Earlier this week, the environmental movement in Ghana was
thrown into frenzy, following the announcement by the Volta River Authority
(VRA) of its plans to construct a 150MW wind power plant to supplement power
generation in the country. The project to be completed in two phases is said to
be under the Renewable Development Programme of the organization, Ghana’s main
electric power utility corporation.
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| A wind farm in Kenya |
The Ghana Youth Environmental Movement (GYEM) and other
campaigners and supporters of renewable energy took to social media minutes
after the media announcement to celebrate the impending and inevitable victory
of clean energy over dirty energy— demonstrating the underlining relevance
rather than a superficial reveling, considering the Ghana government, just a
couple of months ago was advancing plans to build a 2x350MW coal fired plant in
the Ekumfi Aboano with coal imports from South Africa.
The fuss here is about the VRA’s sharp U-turn on the subject
of coal and now wind power. Before campaigners from GYEM took on the idea of
importing pollution from coal into the country with coordinated street
campaigns in support of renewable energy, notably solar and wind power, the
VRA’s position on dirty energy was unequivocal: the
country needed to diversify it’s existing energy portfolio with a cheaper,
proven and reliable technology to help optimize hydro resources and they
believed coal power was the way to go.
In a statement
announcing the 150MW wind power project, their position seemed to have been
altered incredibly in just a few months in favor of renewables. The Principal
Engineer for Renewable and Integrated Resource Development of the VRA, Mr. Ebenezer
Antwi declaring that “technology in renewable energy had matured and the cost
declined over the years, making it cheaper, therefore the need to consider wind
and solar energy to ease pressure on hydro power generation”.
The most relevant point here is that
the government acknowledges that the cost of renewable energy is tumbling
incredibly at an unprecedented pace globally that it makes the mantra that
fossil fuels are cheaper pretty underwhelming and factually fraudulent.
A recent report by Bloomberg
indicates that renewables are beating fossil fuels 2 to 1. It indicates that “while two years of crashing prices for oil,
natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those
industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke
new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global
funding as fossil fuels”.
This is a fact not open
for argument and one will wonder why it took the Government of Ghana that long
to notice it. But this is why the VRA deserves applause. They have recognized
that politics is about policy and policy is about the search of alternatives— outcomes
that are better than others. Wind and solar will keep expanding at record rates
and we have to plug ourselves into the opportunities they offer to transition
into a low carbon economy and towards climate resilience as outlined by our
National Climate Change Policy (NCCP).
It is now or never!
