Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse, Mr. Agyekumhene expressed frustration that nearly four months into Mr. Jinapor’s tenure, the country still struggles to secure adequate liquid fuel supplies to power thermal plants.

“Telling us today that we have only two and a half days of liquid fuel? I could understand if this was immediately after he took office, but he’s had enough time to make arrangements. The Minister should stop giving excuses—it’s long enough for us to have secured the liquid fuel,” he said.

While acknowledging unforeseen disruptions such as the ongoing issues at the Atuabo gas processing plant, Mr. Agyekumhene maintained that the fuel shortages are largely due to poor planning.

“It does happen, it happened previously too, but there’s no excuse when we don’t have the cash to buy fuel because we failed to plan adequately,” he stated.

The former PURC official’s remarks come in the wake of the Minister’s recent disclosure to Parliament’s Energy Committee that the country currently has just 2.6 days’ worth of liquid fuel left. The Ministry is reportedly racing against time to raise funds to procure more fuel.

However, Mr. Agyekumhene insists the crisis is more than just about fuel availability—it highlights broader structural and financial weaknesses in the power sector.

“The truth is, no one sells crude oil on credit. A single cargo costs about $50 million, and we don’t have the cash. Yet, if ECG were collecting money for power consumed, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” he explained.

He also called out inconsistencies in the Minister’s public statements over time.

“When he was in opposition, the Minister kept saying we had no excess capacity. Now he admits there is, but the irony is we’re not even paying for power that’s already been produced—and we still owe for idle capacity,” Mr. Agyekumhene said.

To address the crisis, he urged the government to urgently fix revenue collection gaps and to prioritise more efficient gas-based power generation instead of relying heavily on costly liquid fuels.

“Everyone managing the sector knows gas is cheaper. If there’s no gas, then at least we should have strategic reserves of liquid fuel—not just two days, but at least a month,” he concluded.

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This move could cripple an already struggling energy sector, pushing the country closer to a potential blackout.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the Minister detailed the staggering $1.7 billion debt the government inherited in the energy sector.

This includes significant arrears owed to major energy players such as Karpowership, Asogli Power, and SEND Power.

“Yesterday, I received a letter from Karpowership, and they have threatened to shut down the plant in seven days due to the unpaid bills we inherited,” Mr Jinapor said.

As you can see, the debt portfolios include $297 million owed to Asogli, $220 million to SNIT, $423 million to SEND Power, and $371 million to Karpowership. When you add them all together, the total debt inherited amounts to $1.7 billion” he noted.

“We have been exploring every possible avenue to negotiate with them for some breathing room, but they have made it clear that they will not budge.”

The Minister also highlighted the growing financial strain on the sector, with the total debt now exceeding GH₵80 billion.

He warned that if the crisis is not addressed soon, the country’s power sector could collapse entirely.

In a bid to tackle the crisis, the government has already begun negotiations with the Ministry of Finance to secure emergency funds and has made partial payments to some energy suppliers.

“So far, we have paid approximately $30 million. Karpowership has been made a priority, and we have also paid some outstanding amounts to WAPCo,” Mr Jinapor explained.

Despite these efforts, the financial strain has forced Ghana to tap into international guarantees meant to secure the energy sector.

“The World Bank guarantee of $500 million has now been reduced to $50 million,” Mr Jinapor said. “When asked by the host Evans Mensah when this occurred, he said it occurred before they took office.

As the crisis deepens, Ghana has also been forced to sell oil reserves, which were originally intended to generate revenue for the economy, to repay these mounting debts.

“The Litasco guarantee, which was about $170 million, has also been drawn down. As a result, the oil that would have been sold to generate revenue for the economy had to be taken in order to repay the debt. When asked if it was an agreement that, in the event of non-repayment, they would take the oil, he said, ‘Yes, they take the oil, lift it, sell it, and then use the proceeds to repay the debt.'”

“The oil that would have been sold to support the economy had to be taken in order to repay the debts,” Mr Jinapor confirmed.

The Minister also outlined the urgent need for a new gas processing plant, stressing that this project, with an estimated cost of $700 million, is essential for stabilising the energy sector.

“We need this gas processing plant like yesterday,” he said. “We will fund it with domestic resources, and every discerning Ghanaian should support this initiative.”

Looking to the future, Mr Jinapor assured that the government is working to clear the infrastructure backlog within the next two years.

