General News of Sunday, 1 February 2015
Source: citifmonline.com
An energy consultant, Kwabena Nyanteh, has suggested that government should provide households with solar panels to help end the energy crisis that has plagued the country.
He said the energy problem is partly to be blamed on government‘s inability to explore innovative ways of solving the crisis.
Ghana has been battling with inconsistent power supply for over two years now.
The situation is affecting businesses and households nationwide but the President has given the assurance that steps are being taken to resolve the problem.
Speaking on Citi FM’s news and current affairs program “The Big Issue,” Kwabena Nyanteh said power sources like wind and solar could be explored to provide alternative source of energy for the country.
“Why should we be managing water for electricity when the sun is free and the wind too is free? So we should be looking at those alternatives.”
He further urged government to either subsidize solar panels or give it out in a form of loans to households, a way he said could reduce the pressure on Ghana’s power grid system.
“Look at the amount of money we invested in the Bui dam, that was about 700 million dollars. If we had used that as an energy fund to give people loans to buy solar for their own homes, by this time we would have been able to produce about 500 megawatts from homes and be able to throw the rest on the grid,” he remarked.