Reports from the Swiss renewable energy company NEK Umwelttechnik AG (NEK) say it has been developing in the past years six large-scale onshore wind farms in Ghana’s Greater Accra Region, which are ready for implementation.
“The total capacity to be installed is approximately 1,300 MW through the six projects. These wind farms could produce about 3,400 GWh of green and cheap electricity each year for the Ghanaian population and the industrial sector,” the reports say.
To supply energy to as many customers as possible, NEK has established in Accra a new renewable energy platform – Anansi Green Energy Ltd (Anansi), which will provide its customers with cheap, sustainable, never-ending, and clean electricity to cover the increasing electricity demand in Ghana and to overcome dumsor.
Anansi will assume, over time, all of NEK’s wind farms and in addition will also undertake the development and operation of solar and biomass plants.
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According to the NEK, “Although there will always be a need for baseload energy capacity in the planning of any energy sector, both for environmental and indeed affordability reasons it will be essential to create a structure through which renewable energy can be developed, without such relying on the public sector. Mining companies, the concrete sector, steel manufacturers, but also other industries and the mobility sector will demand cheap and green electricity, which can be delivered by Anansi in the very near future”.
The company has assured stakeholders in the energy industry that, “Anansi will not become a competitor to ECG, VRA or NEDCo – nor will it be necessary for Anansi to have the traditional “take or pay” PPA with ECG or any support from the Government of Ghana. Anansi will be able to implement its projects without any reliance on the public sector at all. Indeed, the intent will be that Anansi will have, as its partners, VRA / ECG in providing baseload capacity to its customers”.
It pointed out that, “Green energy is enjoying unanimous support and gaining political and business momentum around the globe. The global energy sector is in the midst of a transformation. The global energy transition is now well underway, with ever-increasing clean energy investment and momentum for net-zero targets by mid-century. Energy security and sustainability nowadays go hand in hand and are top of the agenda for many governments worldwide”.
To the NEK, with Africa facing rapidly growing energy demand, critical energy access gaps, and an imperative for development, it is imperative for Africa to accelerate its socio-economic development in a resilient and sustainable way that could immensely benefit from accelerating clean energy deployment, as was stated at the COP28 summit last December.
It cautioned that failure to accelerate the development of renewables poses major threats to Africa which is already suffering the most from the impacts of climate change.