However, he acknowledged that some processes, such as pre-commissioning, could take longer.

“Our timeline is just two years. We’ve completed the committee work, and within that time, we should be able to clear the infrastructure backlog,” he stated.

Mr Jinapor acknowledged the significant challenges ahead but expressed confidence that the government can overcome them.

“We’ve completed the first quarter of the year, and we now have a full understanding of the challenges we face,” he said.

“To settle these debts, we have to use our oil. It’s a service that someone paid for, and to pay it off, we have no choice but to use what we have,” he concluded.

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In a recent statement, he criticized the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for what he called a “complete disappointment” in its service, urging for immediate and transparent communication and greater accountability.

“Whatever the challenges are, let us know. There must be communication – regular communication – with the people,” Minister Gunu insisted. He emphasized the need for advance warnings about power cuts so residents and businesses can prepare, noting that many people had suffered damages to appliances like fridges due to unannounced outages.

His remarks reflected growing public dissatisfaction, with residents and business owners continuing to endure losses because of unreliable and unpredictable power supply.

“You are disappointing the people of this region. What crime have we committed?” Gunu asked, urging ECG and other underperforming institutions to work on restoring trust and improving their performance.

“We always inform the media and local assemblies about planned outages,” she said, adding that engineers are continuously working in the field to address issues as they arise. She also highlighted internal initiatives to improve technical capacity and stressed the importance of collaboration between ECG, GRIDCo, and government stakeholders to tackle the challenges.

Despite these assurances, Minister Gunu expressed dissatisfaction with the ongoing situation, warning that the region’s patience was running thin.

He criticized the lack of progress, saying, “We’ve written to you, but I know the usual excuse — that the letter wasn’t received. That’s why I’ve come in person. Today, I am the letter.”

The ECG has also faced recent controversies, with reports revealing that over a thousand containers of imported equipment and supplies have gone missing at the Tema Port, further compounding public frustrations.

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This alarming development was disclosed during a meeting on Monday between the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, and officials of Karpowership at the ministry.

In response to the looming shutdown, Mr. Jinapor pleaded with Karpowership to exercise restraint while the new administration explores ways to clear the outstanding debt.

“We acknowledge the severity of the situation and are committed to finding a sustainable solution to address the financial obligations. We appeal to our partners to bear with us as we navigate these challenges,” the minister stated.

However, industry analysts warn that if Karpowership follows through with its threat, Ghana could experience severe power shortages, potentially disrupting businesses, industries, and households.

The energy sector has been grappling with a growing financial burden, with total debts surpassing $3 billion as of January 12, 2025.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly warned that without urgent reforms, the sector faces imminent collapse. It has advised the government to implement cost-cutting measures, improve revenue collection, and restructure power agreements to ensure financial sustainability.

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In his resignation letter on Friday, Sesay said he took full responsibility for the crisis. The office of the President Julius Maada Bio later announced that the energy ministry would fall under the direct supervision of the president.

Shortly after Sesay’s resignation, the government said in a statement that it had paid $17 million of the $48 million owed to Turkey’s Karpowership, which provides electricity to the capital Freetown.

A spokesman for the company confirmed the payment to Reuters and said full electricity supplies had been restored to the capital.

“We are pleased to confirm that the power supply at full capacity to Sierra Leone has been restored,” the company said in a statement.

Since mid-April, Freetown and the cities of Bo, Kenema and Koidu have experienced multi-day stretches without electricity.

In an email to Reuters on April 19, Karpowership said it was owed $48 million and had scaled down supplies to six megawatts from 60 megawatts.

At that time, it said it had not received payment from the government of Sierra Leone for “a protracted period” and was therefore unable pay fuel suppliers on behalf of the West African country.

In September, Karpowership switched off the electricity supply to Freetown over an unpaid debt of around $40 million, authorities said at the time.

Hospitals have struggled to cope, with at least one infant at the main children’s hospital having died due to the blackout, according to doctor Jeredine George. Medics had been using their mobile phone torches to carry out procedures, she said, while many had taken to social media to express their frustration.

The government statement also said it had paid $1.5 million to TRANSCO-CLSG, another electricity provider, which supplies the south and east of the country.

Reuters could not confirm the total sum that provider was owed.

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The Institute noted that the current challenges in the sector were mainly due to inadequate liquidity in procuring fuel for some power plants to operate to full capacity and said the two Ministries must fix it. 

