Today, as I drive through the streets of Accra and Kumasi, it’s solar power for the traffic lights, billboards and the street lights by the road.

As we continue to wobble in Dumsor, the choice for powering our barbering shops, freezing our ice kenkey/sachet water and lighting our MMDAs is either a petrol/diesel run generator set or solar. There are very distinct differences between the two power sources in terms of cost and reliability.

The generator sets are typically characterized by a lower initial cost but a very high operation and maintenance cost. Solar is the opposite, with a higher and intimidating initial cost but very low ongoing operation and maintenance costs.

For years, the cliché from the “non-solar community” has been that it is very expensive and it is bound to fail as a reliable source of energy. Solar has always been condemned for being ‘expensive’ and not seeing immediate ‘pay-offs. In terms of reliability, it is much cheaper to keep a solar-powered system going than a diesel engine.

Glaringly, this is evident in most of our institutions where diesel/petrol generators lie rusting and unused. Let’s not forget that we do not see diesel/petrol generator sets around the traffic lights, the several billboards or the street lights by the road and besides, all these solar powered street lights are not captured in our electricity bills as it is done for the conventional powered street lights.

As a nation, majority of us have cheaply fallen for their speculative “high-cost” argument and have failed to evaluate the option of adopting solar energy in our institutions, homes and offices.

I strongly believe that by the time we walk through the analysis, we would both appreciate why the Europeans and other leaders have embraced solar power. In other jurisdictions where they have fully availed themselves and have understood the several potentials of solar power, people get paid monthly by their government when their unused energy generated by their home Solar Power Supply System adds to the national grid by allowing it to pass unto same.

Let’s examine the cost effects of investing in Solar Power Supply System as opposed to the conventional Diesel/Petrol Generator?

Table 1: OPERATING COST - HONDA 5KVA (4kW) PETROL GENERATOR FOR 25 YEARS

ITEM	CONTRIBUTIONS	COST (GHC)
	Cost of Honda 5KVa Petrol Generator	1,200.00
	Ave Cost of Petrol per week (63litres/week)	215.50
	Ave Cost of Petrol per Month : (ITEM 2) x 4	862.00
	Ave Cost of Petrol per Year : (ITEM 3) x 12 Months	10,344.00
	Ave Maintenance per Year (Assume same for Solar Power Source)	300.00
	Price of New Generator Set after 4years (Assume fair Inflation rate)	1,300.00
	Cost of Petrol for 25 years: (ITEM 4) x 25	258,600.00
	4 different generators bought within the 25 years	5400.00
	Ave Cost of Maintenance for 25years (Assume no major destruction)	7500.00
	TOTAL COST FOR 25 YEARS (ITEM 7 + ITEM 8 + ITEM 9 )	271,500.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assumptions:

1. Calculations based on average home power supply need.
2. Two Gallons (9Litres) of petrol to last for 12hours, hence an average of 63 litres per week.
3. Cost per litre according to GOIL: a) Diesel è 2.980ghc. b) Petrol è 3.420ghc
4. Assume a Generator set has a life span of 4years and an inflation rate of 8%

Table 2: OPERATING COST – 6KVA (4.8kW) SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR 25YEARS

ITEM	CONTRIBUTIONS	COST (GHC)
	Cost of a Standard 6KVA(4.8kW) solar PV system fully installed	43,000.00
	Price of New Batteries every Five Years (6 Pieces): 850 x 6	5,100.00
	Cost for Batteries in 25years (Assume fair Inflation rate)	26,500.00
	Ave Maintenance per Year (Assume same for Solar Power Source)	300.00
	Ave Cost of Maintenance for 25years (Assume no major destruction)	7500.00
	TOTAL COST FOR 25 YEARS (ITEM 1 + ITEM 3 + ITEM 5 )	77,000.00

Note: With high quality Inverters, batteries and charge controllers

Assuming a general rule of thumb estimate would be around $2800/ kW system. 

1 kW=1.25 kVA (Not considering the Feed In Tarrif)

Despite the huge significant savings of about 195,000 ghc in the course of 25 years in comparing the two generation sources, it is evident that the initial cost of solar is often intimidating to clients. Nonetheless, you would perhaps agree that “quantity over quality” is not a good value if the higher quantity option is not likely to be giving good service five years down the road and if beneficiaries are going to be stuck with interventions they cannot afford to sustain over time.

As a nation we should not be oblivious that conventional petrol/diesel generators are not a real alternative solution, as they don’t meet our demands and have other crucial negative side effects such as high cost of operation as evident in the calculations. Again, apart from it not been environmentally friendly, maintenance servicing is poor and very expensive.

Thus, seeking to satisfy our various energy needs with this conventional systems is susceptible to fail, as the cost it incurs and the risks thereof are too high for Ghanaians to bear.

Let me conclude by saying that Solar power systems are intrinsically more reliable than diesel powered systems. They are simpler, have fewer moving parts. With little or no care at all, they will likely run for months or years unattended. As a nation, if we invest in solar power, we are buying many years of electricity up-front. As we believe in thermal generation of electricity, we can vouch for the solar thermal power plant by using the (CSP) Concentrated Solar Power technology which has been implored in many nations.

In contrast, the cost of petrol/diesel is already prohibitive to the world’s poorest people. No one knows what the price will be next year or 5 years from now but all indications suggest that oil-derived fuels will only continue to increase in cost as global oil production slips over the top of the curve and heads downward in the face of rapidly increasing demand. The sun is a powerful source that can help our planet by giving us clean, reusable energy to power our world.  The use of this energy is free, does not create pollution, and if used wisely can help us become less dependent on other more costly and damaging forms of power.