The Executive Secretary of the PURC, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, on Tuesday April 4, 2023, addressed stakeholders at a media inauguration of the Solar PV project of the Ghana Chamber of Mines at the Chamber Secretariat in Accra.
Dr. Ishmael Ackah, in his remarks, congratulated the Chamber for their leadership role in investing in solar. He commended the Chamber for contributing to the national vision of increasing renewable energy penetration, indicating that presently, there is a national case, business case, and environmental case in investing in solar in the country. The Executive Secretary also informed the gathering that the Energy Commission developed a net metering code in 2014 to provide guidelines and technical connection conditions to enable the inter-connection of renewable energy generating systems to the distribution network under the net metering scheme. The PURC subsequently approved and published net metering guidelines in 2022 to facilitate its implementation; and also developed a net metering reckoner in 2023 to enable consumers of renewable energy to calculate their import and export of renewable energy on the grid. These he indicated, are part of the Commission’s policy objectives in improving transparency in the regulatory regime.
Dr. Ackah congratulated Stella Futura for completing the project within budget. He also used the opportunity to encourage the Chamber and other stakeholders in attendance to patronise Ghanaian-made renewable energy products and services to advance the local content policy objectives of the country. According to the Executive Secretary, this is important in the implementation of Ghana’s local content policy. He finally urged stakeholders present to call on the PURC for all their energy and utility issues.
According to the Chief Executive of the Chamber, Dr. Sulemanu Koney, the 84kW peak power solar PV project is part of the Chamber’s contribution towards the energy transition policy goals of reducing Ghana’s carbon footprints. He remarked that since the instalment of the solar PV system, the Chamber’s dependency on the national grid has reduced by 75%. He further encouraged the PURC to expedite implementation of the net metering policy to increase the diffusion of embedded energy generation in the country.
The inauguration was graced by the Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr. Sulemanu Koney, Chairman of the Energy Committee of the Chamber and EMOP Panel Member, Dr. Samuel De Souza, First Vice President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr. George Nutor, Director of the Southern Network Department of GRIDCo, Ing. Mark Baah, Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, Dr. Steve Manteaw, a representative from the Energy Commission, Ing. John Agyei, other stakeholders, and a section of the media.