It also reiterated the call for the government to resource ECG to bring down its technical and commercial losses, deploy more smart metres capable of detecting theft, and have an efficient distribution system to rake in more revenue. 

Doing so would help in fulfilling ECG’s mission of providing quality, reliable and safe electricity services to support the economic growth and development of Ghana, IES noted. 

The Institute’s recommendation is on the heels of recent sanctions by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) against the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for various regulatory breaches. 

Speaking with the Ghana News Agency on the matter, Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Director, IES, said the liquidity challenges had resulted in effective maintenance of some of the plants, as scheduled, leading to the outages. 

“We expect the Ministry of Energy to coordinate and work with the Ministry of Finance to find alternative funding sources to deal with the challenge, thus, to procure fuel to get some of the power plants online,” Nana Amoasi VII said. 

On the regulatory sanctions, he said the action by PURC was necessary to send a signal to other service providers of the readiness of the Regulator to bite anyone who went contrary to the rules of engagement in the sector. 

“The current action is consistent with the oversight responsibility that PURC must have over the industry,” he said and encouraged ECG to oblige with the orders of the Regulator.  

Nana Amoasi also urged the Regulator to carry out any other sanction against ECG should it fail to honour the April 22 payment to PURC and the April 30 payment to cash waterfall mechanism beneficiaries. 

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission ordered the Management and Board of ECG to pay GHS446,283,706.29 before or by April 30, 2024 to ‘Category B’ beneficiaries of the cash waterfall mechanism.  

This comes after ECG failed to pay shortfalls from August 2023 to February 2024 to beneficiaries by March 25, 2024. 

For failure to submit details of all bank accounts to the Commission, PURC imposed an initial regulatory charge of 3,000 penalty units on ECG amounting GHS36,000, which is to be paid by April 22, 2024. 

Mr Ishmael Edjekumhene, a Commissioner with PURC, on Wednesday, told GNA that they were yet to receive any update on any action taken by ECG on payment or negotiations on the sanctions. 

Last month, Mr Sam Dubik Mahama, Managing Director, ECG, highlighted the need for consumers to promptly pay their bills to increase revenue and enhance the Company’s operational efficiency. 

Meanwhile, the Energy Commission in its 2024 Energy Outlook for Ghana, highlighted the need for critical investment for the energy and electricity sub-sector, particularly, improved gas supply reliability, owing to the increasing dependency on natural gas for power generation. 

“The government should expedite action on the proposed construction of gas pipeline connecting Tema and Tarkoradi power enclaves,” the Commission recommended. 

The Commission noted that the security and adequacy of fuel supply to thermal plants remained the single most important risk to power supply reliability in the country. 

“In this regard, it is strongly recommended that all stakeholders work together to ensure that the fuel supply is adequate and secure at all times,” the Energy Commission stated in its report. 

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According to him, although the government has the resources to purchase fuel, gas suppliers, including Nigeria, failed to deliver the needed volume.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Newsnight on April 23, the claims about lack of funding were merely propaganda being pushed by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“Stop buying into people’s propaganda…there is a simple propaganda that all of you have bought into, which is ‘this thing about government needs money to buy fuel.’ I am asking you which fuel does government need money to buy? You can’t even tell me.

“You don’t buy gas. You see that is the problem. Sometimes, there is a shortage of gas because of the light flow coming from Nigeria. So when we have less flow coming from Nigeria or let’s say Ghana Gas has tripped and there isn’t enough gas coming from there, you need liquid fuel to power some of these machines and the Cenpower can use light crude oil, Aksa can use HFO and then the TTP plant can use diesel. So when people say that government doesn’t have money to do fuel, they are saying that government doesn’t have money to buy gas. We don’t have to buy gas cash and carry.

“What they are saying is that we need money for the liquid fuel to supplement the shortage when there is a gas shortfall,” he said.https://www.youtube.com/embed/30-AyORoyZA

“Government has money to buy gas, government does not owe anybody before they have to supply,” he insisted.

He stressed that the recent power outages were because Nigeria kept falling short on the amount of gas they needed to supply to the country.

“We need to basically negotiate with Nigeria for more gas. The reason we need to negotiate with Nigeria for more gas is that Nigeria is having challenges. They are not able to meet the required gas they are supposed to give us. Every time Nigeria has given us more gas we have been able to pay for the gas.

