President Akufo Addo will on Saturday, October 10, 2020, commission the massive solar plant in Lawra in the Upper West Region.
This will perhaps be the only major power plant the government has completed four years in office.
The plant which is set to diversity the electricity mix particularly in the northern part of the country, is one of two major solar plants in the region. The other one is in the Kaleo.
The projects appear to have been fast-tracked because President Akufo Addo only cut the sod for them in February this year.
The milestone project consist of a total capacity of 17 Megawatts, with 13MW in Kaleo and a 4MW peak project in Lawra.
The plants will collectively reduce 7,400 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year upon completion, the project managers have claimed.
They were financed by the German Government’s Development Bank, KfW, with a total funding cost of US $25m.
The project kick-starts the government’s plan for renewable energy.
As part of the renewable energy targets, the government has set targets for some 300 MW of small and medium hydro dams, 30,000 solar home systems, 26 MW of utility-scale biomass and waste energy capacity, 250 MW of utility-scale wind and 150 MW of utility-scale solar capacity.
This will add up to the existing capacity for power in Ghana, which relies heavily on expensive thermal plants.
These plants are likely to add some laurels to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) which has mostly been criticized for sleeping on the job and failing considerably to undertake any major infrastructure project in its four-year tenure.
The few that were exhibited by the government were found to be full of deceit and appropriation of projects executed by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC).