The Energy Centre of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in collaboration with the management of the university has organised a Special Seminar Series for the eight flag bearers of the 2012 General Elections. The Seminar Series which is in two sections is under the theme “Energy for Prosperity.”
Speakers in the first of the two-part Seminar Series included Mr. Akwasi Addae, the flag bearer for the United Front Party (UFP); Mr. Jacob Osei Yeboah, independent candidate; Mr. John Amaka Vice Presidential candidate for the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Dr. Michael Abu Sakara Foster, flag bearer for the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, flag bearer for the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).
The presentation started with Mr. Akwasi Addae, who saw energy as a vital element in the Ghanaian community. He said that Ghana needed energy for survival since there were so many industries in the country and that it was energy that would help to maximize production. Hence Ghana could not advance without energy. He also stated that it was important to replace Biomass - plant matter used to generate electricity – with steam turbines and gasifiers which would produce heat by direct combustion of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). This he said would help protect the environment. He emphasized the need to replace fossil fuels – coal, petroleum and natural gas. These are fuels formed through natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms and which contained a high percentage of carbon and thus caused global warming.
Mr. Jacob Osei Yeboah, the independent candidate, in his presentation, stated the fact that the effective utilisation of energy brought prosperity to the society. He stated that there two main forms of energy were being tapped in Ghana including Biomass (18%) and Hydropower (81.4%) One other source that was being neglected was biofuel or energy obtained from sawdust. He explained that sawdust, when combined with other components, produced light so there was the need for Ghana to tap into that to augment the power being used in the country. He again stated that the establishment of Biogas plants would help in producing energy and at the same time help reduce the problem of sanitation as well as producing fertilizer for crop production.
Mr. John Amaka, the Vice Presidential candidate for GCPP, also started his presentation by saying that Energy, a source which Ghanaians had been blessed with was the security for the country’s future development. He explained that the effective exploitation of energy in Ghana would help the country to achieve 6,000MW (mega watts) of installed energy by the year 2020. He went on to say that as a result of the fast growing economy of the country, the power capacity of the country was being overstretched. There was therefore the need to build and re-build our cities and countryside with a view towards employment and creating an energy surplus with solar technology. This, he said, could be achieved by ensuring that every new building and home was equipped with solar technology. He said that it was imperative to build a roadmap for building solar powered homes and sustainable energy communities that are able to cope with and anticipate the current and future needs of our growing population.
Dr. Abu Sakara of the Convention People’s Party was the last to make his presentation and he started by saying that the broad ramifications of energy policy for any nation can only be accurately positioned within the framework of the first law of thermodynamics which states that “energy can neither be created nor destroyed”. He went on to define energy as the capacity to do work. Energy was therefore one of the parameters in the value addition chain along with time, tool, material, money, manpower and information.” He mentioned that Ghana’s energy output prior to independence was from a combination of two steam boilers in Kumasi and low- capacity diesel engines principally located in Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast. He again said that current electricity load shedding are management attempts to cope with peak period demands and set priority for energy use at the threshold of sufficiency.
Dr. Abu Sakara ended his presentation by saying that it was expected that when the Bui Dam was commissioned in 2013, it would add an additional 400 megawatts of installed energy bringing the total energy supply in Ghana to 2,260 megawatts. This, he said, would give a net capacity balance of 12% that was projected to grow to 26% by 2022 when a total installed capacity of 4,463 megawatts was established. “CPP will bring this total to 6000 megawatts to accommodate rapid industrial growth and expanded domestic use. This will be derived from a mixture of gas, wind, solar and biomass plants including renewable energy sources like sugar cane and solid waste,” he concluded
The second of the Special Seminar Series is scheduled for the 21st – 23rd of November, 2012 and the speakers include the flag bearers of the People’s National Convention (PNC), New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC).
