Ghana. Energy Commission To Establish Two Sustainable Energy Service Centres

Ghana’s Energy Commission, with support from the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), is in the process of setting up two sustainable energy services in tertiary educational institutions in the Republic of Ghana, the country’s Minister for Energy John-Peter Amewu has revealed.

According to the Minister, Indian-based Development Environment Services Limited (DESL), in association with its partners, will assist to establish and operationalise these centres.

The West African nation’s Energy Minister John-Peter Amewu disclosed this in a speech read for him by his Deputy in charge of Petroleum, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, at the ongoing 5th Ghana Renewable Energy Fair and National Energy Symposium at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).

The 5th day Renewable Energy Fair and National Energy Symposium is under the theme: ‘ Opportunities for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in a constrained energy sector.’

It has attracted several industry players especially those in the renewable energy sector in Ghana and around the globe.The SESCs, the Minister explained, would help in capacity-building and also provide training support for energy auditing to energy management professionals.

This, he said, would ensure that trained manpower is available to serve Ghana’s sustainable energy market.

“The Centres, further, fit in rightly with the objective of the government to build the capacity of the local professionals to serve not just Ghanaian market but also our neighbouring countries and the rest of the world,” he said.

Mr Amewu indicated that consultants have carried out the need assessment and baseline review of sustainable energy services in Ghana, identified the gaps and have prepared a roadmap to bridge these identified gaps.

He further said the consultants have also developed the tertiary education curriculum for training of sustainable energy (SE) service providers and would conduct the first set of training and certification to the professionals who would act as Master Trainers to provide training and certification to the Ghanaian sustainable energy professionals in the future.

He urged Ghanaian tertiary institutions to actively participate in the programmes of Sustainable Energy Services Centres and help establish a centre of excellence that would serve as the hub for skill development of SE professionals in Ghana.

Mr Amewu, who said he was aware that the roadmap would be presented at the renewable energy fair for deliberation, urged participants to examine the roadmap critically and provide valuable comments to refine the roadmap to a desired level.