Some rural and peri-urban communities in the Tamale metropolis are to benefit from a solar power project to be initiated by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly. The Mayor of Tamale, Alhaji Haruna Friday, who disclosed this, said the assembly would include this programme in its Medium-Term Development Plan for 2010. He, however, cautioned that the project could only see the light of day if the assembly secured some funding from development partners. Alhaji Friday was speaking at an emergency meeting of the assembly, which was summoned to afford New Energy, an NGO that works to provide safe and alternate energy systems, the opportunity to brief the assembly on its initiatives in the metropolis. Already, a few rural communities in the metropolis have been connected to solar power through the intervention of New Energy. Alhaji Friday noted that it had become critical for developing nations to consider solar energy due to the increasing concern about climate change, which is partly escalated by the depletion of natural resources. He said the north was particularly at an advantage in terms of harnessing sunshine for power due to the abundance of sunshine in the area. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of New Energy, Mr Thomas Sayibu Imoro, acknowledged the fact that the National Rural Electrification Project, which commenced in 1990, might not be able to meet its objectives of providing, hydro power to all rural communities in the country by 2020. He said this called for other alternative energy sources, like solar power, which, he noted, was more suited for the north due to the availability of enough sunshine. Mr Imoro said apart from using solar power for electricity, it could also be used to provide energy for domestic purposes so as to replace the use of firewood and charcoal, which is environmentally unfriendly. "This meeting would, therefore, enable us to sensitize the assembly members to the need to develop solar power systems in the metropolis as a better option to hydro power," he further stated. Recognizing the importance of solar power, the assembly members pledged their support for the project and expressed the hope that the assembly would find some funds for its implementation. Source: Daily Graphic