The envoy of the French Government for Climate Change, Ambassador Stephane Gompertez has warned the Mahama led administration against choosing energy sources that are not environmentally friendly in its quest to end the current power crises.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Ghana has to choose between Natural Gas and coal, though coal is cheaper natural gas should be a better option\u201d. He insists.<\/p>\n
Ghana has been plunged into a power crisis for about 3 years now with Government indicating its willingness to try cheaper sources for power generation like coal.<\/p>\n
Power minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor for example had stipulated that Government\u2019s avowed aim of generating 5,000 megawatts of electricity by 2016 from the current 2,800MW may be elusive since Ghana’s traditional sources of electricity have been limited to hydro, thermal and quite recently solar. Ghana’s demand for electricity is increasing at the rate of 10% annually.<\/p>\n
Hence, the recent Power Ministry\u2019s decision to include coal powered sources to the energy mix to add impetus towards enhancing the country’s generating capacity.<\/p>\n
This proposal by a Chinese company to build 700MW coal powered plant in Ghana generated mixed feelings from various stakeholders and among Ghanaians regardless of the fact that coal is the cheapest energy source of choice, worldwide.<\/p>\n
But in an interview with Citi News, after the lecture on Climate change at the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA, Ambassador Stephane Gompertez, urged Ghana to abandon such ideas since to him the long term \u201cimplications of using coal will be devastating to the environment\u201d.<\/p>\n
He however admits it will be a difficult decision because of the urgent need to shore up the nation\u2019s generation capacity \u201cGhana like other African countries in energy crisis, is facing a contradiction, it\u2019s a dilemma.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained but insist\u00a0 though \u201cthere is an acute need, on the hand preserving the environment is a long term goal which all countries has to abide with.\u201d<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Raymond Acquah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The envoy of the French Government for Climate Change, Ambassador Stephane Gompertez has warned the Mahama led administration against choosing energy sources that are not environmentally friendly in its quest to end the current power crises. \u201cIf Ghana has to choose between Natural Gas and coal, though coal is cheaper natural gas should be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":105856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[38,17],"yoast_head":"\n