The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in the Public Sector Project (REEEPublic) of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ – Ghana), has once again demonstrated its commitment to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions in Ghana.

GIZ in partnership with the Energy Foundation has trained 15 staff from the renewable energy and energy efficiency departments of the Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd.(ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo).

The two-day training program, aimed at strengthening the capacity of ECG and NEDCo staff on sustainable energy solutions, took participants through various topics with hands-on application in energy audit, solar PV systems assessment, energy management, financial analysis of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, among others.

Addressing the media at the event, Isaac Opoku Manu, Technical Advisor for the REEEPublic Project – GIZ, emphasized the relevance of such training programs due to the critical role ECG and NEDCo play in the energy sector.

“Capacity development is one of the key tenets of the REEEPublic project, and these workshops provide the platform to enrich the technical know-how of our partners in line with the project goals”, he asserted. 

He added that, the training will help ECG and NEDCo as they will be in a much better position to advise their customers, particularly, government institutions on energy efficiency measures and the adoption of renewable energy technologies to reduce their energy costs.

According to Mr. Manu, the effect of this will be the reduction in cost of the electricity bills of public facilities, thus reducing the energy debt of the government and to ensure the effective management of ECG and NEDCo.  

The Acting Executive Director for Energy Foundation, Ing. Stephen Duodu, on his part stated that the training will not only beef up the expertise of ECG and NEDCo to implement renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions for its customers, but will also prepare them as key actors in the realization of Ghana’s Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP) and other flagship renewable energy initiatives such as the Government Goes Solar (GGS) initiative, among others.

“To ensure the application of what has been taught in the day-to-day activities of the participants, we will liaise with the heads of the renewable and energy efficiency departments of ECG and NEDCo to submit monthly reports on the activities of the experts trained”, he added.

Dr. Eric Effah-Donyina, Head of the Renewable Energy Desk at NEDCo, testifying at the event stated that this workshop has equipped them with added knowledge in providing energy efficiency solutions to their customers and further urged GIZ and the Energy Foundation to continue to support them by organizing more of these workshops.

“Today’s training has enlightened us on how to properly conduct energy audit to maximize the efficient use of energy in buildings. These workshops have been helpful and I commend GIZ’s effort in supporting us all the time. We hope for more of this in the future” he stated.