The Government of Ghana, UNDP and Governments of China and Denmark have signed a partnership agreement on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer to consolidate the provision of power in Ghana.
The partnership is under the project “China-Ghana-South-South Cooperation on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer”.
According to the parties in agreement, the objective of project was to ensure that Chinese renewable energy technologies are optimally responding to priorities and needs in Ghana, and critical skills are also transferred and developed to make the technologies actually work on the ground.
This approach will have a tremendous impact on increasing access to energy for the rural poor in Ghana, they added.
The four-year project, funded by the Government of Denmark at $2,720,000 is a key component of UNDP’s support to the implementation of Ghana’s Sustainable Energy For All (SE4ALL Plan) Action Plan. The Plan, adopted in 2012, includes concrete commitments and actions aimed at improving access to modern forms of fuels for cooking and promoting productive uses of energy, with focus on the use of renewable energy resources.
“We want this project to represent a best practice in South-South cooperation. We want it to effectively address Ghana’s need to increase universal energy access through off-grid community-based electrification and increased share of renewable energy”, said Ms. Gita Welch, Acting Resident Representative of UNDP in Ghana.
The project, which focuses on technologies such as solar and wind for irrigation, biogas, mini hydro and improved cook stoves, will have private sector development as its centerpiece. “In a fast-growing economy like Ghana, there are substantive opportunities for private sector investments in the energy section, in particular in renewable energy and clean technologies”, noted Gita.
The initiative is one of the first examples of triangular South-South cooperation between China and Africa with support from a donor. The partnership includes Zambia, as the second African Country working with China through UNDP, around the promotion of the UN’s initiative “Sustainable Energy for All”, which was made possible by a funding from the Government of Denmark.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