“So when we say that this is not about money, let’s not listen to the NDC propaganda where they are saying that government is broke,” he added.

Meanwhile, JoyNews Research has found that the Energy sector is expected to have a generation shortfall of GH₵23.65 billion.

It suggests that the energy sector is already experiencing a deficit in the funds required to sustain its operations.

Prior to the current power outages, government would have borrowed money from bonds including Daakye Bonds, ESLA, and GoG, but due to the Domestic Debt Restructuring Programmes (DDEP), the bond market has collapsed.

The  Bank of Ghana which could also have stepped in to provide funds is signed on a zero percent financing of government projects.

The research desk also found that even with the International Capital Market (Eurobonds), Ghana has no access to borrowing.

Although the nearest amount Ghana can use will be the IMF’s $720 million with the nearest disbursement being $360 million, the amount is expected to be disbursed by June 2024.

And the World Bank is expected to give the country some $620 million. This amount is supposed to go into various projects; $300 million into Development Policy Operation, $70 million into Ghana Productive Safety Net Project, $250 million into Emergency Financial Sector Support and $44 million in African Development Bank.

This implies that the government is handicapped and does not have the resources to fund energy sector and resolve the crisis.

Mr Poku argues that these figures were deduced from ‘Voodoo mathematics’ and do not represent the situation on the ground accurately. He contends that the government is not facing financing challenges but rather supply issues.

“If you want to find out why we are in darkness, let’s have a conversation. Let’s not prejudice the conversation by saying that the government is broke, the IMF and all the voodoo mathematics you and your colleagues went through,” he said.

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He denounced such politicisation, deeming it inappropriate in the current political climate, and called on the Ghanaian populace to hold the NDC accountable for their actions.

Speaking at the commissioning of the first phase of the Anwomaso 1 Thermal Power Plant in Kumasi on Wednesday, April 17, the Abuakwa South MP emphasised the importance of national development irrespective of political affiliations.

He stressed that politicians’ primary objective should be the advancement of the nation’s interests, regardless of whether they belong to the NDC or the NPP.

Mr. Atta Akyea reiterated that Ghana’s progress should be the paramount concern of all political parties operating within the country.

He stressed that the nation’s welfare should supersede any partisan interests, and thus, attempts to politicise matters of national development are counterproductive and detrimental to Ghana’s growth.

As a former Works and Housing Minister, Mr. Akyea underscored the lack of logic in politicising issues related to infrastructure development and power generation.

He argued that such actions only serve to hinder progress and divert attention from the core objective of improving the lives of Ghanaians.

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Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Dr Donkor, who doubles as MP for Pru East noted that approximately 70 percent of the power sector’s challenge stems from financial and liquidity constraints.

He, however, highlighted that some technical challenges have exacerbated the situation.

Of particular concern to Dr Donkor, a former Power Minister, was what he termed “desktop piling,” referring to the bureaucratic backlog hindering progress within the sector.

“70 percent of the challenge being experienced in the power sector is financial and liquidity. But there is also the technical challenge. For me, the worst part of the challenge we have is the desktop piling that we are doing,” he said on Monday.

Ghana’s power crisis has been a longstanding issue, marked by recurring blackouts and unreliable electricity supply.

The consequences of the power crisis have been far-reaching, impacting businesses, households, and the overall economy. Industries have been forced to contend with erratic power supply, leading to disruptions in production and increased operational costs.

Households have endured frequent blackouts, affecting daily routines and aggravating living conditions.

Due to these challenges, stakeholders within the energy sector have been under pressure to implement solutions that address the root causes of the crisis.

Touching on the root causes of the crisis, Energy Analyst Kwame Jantuah identified finance, debt burden, equipment inadequacies, maintenance deficiencies, and fuel procurement as contributory factors.

He noted that while these issues are well-known to stakeholders within the sector, the lack of transparency in communicating them to the public has hindered progress towards viable solutions.

“Are you trying to tell me that the relevant stakeholders in the power sector don’t know this? They do, but it seems it is we the consumers who don’t know.

“And it is because we are not being told the truth. If we were told when this power crisis started what we are being told today, wouldn’t we have probably solved it by now?” he quizzed.

