{"id":60023,"date":"2014-10-28T05:42:09","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T05:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=60023"},"modified":"2014-10-28T05:44:22","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T05:44:22","slug":"3-ghanaian-companies-win-100000-each-in-power-africa-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=60023","title":{"rendered":"3 Ghanaian companies win $100,000 each in Power Africa challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Ghanaian companies have emerged winners in the Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge sponsored by General Electric (GE), the U.S. Africa Development Foundation (USADF) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of the companies received a grant of $100,000.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The companies, Solar Light Company Limited, Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture and New Energy, all submitted entries for innovative energy solutions that can be deployed to power socio-economic activities within communities in Ghana that are not connected to the country\u2019s national grid.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Ghanaian companies joined 19 other grant winners from Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya.\u00a0 Over 300 entries were received from across the continent.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Off-Grid Energy Challenge is part of Power Africa, President Obama\u2019s initiative to increase access to reliable, affordable, clean and sustainable power in Sub-Saharan Africa.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Power Africa is also helping ensure responsible, transparent and effective management of energy resources in Sub-Saharan Africa.\u00a0 The three year initiative was launched in 2013 with 6 winners drawn from Kenya and Nigeria receiving $100,000 each, toward their renewable energy projects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"power<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Solar Light Company Limited<\/span>, plans to improve the livelihoods of Ghana\u2019s informal street vendors, who often work for less than $3 a day for long hours in the sun.\u00a0 The company will be prototyping and locally manufacturing the \u201cSunana\u201d system, a portable solar unit that street vendors can use to charge phones and provide lighting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another winner, the <\/span>Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture<\/span> (KITA) is a Ghanaian NGO which serves as a leading center for research, technology transfer and education in farming, agriculture, agribusiness, and environmental resources management.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

KITA is installing a 20-kilowatt biomass gasifier unit to use discarded biomass to power processing equipment that turns palm seeds into palm oil in an off-grid community in Ohwimase, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.<\/span><\/p>\n

The third winner, NewEnergy is installing a solar-powered water pumping, filtration, and purification system, as well as a drip irrigation system, to be managed sustainably by a local water cooperative in the off-grid town of Nabogo in northern Ghana.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking at the event, the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Gene Cretz,\u00a0 applauded GE and its partners- USADF and USAID for taking on an active role in lighting Africa and in particular Ghana, through the Power Africa initiative.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The ambassador was pleased with the quality of the winning projects, calling the projects \u201cinnovative home-grown solutions for the local environment.\u201d\u00a0 He noted, \u201c<\/span>The Off-Grid challenge, like Power Africa, represents the best of what partnerships can accomplish, when we set our focus on a common goal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The CEO of GE Ghana Mr. Leslie Nelson expressed pleasure at the outcome of the event saying that GE was very proud of the calibre of talent that emerged from Ghana in the competition.\u00a0 \u201cThis further validates our belief at GE that the indigenous people on the ground have valuable insights on what works best for Africa and innovative solutions to meet the power needs of the continent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Robert Buzzard, manager of USAID\/Ghana\u2019s Energy program, noted that USAID, as a member of the Power Africa initiative, contributed $700,000 in support of the Off-Grid Challenge partnership.\u00a0 \u201cMuch of USAID\u2019s technical and financial support to the energy and power sectors in Ghana works on big-picture, upstream links in the chain of energy to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, we\u2019re helping the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum remove road blocks to the flow of natural gas flow from Ghana\u2019s Jubilee field to power generation plants.\u00a0 The three projects we\u2019re celebrating tonight add to that work and provide immediate impact on the lives of those not living on the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the President\/CEO of the United States Africa Development Foundation (USADF) Shari Berenbach said, \u201cUSADF is pleased to be supporting economic growth at the grassroots level, by addressing the energy poverty that many communities face.\u00a0 These grants represent the innovation and \u2018can do\u2019 attitude of Ghanaian renewable energy ventures that is spurring on growth across the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Already the winners from the maiden edition of the Off-Grid Challenge in Nigeria and Kenya have started impacting their respective communities with energy solutions.\u00a0 Green Village Electricity is providing solar powered energy to over 70 homes and hundreds of inhabitants of Egbeke community in Rivers state in the southern part of Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Mibawa, a winning company from Kenya, also is using the \u201cIndigo\u201d solar energy system to provide charging capability for two lights and cell phones for rural households in Eastern Kenya.\u00a0 The Indigo lighting system has now replaced the use of kerosene lamps in these communities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The final round of the Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge will take place in 2015.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: US Embassy Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Ghanaian companies have emerged winners in the Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge sponsored by General Electric (GE), the U.S. Africa Development Foundation (USADF) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).\u00a0 Each of the companies received a grant of $100,000.\u00a0 The companies, Solar Light Company Limited, Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture and New Energy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":60057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,4],"class_list":["post-60023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-psychiatric","tag-st-augustines-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}