ACEP demands details of PPAs reviewed

The Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) wants government to provide the details of the power purchase agreements (PPAs) reviewed within the past three months.

At a Joy FM-organised event on Monday, April 17 to mark 100 days in power, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that government has saved $300 million after reviewing and prioritising PPAs.

But in a release to assess government’s performance in the energy sector in the first 100 days, ACEP stressed that: “The government will have to provide further details and clarification on specific projects that have been reviewed and prioritised.

“This will provide think tanks and civil society groups the evidence to interrogate the numbers for the purpose of accountability.”

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo hinted at a review of all the power purchase agreements in his state-of-the-nation address to Parliament in February.

“Government is conducting a review of all the power agreements entered into by the previous government in order to prioritise, renegotiate, defer or cancel outright, if necessary, in the national interest.”

The AMERI deal had a 17-member committee set up by the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, to renegotiate it.

But ACEP wants more information on the other reviewed and prioritised deals.

It also questioned government’s policy of migrating all state buildings, schools, hospitals and police and military barracks onto solar source of energy.

The energy think-tank says while the policy will reduce the reliance of these state buildings on the national grid, “we caution government that the demand of electricity in many of the beneficiary public institutions will exceed energy supply levels from solar installations within those premises”.

“This means that the electricity supply from solar will complement power supply from the grid.” It called on government to settle its huge debt with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) “to ensure smooth supply”.