kaleo in the Nadowli/Kaleo district of the Upper West getting13MWs and the remaining 4MWs of the solar system will be mounted at Lawra also in the Upper West Region. The Kaleo project is scheduled to finish by December 2020 and the Lawra installation is expected to end by June this year.
President of the republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the ground breaking ceremony at Kaleo noted that, the Upper West Region is going to witness its fair share of the solar system for the first time in the history of this country stating that, the renewable energy when installed will yield a lot of benefit to the good people of the Upper West Region.
“These solar plants are the first of their kind in the Upper West Region, which means the region has its fair share of the generation assets in the country. This will be the first grid connected solar power plants in the Upper West Region and I am expected that, it will solve the impotence for the development of this region”
He stated that, the implementation of the project has shown the commitment of government to diversify the energy generation portfolio and help increase Ghana’s energy mix.
“This ceremony reaffirms the commitment of government to diversify the country’s energy generation portfolio and thereby help increase renewable energy component of our energy mix and contribute to the fight against effects of climate change”.
President Nana Addo expressed gratitude to the German’s government for funding this project through their development bank and promised to keep strengthen, the ties between the government of Germany and Ghana.
Meanwhile, Management of the Volta River Authority, who are in charge of the project have indicated their readiness to put quality into the project and will as well ensure the smooth running of the plants when completed. They assured the people of the region that, Upper West region is going to witness a face lift so far as the supply of energy to the region is concerned and intermittent power supply will be a thing of the past.