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According to him, the energy sector is in debt and slowly deteriorating, as it cannot generate the requisite capacity needed to keep the lights on.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on March 25, he said, “Let me state it without any shred of doubt that any government, whether it is another NPP government (God forbid), or it is John Mahama or another government coming into power in 2025, will walk straight into a power crisis.“

“The first reason is that the energy sector indebtedness is so frightening that even the IMF says that it is the single most dangerous sector that can crash our economy because of the level of debt.

“The second aspect of it is that because they were singing excess capacity, they have not added any generation into our mix. So, as we speak today, we have consumed almost all our capacity. Therefore, if we do not make a serious attempt to add capacity to our current capacity, we will run into capacity deficit,” he said.

The Bongo MP said that although the ruling government was aware of the generation deficit, they had constantly used their ability to keep the power on as a political tool. Therefore, they would not openly admit that there were challenges within the sector.

Over the past few months, pressure has been mounting on the Electricity Company of Ghana to release a schedule for the current power outages.

But on each occasion, the ECG has rejected these claims and attributed the load shedding to maintenance work or stated that during certain peak hours, the transformers were overloaded, resulting in load shedding.

However, the legislator insisted that this was sheer Public Relations (PR) gimmick to massage the situation and stressed that to understand the crisis in the energy sector, it is necessary to read the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission’s (PURC) validation report on the Energy Sector.

“They are so hypocritical, they are not truthful to the system. You see, they have run this particular sector, and this is just a microcosm of the bigger picture, they have run it based on PR rather than facts.

“I am saying that the truth of the matter, don’t take my word for it, take PURC for its word. PURC’s own orders that they have given to ECG is because of the fact that they have realised that the centrality of this problem is about cash flow,” he criticised.

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He acknowledged some distribution challenges leading to recent outages, noting that the company was embarking on various maintenance operations and investing to ensure that Ghanaians had uninterruptible electricity for use.

“Right now, there is no supply issue; if there is to be any outages, it will be a local fault, which people must inform ECG staff immediately for them to fix it,” Mr Mahama said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Friday, March 1.

He, therefore, encouraged Ghanaians to help the ECG provide better services to all consumers by paying their bills promptly, adding that debt owed by consumers is affecting ECG’s operations.

When asked about the debt consumers owed ECG, he said: “At the moment, we’re on an exercise, so I can’t speak to the figure now, but even if you owe us GHS5, it will have an impact on us because it will add to the commercial loses. Payment is the way to go, so just pay your bills.”

Commenting on outages that were experienced across the country last week, the Managing Director said, ECG carried out such an operation to urgently save the country’s gas plant, worth some US$200 million.

“The gas plant had an emergency; the gas valve needed to be replaced, and because it is gas it took some time to replace. So, if you make a mistake and there is a fire outbreak you will lose an asset that is worth US$200 million,” he said.

He encouraged individuals and businesses to inform ECG when they put up new buildings so that the company could take the necessary steps to connect them properly to the national grid.

“People are building more houses, which comes with more electricity demands and new industries are also springing up, putting more demand on the grid, which is the main reason for us having an overload on the system,” he said.

“There are overloads in the system because we’re growing so fast, but it’s not a supply issue, but it’s attitude that has taken us to where we are now. We’re not able to inform ECG of our building projects for ECG to work towards it,” Mr Mahama said. 

“We’re in almost all the major cities, doing what we call intensification, especially in the new areas that are coming up for the middle-income families, including Tse-Addo, and Oyarifa, so we have no supply issues,” he said.

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This follows persistent power outages experienced in parts of the country.

GRIDCo in a statement on Thursday, October 26 explained that, a gas supply shortage has resulted in 550MW shortfall in power supply at peak time, and that parts of the country would experience outages.

But speaking to JoyNews, MP for Bongo, Edward Bawa blamed the recent persistent power outages on government’s indebtedness to the tune of $20 million owed WAPCo.

He therefore suggested that the government has some sort of arrangement with WAPCo to solve the issue.

“Government must find a way or make an arrangement with as to how that can be paid. If WAPCO begins to have some comfort that government has kept in touch to do the payment, then, I believe that it will work.

“Government must be working to see how they can give WAPCo some level of comfort to continue transmitting gas from Obuasi to Tema or else we are going to be in trouble. If the gas does not come, what it simply means is that the plants cannot run because they use fuel. And if they cannot run, you’d have that ‘dumsor‘,’” he said.

The member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament explained why WAPCo has decided to cut gas supply due to this debt.

According to him, WAPCo has not been paid since January 2023, which has led to the accumulation of bills.

“Now the question you would ask is whose liability is it? It is true that if you look at ECG, they do not have a healthy access or guarantee to be able to always go into arrangements with power or gas utilities so GNPC stood in as a guarantee for ECG.

“So ECG has to pay WAPCo but unfortunately because for almost 13 months now the cash waterfall mechanism where all the monies that ECG collects after selling power is put for it to be distributed among the utility mechanism is no longer working, ECG is unable to pay the liability,” he explained.

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The IPPs have issued a renewed ultimatum, threatening to shut down their plants starting July 1, 2023, unless government provides an interim payment of 30% of the outstanding debt.

The IPPs argue that without receiving payment within the next few days, they will be unable to sustain the national grid beyond June 30.

In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, June 27, Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors, and Bulk Consumers (CIPDiB), expressed their inability to convince creditors, contractors, and other essential stakeholders to further delay payments and maintain operations.

“Basically we are saying that we lack the resources to continue generation beyond 30th June and we are giving them [Finance Ministry] up to March. We didn’t hear from them but the fact is beyond June we just don’t have the resource to continue to supply.”

Mr Apetorgbor added that “all the IPPs are operating on borrowed funds and the critical part is our ability to pay our debt. The second quarter is about to end, so the six of us have no resources to continue to supply, so we are not going beyond June 30th.

Mr Apetorgbor also stated that the IPPs have rejected any form of debt restructuring because they cannot explain to their lenders that Ghana’s economy is in shambles and are unable to repay their debt.

“We have sacrificed a lot for the economy, the debt in question is already debt we have borrowed from our lenders and we can’t explain to them that we can’t pay because Ghana’s economy is in shambles, they won’t listen.”

Independent power producers play a significant role in Ghana’s energy sector, controlling 47 percent of the country’s total power generation mix and contributing 67 percent of Ghana’s thermal power.

As of May 2021, the six enterprises collectively claim an outstanding debt of approximately $1.73 billion in cedis, with the debt dating back to January 2021.

The IPPs highlight that this debt has hindered their access to working capital, preventing them from financing crucial inputs such as chemicals for water treatment in thermal generators and other supplies, many of which are priced in foreign currency, primarily the US dollar.

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President Nana Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) has now begun to develop a new electricity master plan, which also includes possibly listing state-owned power generation and supply companies on the stock exchange.

Such asset sales would not only move the under performing utilities off the government’s books, but private ownership may well make them more efficient, ex-pert say.

Intermitten Power supply issues have dogged the West African states since the 1980s and became particularly acute in the past five years- although there has been some improvement recently.

Ghana’s energy sector was crushed by an accumulated debt of $2.4n, the president said, as the cost of buying fuel, paying energy suppliers and running insufficient state companies spiraled out of control.

Its bad financial situation ‘constitutes the single major hurdle to Ghanaians enjoying reliable and affordable electricity supply,’ President Akufo-Addo said in January in his first state of the National address.

Improvements in the provision of power were seen in the run-up to December’s election but Akufo-Addo said the challenges within the sector were far form over and high costs were a major stumbling block.

This year’s budget included ambitious plans for renewable energy to provide two to 3 percent of supply to the national grid and, in addition, develop 38,000 solar-powered- homes in ‘off-grid’ communities.

Harnessing the power of Africa’s most abundant free resource -the sun- to provide electricity has long been a challenge for governments across the continent.

In Ghana, there are hopes that more people will sign up to a 500-watt solar panel scheme started under Mahama for homes and businesses. The panels come free, but takers must still foot start-up costs of around $1,500.

The Energy Commission wants to see 200,000 such systems installed, but the scheme’s coordinator, Kenneth Appiah, says since it was launched in February last year only 400 units have been installed. Among those who have received the panels – each installation is worth about $450 – is accountancy lecturer Daniel Nkrumah Afyeefi.

He said the programme was a good starting point to get his home off the grid and he planned to add more panels to lower food refrigeration costs and avoid hot, sleepless night.

“When you live in a place like Accra and you need to store food items.

When power runs off and on like that soem of teh things get spoiled,” he told Agence France Presse (AFP).

“You tend to be buying as and when you eat, and that ends up increasing your cost of purchasing food items.” Ghana gas seen four different power crisis since 1982 due to low water levels in the country’s dams, said Ishmael Ackah, head of policy at the Africa Center for Energy Policy.

source: businessday