President John Mahama has hinted that government is exploring the Possibilities of using solar energy to power water production across the country.
This according to him is because unlike electrical power, solar is not only a cheaper option but will withstand the current load scheding exercise which affects water production.
President Mahama made these remarks when he paid a visit to Accra Brewery Limited, which recently embarked on an expansion project estimated to cost 100 million dollars.
He observed that due to the power outages “…water supply is affected too because we use electric power to pump water and so sometimes when there have been outages in Weija or Kpone then it affects water supply but once the power situation regularizes I think that water supply will be more reliable.”
He said: “We are exploring the possibility of using more solar power to pump water than electric power. It will reduce the operation cost of the water company and it will ensure that water can be supplied at all times because the sun is always there. If sunlight could be exported, probably Ghana will be one of the richest countries in the world. And so we are looking at the possibility.”
The president said he had tasked his engineers to conduct feasibility studies on usage of “solar for water pumping than using electricity.”
“So any challenges we are facing are temporary but I’m happy to see there is confident in this economy despite some of the few challenges we’ve gone through. For your principals to decide to invest $100 million in this plant is a sign of confident in the Ghanaian economy going forward.”
Boost in water supply
President Mahama also highlighted some of the improvements made in the water sector saying “We’ve increased water supply to Accra by in excess of 50 million gallons, 40 million gallons from the new Kpone plant and another 30 million gallons from the new desalination plant that we have introduced.”
–
By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana