Six institutions in first phase Automatic Capacitor Banks project

The Government has installed Automatic Capacitor Banks (ACB) on the premises of six government institutions to reduce public expenditure on electricity.

The first phase of the pilot project is being implemented at the Ministry of Defence, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Office of the President, Food and Drugs Board, Accra Sports Stadium and Parliament House.

The Capacitor Banks are installed to improve quality of electrical supply and energy efficiency.

Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Deputy Minister of Energy, who announced this at the just-ended Two-day Regional Workshop on Financing and Investment in Mitigation Actions in West Africa in Accra, said the project had resulted in the reduction of power consumed by the six institutions from 11,743kVA to 9,889kVA.

This translated in monetary terms to a total savings of about GH¢39,145 cedis a month or GH¢469,740 per annum.

The workshop, organised by ECOWAS Regional Centre for Renewable Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) in collaboration with the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Business Climate Facility (BizClim), focused on creating the enabling environment for investment and innovative finance in Nationally Appropriated Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in the renewable energy, energy efficiency and transport sector in West Africa.

Alhaji Fuseni said under the second phase of project, the ACBs would be extended to other public buildings while the private sector would be encouraged to undertake similar energy saving measures.

Mr. Seth Mahu, Manager, Renewable Grid Electricity, Ministry of Energy, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday, explained that the project was embarked upon after the Ministry had audited the energy situation in some institutions in the country and “Found many energy fluctuations in the system”.

He said currently, the Renewable Energy Directorate was working together with the Power Directorate, Energy Commission and the Utilities section to finalise list of other institutions which would benefit in the next phase of the project.

“If the results are good, it will be made a public policy in the country to enable all similar institutions to use the ACBs,” he added.**