Dear President John Dramani Mahama,

Sir, as you prepare to address our dear nation tomorrow, I write this letter with the utmost respect due your High Office of the Land and the awesometasks Ghanaians have laid on your shoulders.

I write this letter because I am a proud citizen of our dear country Ghana who have experienced the Ghanaian Dream and wants his children and grandchildren to have same.

With all due respect, permit me to say that“As a nation, we cannot just simply continue to do the same thing and expect different results”.

Yes, over the last couple of years Ghana has being in one of the most prolonged energy crisis since independence, nonetheless, I sincerely believe it must not coerce managers in the energy sector to simply accept any offer that comes around.

Your Excellency, recent news have it that the Volta River Authority (VRA) hasentered into a joint venture with China’s Shenzhen Energy Group – parent company of SunonAsogli Ghana Ltd for a 700MW Coal plantat an estimated cost of about US$1.5billion.

In spite of the fact that this amount could build 1,000MW hybridized solar farm, I respectfully want to submit thatClean Coal is not only a mythical solution but ‘A Dangerous Gamble for Ghana.’

SIR, it is expected that with the experience over the last three years in the energy sector there will be a lot of solutions, but it is crucial that the choices we make now is rather a sustainable one.

Frankly, I cannot modulate the huge potential of coal in power generation.It is worth noting that just a handful of bituminous coal contains about 3.5KWh of energy, and this amount of energy is enough to power one laptop computer for 3 days (72 hours). Even though Ghana will have to outsource raw coalfrom either South Africa or Australia,it's relatively easy to dig out of the ground. Compared to our conventional sources (the fossils), the raw material is about 0.2 (one-fifth) the cost of oil or natural gas per Btu. The raw material looks relatively cheaper than the fossils.

However, in all this, truth must be told, and that isCOAL HAS SERIOUS ISSUES.

Your Excellency, apart from the fact thatCoal is by far the LARGEST SINGLE SOURCE OF GREENHOUSE GASES in countries that have coal fired power plant,a recent study concluded that COAL EMISSIONS CONTRIBUTE TO 10,000 PREMATURE DEATHS ANNUALLYin countries that have coal power in their energy mix.

SIR, respectfully the Truth is Coal will Never be Clean!!

The cliché of Clean-Coal is that we can bottle up the carbon dioxide (COâ‚‚) produced when coal is burned, most likely by burying it deep in the earth.

That may be possible in theory, but it's awfully difficult in practice.

Your Excellency, my SSS chemistry lessonsin Prempeh College taught me thatwhen Coal burns, oxygen from the air combines with the carbon in the Coal in an Exothermic (heat-releasing) reaction. Because of the addition of oxygen, the resulting (COâ‚‚) weighs more than the carbon alone which means that each pound of coal produces about 2.5 pounds of (COâ‚‚).

Keeping that (COâ‚‚) out of the atmosphere requires a process known as Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). It works by forcing the exhaust from a power plant through a liquid solvent that absorbs the carbon dioxide. Later, the solvent is heated to liberate the gas, much the way a bottle of soda releases its dissolved CO2 when opened. The (COâ‚‚) is then compressed to about 100 times normal atmospheric pressure and sent away for storage in the earth.

Nonetheless, this technology CCS has these hurdles.

SIR, in the case of Ghana, the 700MW COAL POWER PLANT is a DANGEROUS GAMBLE FOR GHANA, because this plant will

1. Emit 14,000 tons of Carbon Dioxide - COâ‚‚ Daily.

2.  Emit 5 Million tons of COâ‚‚ Annually

3.  Need 102,000 barrels of waterto Liquefy the COâ‚‚ for the Clean Coal Process - Daily

4.  Need 25% More of RAW COAL to Enable the Clean Coal Process (CCS Technology)

5.  Cost $17 US Dollars to compress a Ton of COâ‚‚

6.  Cost $85 Million US Dollars per Year to Compress the total COâ‚‚ emitted.

The irony of this whole CCS technology is that it is not predictable if all the (COâ‚‚) gas will stay buried under the earth.

I do not mean that CCS is impossible to achieve, however, it is Dangerous to assume that it will become Technically and Economically feasible any time soon.

Sir, you would agree with me that this will be another punishment for Ghanaians if we create a policy that further burdens the consumers with even higher utility tariff and yet does virtually nothing to solve our problems.

The focus on mythical clean coal is particularly precarious because practical, cost-effective clean alternatives do exist and I meanSolar Power.

Ghana has the potential for clean solar power that makes us even more energy independent. A 1.5billion US Dollar investment will be able to build a 1,000MW or 1GW hybridized solar farm which can provide a 24 hour carbon free power to the grid than carbon sequestration.

Your Excellency,it is my humble plea that we have a re-look in coal power for Ghana, and not allow clean-coal myths to divert us from real-world energy alternatives that work today.

Your Excellency, your words atthe Alliance of Solar-Rich Nations, in India.still resonates in my ear ‘It is unacceptable and indeed a shame that many of the countries with the highest utilisation of solar power are located in temperate climates that have a relatively much lower level of insolation than India and Africa,”.

God Bless You Mr President!!

God Bless Us All!

God Bless Ghana!