An Energy Expert, Mr. Kwame Jantuah has said that the first point of call for public institutions to switch to solar energy is to have a maintenance hub that would take care of the entire solar project.
The Energy Expert said if a lot of public institutions are on solar energy but do not have the requisite maintenance, it can bring governance to a halt.
He said this in an interview with Ibrahim Kwarteng on Radio Ghana’s current affairs programme “BEHIND THE NEWS”.
He emphasized that most of the traffic and street lights are on solar energy and sometimes break down.
Mr. Jantuah mentioned another important thing to consider are the batteries to be used. He asked if the country will encourage the production of the batteries or import them from other countries.
He advised that the government could also consider the wind and bio energy side by side with the solar because combining these other forms of energy could help to minimize the burden on the solar energy alone.
He added that the solar could take a lot of space on the roof depending on the demand of energy by that public institution. He said government could map out the types of renewable energy and consider what will be appropriate to implement.
The Energy Expert also suggested that a good financial module be put in place as a back-up to avoid “dumsor” in the future. He said there is the need to educate Ghanaians not to think that the renewable energy is cheap so could be wasted. He stated that the education will encourage Ghanaians to change their mindset to use energy wisely both for domestic purposes and at the public institutions.
Mr. Jantuah advised that the initiative should not become a tool for politics but development for everyone to understand the need to implement this policy well. Mr. Kwame Jantuah said that government should not rush about the implementation but ensure that it becomes sustainable.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia stated at the 4th Ghana Renewable Energy Fair in Accra that all public institutions including the presidency and parliament will soon switch to solar energy to reduce the large cost of debt incurred by government on power supply every year.
He added that the switch will also relieve the ECG from huge electricity bills and also address climate change issues. The Vice President confirmed that cabinet has already given approval for the project and feasibility studies have already began to determine how viable the project would be.
Story By: Nhyira Kwabi
