Solar And Wind Power - Brilliant Moves By VRA

One inspiring piece of news that has gladdened my heart this New Year is the Volta River Authority’s (VRA) Chief Executive’s statement made at a public lecture to mark the 50th anniversary of the VRA last week.

According to a Daily Graphic lead story on January 25th, the VRA’s Chief Executive, Kweku Andoh Awotwi, announced at the lecture that the Authority has initiated moves to generate 100 megawatts of wind and solar power by the end of this year at the cost of $40m.

Never mind the cost, for who knows, VRA may be lucky to find someone who will hook them up with the likes of STX Koreas of this world to find them a lifetime grant. They may even be lucky to ice it all with a sovereign guarantee. For now, all we want to do is to celebrate that piece of news for VRA could not have selected any better package to unveil to Ghanaians on its golden jubilee anniversary.

I bet the first President of the Republic of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah himself would have given VRA a big pat on the back. However, knowing him, he would have questioned them in one breath. He would have sought to know why it has taken them 50 years for his beloved Ghana to have benefited from this obvious alternative to his Akosombo.

Though solar and wind power have been known to man for centuries, it was the 1979 global energy crisis which caused a reorganisation of energy policies around the world and which brought renewed attention to developing solar technologies. Some thirty years later, we as a country may be coming on board a bit rather late but well, for us; it is better late than never.

Which Ghanaian would not welcome such delightful news on alternative sources of power supply, especially if the source is going to come from such natural endowments, plentiful and abundant in the land of our birth. Yes, we have the sun with us 365 days of the year and the wind is unlimited in supply. It is, therefore, joyous news for all of us for we have suffered too much at the hands of one single source of energy distributed by a sole lord and master who calls the shots all the time, day and night.

Who said Ghana is not God’s favourite country? In His own time, He makes things happen. With generous portions of natural resources, some of which are waiting to be tapped, we seem to wake up every year with some added favours at our door step.

The VRA Chief Executive, Kweku Awotwi informs us that the sites for the solar and wind power have already been acquired in the northern sector of the country for the installation of the solar equipment and the coastal areas where wind turbines will be mounted.

I can bet that given the opportunity, local authorities and traditional leaders would by now be trooping in to VRA to lobby for their areas to be added to any list being considered for feasibility studies to be carried out by VRA to ascertain favourable sites for future wind and solar power generation.

After all, who does not want to be near to the source of power? We have for too long a time, waited on a single leg, hydro power, with all the disappointments, annoyances and heartaches, sometimes due to low water levels in the Akosombo Dam, a transmitter fault or an ECG obsolete machine breaking down somewhere. The “on-off, off–on” bluffs of the Electricity Company of Ghana which has led to the destruction of some businesses and electrical home appliances have been too many.

Somehow, I have always had this feeling that sooner than later, if state institutions like VRA and the Electricity Company of Ghana do not find Ghanaians alternative ways to supplement power generation, private operators will fill the void and bring the needed competition which may eventually push them out of business.

Just over a couple of weeks ago, an architect/businessman friend of mine was chatting with me and trying to sell me the idea of investing in solar energy for my domestic use. It is sheer coincidence that at the time we were talking, a national programme on solar energy was already underway.

Thankfully, the current breed of the Authority’s Managers led by the Chief Executive has moved steps ahead and as one of the former Chief Executives of VRA, Louis Casely-Hayford, noted at the lecture last week, the VRA had some of the best professionals in Ghana.

We still want to believe that the best professionals are still out there at VRA and we will be looking up to them to move the project forward and on time. Once our fancy has been tickled by VRA, we hope that when this new move for alternative power finally crystallises, Ghanaians can conveniently bid farewell to the irritating “power-on, power-off” antics we have suffered for some time now.

At this point, however, one can only hope that our architects, urban planners and construction firms are beginning to change the way they do things and that very soon it would be a standard requirement for all new homes to have components for solar and wind energy built into them. It would mean that once the 100 megawatts promised by VRA comes into fruition by the end of 2011, some homes would be ready for its use.

Solar energy may be one great direction for Ghana's continued search for rapid modernisation and transformation for its people, particularly the rural folk. We know by now that where there is constant supply of electricity, modernisation is a natural flow. Definitely, with gradual stabilisation in the supply of electricity, definitely, economic activities will boom and people’s lives will be transformed.

My little awareness on solar energy started some years ago when I got introduced to solar lights used in gardens and along walkways. I have favourably admired the technology since and have always wondered why the same technology is not used for our dark streets and alleys.

Since my friend recently convinced me to invest in solar energy for my domestic use, my interest in this alternative source of power got so heightened that I had already began reading about solar powered electricity and all the advantages that go with it.

Elsewhere, the technology is well-advanced. I could not believe it when a friend showed me their solar batteries and panels which they bought from Kenya and which they keep adding on each time they travelled to take care of a lot more of their electrical appliances.

I am told that apart from its numerous benefits in agriculture, water heating, cooking, cooling and ventilation, solar powered vehicles have developed an international interest generating a biannual solar-powered car race where teams from universities and enterprises compete. I am even told that some manufactured vehicles use solar panels for auxiliary power for their air conditioning to keep the interior cool thus reducing fuel consumption.

It is refreshing to know that around the world, with the sun up there and which is freely available to us and which some of us enjoy for a greater part of the day, 365 days in a year, only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used. What it means then is that though sunlight is a plentiful resource, we have not been able to utilise what is available to us.

There is definitely adequate room for us in Ghana to add on to our blessings by concentrating on converting our share of sunlight and wind into more electricity. For all you know, the 100 megawatts is only a drop. No doubt that we have the sun in abundance because we learn that around the world, depending on one’s geographical location, the closer one is to the equator the more “potential” solar energy is available. Ghana is close to the equator, right?

VRA’s mid-life celebrations will certainly be something for us to write home about after all if for nothing at all, one thing that we will look forward to, for sure, is the launch of the first 100 megawatts of wind and solar power for our practical use. As with all new products and services, we will urge VRA to intensify its public education on what it is we are to expect and how it will benefit the consumer.

We are beginning to build some hopes and we trust that these hopes will not be dashed. As a starter, we will for now, welcome the news with much applause to VRA for giving us a jubilee gift.