Kpando Senior High School in the Volta Region of Ghana has won the 2024 Energy Commission’s SHS Renewable Energy Challenge finals that took place at the Accra International Conference Centre on Tuesday, October 8, 2024.
Kpando SHS beat five competing schools with 85 points to emerge as the winner of the SHS Renewable Energy Challenge.
The participating schools were St. James Seminary SHS, Yabokpa SHS, OLA Girls’ SHS, Obuasi Senior Technical School, Ahantaman SHS and Kpando Senior High School.
The theme for this year’s competition focused on the application of renewable energy technologies in solving land and water pollution.
In the last few years, illegal miners, known as ‘galamseyers’ in Ghana, have been mining in Ghana’s rivers, consequently, polluting the West African country’s water sources as well as destroying arable lands for agricultural purposes.
This year’s competition started with 125 Senior High Schools, which were divided into three zones across the 16 regions of Ghana in February, and the top three schools were selected for the semi-finals in August.
After the lead presenters showcased their innovative and technological ways of solving land degradation and water pollution to the admiration of the panel of judges and participants at the event, Kpando SHS emerged top with 85 points.
The school was awarded certificates for its participating students and a total cash prize of Gh¢210,000 for their excellent disposition.
Dabokpa Secondary Technical School came second, after their presentation with 82 points. They were awarded certificates and a cash prize of GH¢180,000.
St James Seminary SHS was third with 81 points. They also received certificates of participation and cash prize of Gh¢175,000.
Obuasi Secondary Technical School came fourth with 80 points and for their awards, the students were awarded certificates and a cash prize of over GH¢150,000.
The Ahantaman SHS placed fifth with 79 points and was given certificates and cash awards of over GH¢44,000.
Ola Girls was sixth and were equally awarded with certificates and cash awards.
The competition was initiated by the Energy Commission in February 2019 to foster interest in renewable energy and energy efficiency among students in the second-cycle institutions.
The Energy Commission wants to use the technologies displayed by the winning school in solving land degradation and water to be adopted and commercialized so that the school and students can benefit from their innovation.
It is the expectation of crafters of the competition that participating students will use their knowledge acquired to help fight Ghana’s environmentally unfriendly acts.
This year’s programme was in partnership with the Volta River Authority, Vivo Energy Ghana, Ghana Education Service, the European Union, Ministry of Energy, SCIR, GiZ, Ashesi University, AFD, and Cowbell, among others.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com