Minister challenges GSA to help resolve problems in energy sector

The Deputy Minister of Energy, Collins Adoma­ko-Mensah, has urged members of the Ghana Science Association (GSA) to develop new innovation and sustainable ways to resolve challenges confronting Ghana’s energy sector.

He noted that Ghana’s quest for its industrial growth hinged largely on reliable and cheap energy sources, hence the need for the Association to come up with home grown technological solutions to compliment government’s efforts at addressing these challenges.

Mr Adomako-Mensah was speaking at the 19th Biennial work­shop for members of the GSA at Sunyani in the Bono Region.

The workshop was on the theme: ‘Innovative, Affordable and Sustainable Energy Supply in Ghana for the 4th Industrial Revolution.’

Among the objectives of the workshop was to afford partici­pants the opportunity to brain­storm and find solutions to the major contemporary energy sector, challenges facing the country and how they can be mitigated using digital tools.

Mr Adomako-Mensah then urged the participants to ensure their discussions addresses the synergy between academia, policy makers and industry as the country embraces “the era of accelerated applications of artificial intelligence in all aspects of the world’s econ­omy, especially in manufacturing industries to improve efficiency.”

The government, he stressed, through the National Energy Transition framework and the Na­tional Energy Transition Plan had introduced new technologies such as nuclear power, carbon capture, wind energy as well as the sustain­able expansion of existing technol­ogies, such as solar and natural gas to meet growth of domestic energy demand and industrialisation drive for the country.

Furthermore, he mentioned the removal of import tax on commer­cial electric vehicles as key mile­stones chalked by the government to create the enabling environment and to increase the penetration of electric vehicles in Ghana, to meet the country’s climate change goals in order to reduce the economic burdens on the people.

The National President of the GSA, Prof. Gideon Kofi Helegbe, commended the Ministry of Ener­gy and its allied agencies and Gha­na Energy Foundation for develop­ing the needed infrastructure with the adoption of electric vehicles in Ghana’s transportation sector.

He stated that companies such as Safina Ghana limited and others leading the investment in waste to energy conversion, estimated to add an average of about 35.8MW of biopower to the overall genera­tion capacity of the country, were some of the significant efforts played by the Energy Ministry.

He also added that the forum would highlights the core areas of Ghana’s National Energy Tran­sition framework (2022-2070) and key millstones achieved and challenges.

The Vice Chancellor of University of Energy and Natural Resources, Prof. Elvis Asare-Bediako, said the fourth industrial revolution was not just about technological advancement, but rather the right systems that support our life, particularly our energy supply.

He noted that as a nation “we find ourselves at the intersection of global innovations and local neces­sities, adding the challenge was to assure Ghana’s future energy sys­tems are sustainable, affordable and fit for purpose in rapidly world.”