The Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Ing Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, has called on governments in Africa, business leaders and foreign investors who want to take advantage of the opportunities in Africa to invest massively in the continent’s energy sector.
According to him, access to energy remains a major developmental challenge in Africa and, therefore, underscored the need for greater commitment to making the energy sector effective and efficient since power is the heartbeat of every nation’s development.
Data from World Bank shows that over 600 million people in Africa still lack access to energy.
“Improving access to energy sustainably will not only lead to the development of the African continent but will also ensure the increased quality of educational outcomes, improved health, lower, mortality rate and reduce unemployment and potential decrease in rural-urban migration,” Ing Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa stated in a speech read for him by Dr. Stella Agyenim Boateng, his Special Advisor, at the just ended Africa Energy Conference in Accra, Ghana.
Ing Antwi-Darkwa stressed the need for the continent leaders to pay particular attention to the emerging mix of technologies that will be needed to address energy scarcity in the sub-region.
“As a matter of urgency, we must start harnessing both renewable and non-renewable energy sources and other technologies including natural gas,” he said.
The maiden Africa Energy Conference was organised by Business & Financial Times (B&FT) under the theme: ‘Africa’s Energy Future -Achieving An All Round Competitiveness And Sustainability To Support The Continent’s Development Ambitions.’
It brought together experts and industry players to proffer solutions on how governments and the private sector can access financing to bridge the sector’s infrastructure gap, and achieve lower emissions and energy transition targets in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Touching on the above theme, Ing Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa said efforts to promote energy sustainability should result in energy diversification.
“In recent times, energy sustainability has taken on several meanings and dimensions. However, in our VRA context, energy sustainability means to us the diversification of our power generation portfolio to take advantage of available and sustainable sources of energy, especially in the renewable energy space; namely hydro, thermal, solar, nuclear and wind,” he said.
To achieve this, Ing Antwi-Darkwa said VRA, the country’s largest power producer, initiated a programme that ensures a significant improvement of its operations by including serious business acumen in its power generation, delivery process and customer service.
Aside from this, he said the state-owned company has also revolutionised the fundamental structures of its business through digitalisation, creativity and innovation, business sustainability and a work culture pivoted on the mantra of public sector delivery with a private sector mindset.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com