Global power management company, Eaton International Industries has made a strong case for Ghana to maximize solar energy to increase the country’s power generation mix.
Solar currently contributes 0.1% of the country’s total installed capacity of 2,846 megawatts, with hydro contributing 47% and thermal 36%.
Ghana currently has a 2 megawatts solar power plant in the Upper East region which is estimated to be the largest grid PV plant in West Africa.
According to the Volta River Authority, the country’s leading power generation company, the plant cost 8,082,025 dollars and is expected to be expanded to 2.5 MW.
Ghana’s five year Renewable Development Programme Phase 1 (2010 – 2015) is aimed at developing about 160 MW of installed renewable energy capacity with Solar expecting to contribute 14 Megawatts.
President John Mahama has said the country’s medium term energy target is 5000 megawatts by the year 2016.
Some energy analysts have identified the huge initial investments in procuring solar panels and power inverters as the main stumbling block in increasing the number of people using Solar in Ghana.
But Eaton says its extensive expertise and solutions for renewable energy include its capacity to deliver the lowest cost per watt on projects, year upon year.
In an interview with Citi Business news, the Managing Director for Africa – Eaton Electrical Sector Shane Kilfoil,said “We believe our products are very competitively priced; they have to be to play in the market. but more importantly we try to focus on quality , so for us quality is the key. It’s always easy to buy something cheap and it fails next month”.
Eaton International Industries today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Intu-gROUP, a wholly owned Ghanaian company, to market Eaton products.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of INTU-Group Bryan Acheampong said the company had the capacity to install a one megawatts Solar power solution within a week.
He said ,”Eaton is the second largest power player in the world, it’s known, Eaton has modular power solutions, within a week, Eaton can ship a container of a solar power solution into a community like Nkawkaw and basically plug and play”.
According to him, the partners have been in discussions with the Ministry of Energy, Energy Commission, Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC), VRA, GridCo and ECG among others to assess the challenges in the sector.
In Africa, the company focuses on the creation of customised solutions to meet customers’ specific power management needs.
Eaton, specializes in helping customers manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more reliably.
They employ over 103,000 people worldwide and serve customers in 175 countries.
Shane Kilfoil, said Eaton will continue to build a more energy efficient West Africa through partnership with local agencies and companies
“I’m hoping that within the next 24 months if the business in Ghana goes well as we’ve started with the first container of power quality, within 24 months, as the discussion is ongoing we should be able to set up shop all be it small but definitely we will get to the level where we will become a major manufacturing spot in this country, for the region”, Bryan Acheampong added.
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By: Rabiu Alhassan/citifmonline.com/Ghana