Energy crisis: IPPs need enabling space to help situation

An energy expert Dr Eric Twum has said the Government must do away with all red tapes frustrating investments into Ghana’s energy sector by Independent Power Producers (IPP), if the recurrent energy problem is to be tackled.

Twum believes the absence of an enabling environment is frustrating the efforts of IPPs in the energy sector.

His concerns follow the decision by the Electricity Company of Ghana to extend the ongoing load shedding exercise across industrial zones for the next one month.

“We need independent power producers, lots of them, but at the moment, we have created a lot of bureaucracy that doesn’t attract Independent power producers into our system.

“What we need is a one-stop shop that provides an environment that attracts the private sector into our power generation. That hasn’t been addressed fully.”

Dr Twum says it is also important for power consumers to pay their bills to make the ECG “healthy” to serve Ghanaians.

He also said: “The issue about politicising energy and power issues needs to stop.”

“We should have a concerted effort into developing a power and energy policy that every party buys into and helps us going forward as a country. Until this fundamentals are addressed, we will always have talk shops.”