The Government of Ghana has planned to fix Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cooking systems in over 1,000 public institutions especially in high schools, colleges, prisons and clinics.
The Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, who disclosed this, said the government will also facilitate the provision of LPG access to about 20,000 commercial caterers, including service providers under the Ghana School Feeding Programme.
Speaking at a virtual dialogue on Clean Cooking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Mr Mercer said these efforts are under the aegis of the LPG for Development programme.
“Implementing the LPG4D will lead to 10-14 million more people using LPG; about 12,000 to 19,000 lives saved; avert cumulative deforestation of 127 million to 221 million trees, reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 9.2 million metric tonnes and reduce Black Carbon equivalent emissions by 16.63 million metric tonnes together with the economic value of $47.74 million,” he said
He continued: “The overall economic benefit of the LPG for Development programme would be immense and the government would have achieved its goal of 50% access to LPG by the year 2030, and by so doing take a giant step in the transition to clean energy in Ghana.”
The Deputy Minister indicated Ghana’s acceptance of the call to action on clean cooking for all and said clean cooking will be a priority in the country’s national planning.
“We seek the support of member states in achieving these ambitious declarations,” he added.
The Sudanese government has reached an agreement with protesters to lift blockades off Red Sea ports, including an export hub for South Sudan oil.
Reuters reports that local tribes have been protesting against bad economic conditions in eastern Sudan and have blocked roads and ports, including one that ships crude oil from South Sudan to international markets.
The agreement between the government and the protesters staved off an imminent disaster: the petroleum ministry warned that the storage capacity of Sudan’s oil export terminal would fill up within ten days. If that had happened, South Sudan oilfields would have had to stop producing.
Landlocked South Sudan is home to most of the oil reserves of the old united Sudan, and while most of these reserves have yet to be tapped, the country is producing well above 100,000 bpd, hitting a high of 185,000 bpd earlier this year, right before its first-ever licensing round.
Currently, South Sudan has five producing blocks, operated by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, and Malaysia’s Petronas.
“The oil licensing round aims to attract interest from a diverse group of foreign investors to a region that is already home to oil and gas majors from China and Malaysia,” said the country’s Ministry of Petroleum at the time.
South Sudan broke from Sudan in 2011, taking with it around 350,000 bpd in oil production. But then civil war broke out in South Sudan in 2013, which further complicated oil production.
In 2018, the warring factions in South Sudan signed the so-called Khartoum Declaration of Agreement, in which the parties to the South Sudan conflict declared a permanent ceasefire, and the governments of Sudan and South Sudan explored ways to rehabilitate the oil sector in South Sudan.
According to the South Sudan Petroleum Ministry, as much as 90 percent of the country’s oil wealth remains unexplored.
Source :Oilprice.com
Nigerian newly appointed Minister for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has been urged to chart a new roadmap to address generation, distribution and transmission challenges in the West African nation’s power sector.
Engr. Moshood Kola Balogun, who is the Chairman of Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company (MEMMCOL), advised during an interactive session with the media as carried by The Guardian newspaper.
He said there was the need for a roadmap that would clearly define the goals of the power sector, after seven years of privatisation without achieving the desired results.
He advised the Minister to consult with the stakeholders and come up with a comprehensive roadmap that would transform the sector.
“We need to separate it in such a way that any state or local government can go into power generation and distribution to people within its area. If the power being generated is not enough, they can even buy from the national grid.
“So, power generation and distribution should be removed from the Exclusive List and moved to the Concurrent List. That is why we are advocating for franchising so that Nigerians will enjoy more supply.”
Mr Balogun identified the decentralisation of the national grid as one of the ways to reposition the power sector.
He posed: “Why do we continue to have a single grid that binds all of us together?
“The entire process should be done in a way that investors can get back their funds while their customers get fair bills in line with global best practices,” he explained.
Mr Balogun noted that more investments were needed in the sector to upgrade feeders, transformers and substations across the country.
He also called for effective regulation of the sector, stressing that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) needs to be strengthened to carry out its statutory responsibilities.
The newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Power Authority (BPA), the second-largest state power generation company in the Republic of Ghana, Samuel Kofi Dzamesi has expressed the belief that the clean energy projects being executed by the Authority will help to curtail the effects of greenhouse gas and climate change on the country.
“We are of the strong view that our generation from clean sources will go a long way to fight Climate Change.
“We all know that the use of fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the earth, trapping the sun’s heat and rising temperatures,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization’s Urban Health Initiative, “Emissions from transport represent a major problem for cities around the world, particularly in developing countries that are witnessing rapid urbanisation.”
