Ghana-Italy Forum: Prez. Mahama reveals alternative power sources for Ghana

• Posted on July 19, 2015July 19, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

President John Mahama has reiterated the determination of his government to end the three-year power crisis.

He acknowledged that the availability of electricity will drive economic growth since most businesses in the country rely on power.

Speaking at the Ghana-Italy Forum in Rome, President Mahama admitted that because Ghana has over the years relied on one source of power, the energy crisis has seriously affected all sectors.

This, he said informed the decision to have a “mix of power sources so that we will not rely on only one mode in case anything happens.”

Government is struggling to fix the power problems and citizens are frustrated by the situation.

Thousands of workers have been laid off and employers have threatened to cut more jobs if the problem is not resolved.

But government is exploring another avenues to meet the growing demand for power including, solar, biogas among others.

According to the President, it is the priority of government to provide constant power supply to drive investments into the country.

The government is therefore exploring all options available to put an end to the nation’s energy crisis.

“We are going to have thermal plants…we are going to have power plants that are running on natural gas because we have the potential for producing a lot of gas, we are going to have power plants that use clean coal technology, we are also going to have power plants that depend on renewable sources and so we are looking at solar as one of the sources,” he explained.

President Mahama said Africa has a lot of sunshine and “I’m sure if it was exportable, Africa will be one of the richest continents in this world.”

“We have done some pilot solar projects that are working perfectly so we are looking to launch some more solar,” he added.