Several non-governmental organisations are working with Kwahu Afram Plains North District in the Eastern region, to supply electricity to island and remote communities in the area.
The Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (CEESD), and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) under the Voice for Change Partnership (V4CP), has organised a one-day workshop in the area to help solve issues with its mini-grid and find new ways to utilise its electrification programme.
According to reports, 62% of sub-Sahara’s population lacks access to electricity. CEESD’s Executive Director, Julius Ahiekpor, says that while Ghana is doing better than most African countries when it comes to supplying power, there are still five million people not connected to electricity.
Furthermore, challenges in constructing underwater infrastructure come with hefty costs. And rugged terrain in Afram Plains and parts of the Volta Region, makes it hard for electrical companies to set up power, he said.
To resolve this, he noted that the government decided to build mini-grids to improve the social and economic livelihood for citizens in those areas.
An energy expert at CEESD, Edem Bensah, explained that mini-grids serve the same purpose as a national grid, except with mini-grids, the communities would be responsible for providing maintenance and operation of the electricity.
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Mini-grids is a “matured and cost-effective technological solution, which has been shown to provide high quality and reliable source of electricity to those communities and therefore must be embraced,” Bensah said at the event.
He advised that the government partner with the private sector to efficiently install the grids and help bring power to those living in selected island and lakeside communities.
*Additional reporting from the Ghana News Agency.