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The Board of Directors of AfDB recently approved funding to develop renewable energy investments in the country. The project has leveraged co-financing from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program, a funding window of the Climate Investment Funds, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, amounting to $28.49 million and $13.30 million, respectively.

The project involves the development of 35 minigrids, standalone solar photovoltaic systems in 400 schools, 200 units in healthcare centres and 100 units for community energy service centres in the Volta Lake region. It will also deploy up to 12,000 units of roof-mounted net-metered solar photovoltaic systems for public institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises and selected households.

The Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering scheme is expected to have an annual electricity output of renewable energy estimated at 111,361MWh, corresponding to an installed capacity of 67.5MW. The project will mitigate greenhouse emissions of 0.7795 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year and create up to 2,865 jobs during construction, of which 30% will target women and youth.

Net metering and solar energy in Ghana is a good example

Daniel Schroth, Acting Director of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Department says: “This project is a good example of the Bank Group’s ability to leverage financing from climate investment funds and donor partners by supporting electrification of Ghana’s remaining 15% located in the island communities.”

Schroth notes that the West African nation of Ghana has one of the highest electrification rates in Africa. ”The approval of the grant facility reflects a strong commitment of the African Development Bank to support Ghana’s objective to achieve universal access to electricity and its 10% renewable energy target by 2030,” he says.

Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, the African Development Bank Group’s Director General for West Africa, said: “The Bank Group’s support is aligned to Ghana’s development priorities that aim to promote and develop the country’s rich renewable energy resources for sustainable economic growth, improved social life and reduced adverse climate change effects. In addition, the post Covid-19 era has highlighted the importance of reliable energy services.”

Eyerusalem Fasika, the African Development Bank’s Country Manager for Ghana, said: “The project will support Ghana’s COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) programme, which identifies the energy sector as an enabler of economic transformation. It has the potential to create jobs, fundamentally expand access to businesses and bring prosperity to Ghanaians.”

The African Development Fund is the Bank Group’s concessional funding arm. The African Development Bank has been an implementing entity of the Climate Investment Funds since 2010.