The report also identifies the increased use of vehicles as the fastest-growing contributor to climate emissions and energy use with a global transport sector accounting for 14 per cent of the greenhouse gas budget.
Ghana aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent by 2030.
Consequently, the country is taking actions such as improvement in the energy efficiency of industrial facilities, replacement of light crude oil with natural gas in electricity generation plants and the reforestation and afforestation of 10,000 hectares of degraded lands annually.
Speaking at the maiden ‘E-Mobility Conference And Exhibition’ in Accra, on Thursday, September 23, 2021, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, in a speech read for him, said BPA is currently constructing a 250 Megawatt peak solar plant in the Bui Power enclave to hybridize the 404 Megawatt hydropower plant.
For the first phase of the project, a 50 Megawatt peak solar park (the largest so far in Ghana) had been completed earlier this year and connected to the national grid.
Additionally, one Megawatt Floating solar park, the first of its kind in the West African sub-region, had also been installed on the Bui reservoir and yet to be expanded to five Megawatts peak.
Also, the first-ever mini-hydro power plant has been constructed on the Tsatsadu Waterfall at Alavanyo-Abehenease in the Volta Region.
Mr Dzamesi said the deployment of these renewable energies to meet the growing energy demand for future generations is an excellent approach to help mitigate climate change.
“Our flagship initiative is the hybridization of the employing of a hydro-solar electricity generation at the Bui Generating Station which will ensure a 24-hour generation cycle. The generated electricity is evacuated into the National Interconnected Transmission System ensuring that all Ghanaians are benefitting nationwide,” he explained.
“Even though some modest effort to deploy renewable energy technologies have been made, we believe the bulk of the ideas to increase the share of renewable energy in the country are hidden in our youth,” he said.
The 1MW Floating Solar on Bui Reservoir
In line with that, Bui Power Authority, a firm believer in the future leaders, partnered with the Energy Commission in this year’s Senior High School (SHS) Renewable Energy Challenge which aimed at helping uncover the renewable energy talent hidden in some of the senior high students.
A significant stride has also been made by contributing to another clean source of power generation, which is Ghana’s nuclear power programme, by assisting to form and house the Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), which is a project organisation set up to manage Ghana’s first Nuclear Power Project, Mr Dzamesi disclosed.
He indicated that all these strides have been made by the Bui Power Authority by the President’s vision to ensure that the implementation of the ‘Drive Electric Initiative’ is smooth.
He explained that the Bui Power Authority is not only generating for domestic use but also available to generate electricity directly to organisations that may find themselves in the e-energy space to charge their electric vehicles.
Mr Dzamesi, therefore, invited the private sector to commit to energy, adding that the Bui Power Authority is ready for such partnerships in the next phase of the Climate Change fight.
He expressed confidence that the Energy Commission’s collaboration with the Ministry of Energy in promoting electric vehicles and also drive the productive utilisation of excess electricity in the grid system is a step in the right direction.
A Ghanaian journalist, Larry-Allans Dogbey, has filed a suit at the Industrial and Labour Division of a High Court in Accra, capital of Ghana, to challenge the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr Kofi Koduah Sarpong.
In the suit which names the GNPC, the Attorney General and Dr Sarpong as the first, second and third defendants respectively, Mr Dogbey argues that the laws of the country had been breached in the latter’s appointment as GNPC CEO.
He avers that Dr Sarpong had attained the compulsory retirement age of 60 at the time of his appointment. He is 63 now.
The plaintiff further argues that Dr Sarpong’s appointment as caretaker CEO of GNPC by President Akufo-Addo on January 19, 2017, was in contravention of Article 80 of the Constitution of Ghana and Section 10 (6) of the GNPC Act 1983 (PNDCL 64) because it was done by the President through the then Minister Designate for Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko, who had not yet taken office as Minister.
According to Mr Dogbey’s suit, the appointment of 3rd Defendant as CEO was right from the outset a nullity and the Attorney General shirked his duty, hence the appointment of Dr Sarpong as the Chief Executive Officer of GNPC at a time “that he was 63 years old and now 67 years old.”
Plaintiff will aver that by all intends and purposes, the appointment of 3rd defendant as C.E.O. of 1st defendant’s Corporation at age 63 and his continuous stay in office at age 67 offends (P.N.D.C.L 64), especially section 27 of the aforementioned Act, Article 199(1) of 1992 constitution and the Labour Law (Act 651),” the writ of summons stated.
It is Mr Dogbey’s case that Dr Sarpong would continue to stay in office if the court did not compel the appointing authorities to terminate his appointment.
He is, therefore, seeking an order declaring the appointment of Dr Sarpong as the Chief Executive Officer on January 24, 2017, and his continuous stay in office as illegal and of no effect.
He also wants an order nullifying the appointment of Dr Sarpong as the Chief Executive Officer of GNPC.
Additionally, he wants perpetual injunctions restraining the GNPC and the Attorney General from renewing Dr Sarpong’s contract of employment for another five-year term and an injunction restraining Dr Sarpong from holding himself as the CEO of GNPC.
Source: https:// energynewsafrica.com
New IMF research estimates global fossil fuel subsidies at about $6 trillion, with about 70% from “under-charging” for the environmental costs associated with the fuels, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told a UN energy summit on Friday.
The IMF previously had estimated such costs at about $5.2 trillion in 2017.
“The good news is that global carbon emissions would fall by one-third — in line with keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — if fossil fuel prices increase to fully reflect environmental and supply costs by 2025,” Georgieva said in prepared remarks to an energy summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Source:Reuters
A closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the head office of Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST), Accra, has captured a suspected thief stealing several laptops.
BOST is a strategic fuel stock-keeping company in the Republic of Ghana.
The man, spotted in a blue shirt over a black pair of trousers and a pair of black shoes, was seen with a bag loaded with some of the laptops he had stolen.
BOST announced the incident on its official Facebook page.
According to the Facebook post, the case had been reported to the police and was under investigation.
“We are hereby calling on the general public to help identify and arrest this dangerous character for prosecution and retrieval of the stolen assets.
“He poses a danger to the larger society when left to roam freely out there,” the company said.
Ghana has held the maiden Electric Mobility Conference and Exhibition to discuss the prospects and challenges with electric vehicles as it prepares to roll out nationwide policy to introduce electric vehicles into the transportation sector.
This is in line with the global push for the reduction in emissions from transportation-related activities under the Climate Change Agenda.
To spearhead Ghana’s emission reduction drive, the country’s technical regulator, Energy Commission, in 2019, launched the Drive Electric Initiative (DEI-Gh) to create productive demand to utilise electricity productively, usher in an era of green and sustainable technology for the future, reduce pollution and contribute to efforts towards climate action while helping to resolve the electricity generation overcapacity in the short to medium term.
Since 2019, the desire by some Ghanaians to own electric vehicles has been growing as they are considered more economical than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
As a result, the Energy Commission and Ministry of Energy, in partnership with the Ministry of Transport, on Thursday, September 23, 2021, held the maiden E-mobility Conference under the theme: ‘E-Mobility in Ghana Opportunities and Challenges’.
The conference brought together electricity experts, policymakers, tax officers and players in the automobile industry.
Delivering the keynote address at the conference, the Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh noted that statistics by the International Energy Agency shows that there are about 10 million electric vehicles worldwide.
He said it was for that reason that in 2019, his Ministry collaborated with the Energy Commission to launch the Drive Electric Initiative to create productive demand for Ghana’s excess electricity, as well as a reduction in vehicular pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.
“Electric vehicles are the future and the future is here with us,’’ the Minister said.
Dr Opoku Prempeh added that his Ministry was working closely with the Ministry of Finance to secure an import waiver for 100 per cent electric vehicles to help drive the penetration of electric vehicles, while putting together other measures to drive further growth and the sustainable utilisation of electricity.
He was hopeful that the maiden conference would provide the platform to shape the E-mobility agenda to open new markets for green investments in Ghana.
The Board Chairman of Energy Commission, Prof Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, said the Commission was in the process of developing standards and regulations for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to ensure safety and a level playing field for the EV market.
A Deputy Minister for Transport, Fredrick Obeng Adom, said through collaborative efforts, the Ministry had also commenced a process to develop an E-mobility Policy for Ghana, incorporating implementation frameworks for the deployment and scale-up of Electric Vehicles.
“This would be the first of its kind and would propel green development initiatives. It will also serve as important leverage that would set the tone for the gradual decarbonisation of our transportation system,’’ he said.
U.S. oil refiners hunting to replace crude lost after a storm hit the U.S. Gulf of Mexico last month have been turning to Iraqi and Canadian oil, while Asian buyers have been pursuing Middle Eastern and Russian grades, analysts and traders said.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), the largest producer in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, this week said damage from Hurricane Ida to an offshore transfer facility will limit Mars sour crude supplies into early next year.
The grade is used heavily by U.S. Gulf refiners and companies in South Korea and China, the top two export destinations for Mars.
The United States generally exports more than 3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, most from the U.S. Gulf Coast. With overall fuel demand rebounding to pre-pandemic levels, refiners will need to make up for the Mars shut-ins.
The loss of up to 250,000 bpd has some U.S. refiners seeking replacements for fourth-quarter delivery, especially Iraq’s Basra crude, traders said. Others received supplies of sour crude from U.S. storehouses.
Basra crude has come to the fore during past disruptions. In 2019, when U.S. sanctions on Venezuela cut off heavy crude grades to Gulf refiners, Iraq rapidly boosted cargoes. Canadian heavy-oil suppliers also benefited.
Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Placid Refining Co have received oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), addressing immediate needs for sour crude.
“Refiners that needed to specifically replace Mars barrels requested sour crude from the SPR. Many others are buying extra cargoes of Basra for October delivery, whose prices were very convenient as sour crudes in general are under pressure,” a U.S. Gulf crude trader said.
Earlier this month, Mars crude traded as high as a $1.50 premium over U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) but on Wednesday it was offered at a $2.25-per-barrel discount , returning to pre-storm levels. Most of the nine U.S. refineries that halted output during Ida have returned to production.
Refiner Marathon Petroleum (MPC.N)has bought Basra for October loading, one trader said. Suezmax tanker Jag Leena is provisionally booked to load 1 million barrels of Basra Light crude on Oct. 10 for the United States, data on Refinitiv Eikon showed, although it was not immediately clear which company chartered the ship.
U.S. refiners able to process and blend heavier crudes also have shown interest in Canadian and Latin American grades, traders added. Marathon declined to comment.
U.S. Energy Information Administration preliminary data through Tuesday showed imports from Mexico and Brazil rising after the storms.
Of the up to 250,000 bpd of lost Mars crude production, about 80,000 bpd typically are sent to Asian refineries, according to cargo tracking firm Vortexa.
South Korea has accounted for about two-thirds of Mars exports this year, said Kpler oil analyst Matt Smith.
Before Hurricane Ida hit, China’s Unipec and South Korean refiners had boosted Mars crude purchases to take advantage of favorable prices but faced some cancellations.
However, they were able to replace the supplies with crude from the Middle East and Russia, traders said.
“All types of medium sour crude can replace Mars such as Oman, Urals and Basra, depending on refinery configuration,” a trader with a Chinese firm said.
Unipec recently bought 200,000 tonnes of Russia’s Urals crude for October delivery amid a broader weakness in price differentials.
South Korea’s second largest refiner, GS Caltex Corp, had a Mars cargo cancelled that had been set to arrive in late November, and the company has not yet looked for replacement crude in the spot market, according to traders.
Source: Reuters
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the United States Agency funding the Ghana Power Compact II, has extended the compact duration to June 2022.
The Ghana Power Compact II, which was started in September 2016, was originally scheduled to end on September 6, 2021.
However, the MCC has extended the Compact citing delay in some of the projects due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Steve Marma, the MCC Country Director, disclosed this to energynewsafrica.com during the inauguration of the Meter Management System established by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA).
According to him, it is not the practice of rhe MCC to extend the compact period but had to do so because of the exigency of the time.
The Ghana Power Compact II focused on the ECG’s Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project, Access Project and Energy Efficiency and Demand-side Management Project.
Some of the projects which have been completed under the Compact are the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point, Meter Management System, GIS Complete and AC Test Facility Complete.
“With our partners at the Millennium Development Authority [MiDA], and in partnership with entities like the Electricity Company of Ghana [ECG], the Ghana Power Compact is strengthening the southern power transmission and distribution systems to bring more reliable electricity to Ghana, its citizens and businesses,” Mr Steve Marma said at the inauguration and handing over of the $15 million Meter Management System to the Electricity Company of Ghana.
He added that “this new IT investment will make things a little better for the ordinary Ghanaian who needs electricity in their everyday activities.
“When you finish work and go to pay for your electricity, the pre-paid credit system shouldn’t be down. It now has a backup system to provide redundancy.
“And instead of rushing to the ECG payment centre in your region, once fully rolled out, MMS allows payments across geographic boundaries, giving customers more flexibility at where they pay,” he concluded.
Source:https:// energynewsafrica.com
The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), an implementing agency for Ghana Power Compact II, has commissioned and officially handed over a modern Meter Management System (MMS) to integrate the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) Smart pre-paid metering platforms to enhance the customer experience to the management of ECG at the company’s projects office at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a suburb of Accra, capital of Ghana.
The total cost of the system is US$15,892,800, with Miss contributing US$11,189,901.
The project forms part of the US$316 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)-funded Ghana Power Compact II.
The MCC is an agency of the United States Government.
The MMS System will enable ECG customers connected to the system and be able to buy pre-paid credits anywhere in Ghana and be credited in real-time.
It will also make significant contributions towards improving the ECG’s revenue mobilisation efforts while offering customers greater flexibility in paying for the electricity they consume, even when they travel outside their regions.
“The Meter Management System was specifically requested by ECG as a solution to current challenges with multiple meter types, procured from a variety of meter vendors, none of which could communicate with the other,'” said Prof Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu, the MiDA Board Chairman, in a speech read on her behalf by Martin Eson-Benjamin, the MiDA CEO.
She also stated that “the mix of activities under the ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround (EFOT) Project is intended to reduce revenue losses and under-billing and ensure that ECG recovers its operational costs and invests in maintenance and expansion, without additional financial support from the government.”
The System can cover some five million ECG customers.
The Meter Management System comprises 17 Servers in six racks, 40 Point-of-Sale devices, UPSs, laptops, printers, which have been delivered to two Sites; the ECG Project Office and the ECG Legon District Office.
At the moment, 12 prepaid meter types have been enrolled onto the MMS System, with others programmed to join in phases.
The state-of-the-art system, supplied and installed by Messrs. Siemens SA, is equipped with full redundancy, a backup that will enable the System to run at all times.
It has a Primary Site and a Disaster Recovery Site with an online real-time backup capability.
“The MMS System would make a big impact on ECG’s revenue collection efforts,” said Keli Gadzekpo, the Board Chairman of ECG.
The Country Director of Millennium Challenge Corporation, Mr Steven Marma said: “The US$316 million MCC Ghana Power Compact is the U.S. Government’s down payment on a brighter future for Ghana, and the completion of the Multimeter Management System is an important milestone for the Compact Programme.
“The MMS is an IT investment that lays the foundation for improved customer service and revenue mobilisation, modernize ECG’s operations and improves service delivery to everyday Ghanaian citizens. MCC looks forward to ECG’s continued rollout of the system across all regions under ECG operations,” he added.
The Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Agyapa Mercer, who spoke on behalf of the Minister for Energy, noted that “as part of the government’s policy pursuits for the electricity distribution sub-sector, we are desirous of strengthening the electricity distribution system to enhance competitive electricity supply and retail services for the ultimate benefit of the consumer.”
Hon. Andrews Kofi Egyapa Mercer, Deputy Minster for Energy
He agreed that the Meter Management System “is, undoubtedly, one of the key solutions to the myriad of challenges” ECG currently faces.
Source: https:// energynewsafrica.com
Green and Avro have announced they are leaving the energy market and will cease trading.
The announcement from Green came just one day after it was reported the firm had lined up insolvency advisers.
GS
The supplier said it was “exiting the market due to the government failing to provide any support to smaller energy suppliers,” Sky News reported.
The firm supplies around 250,000 customers and employs more than 180 people.
Avro Energy, which supplies 580,000 people, also announced it had gone bust on Wednesday afternoon and said energy regulator Ofgem.
A statement on Avro’s website said: “Customers need not worry, their supplies are secure and domestic credit balances are protected.”
It comes as the boss of Ofgem said that the country’s current pace of soaring gas prices is something the watchdog has not seen before.
Chief executive Jonathan Brearley added that “well above” hundreds of thousands of customers could be affected by the hike.
Business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng slammed energy companies calling for a lifting of the price cap so they could pass on soaring gas costs to consumers on Wednesday.
Suppliers went into business with their “eyes open,” Kwarteng told MPs, after refusing to bail out failing suppliers.
The secretary said he was committed to keeping the price control, which caps household energy costs at £1,277 a month.
A handful of challenger energy companies have collapsed following price rises including People’s Energy and Utility Point.
What’s more, the UK’s sixth-largest energy company, Bulb, looked to secure an emergency cash injection to avoid collapse, seeking advice from investment bank Lazard.
Some analysts have estimated that the number of energy companies in the UK could be reduced to three-quarters over the coming months, with as few as 10 left.
By City AM
Some police officers in Tamale in the Northern Region of Republic of Ghana have subjected residents in the area to caning and beatings for engaging in power theft, popularly known as illegal connection.
The officers were attached to the Revenue Protection Unit of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company ( NEDCo) for routine checks.
However, in a viral video, the officers are seen beating and lashing a man in handcuffs in Lamashegu, a suburb of Lamashegu for allegedly engaging in illegal connection and enjoying electricity freely.
In handcuffs, the man lay of the ground while the officers lash him.
Another man in a blue polo shirt was also seen being lashed while police officers around him were attempting to handcuff him.
Meanwhile, the police administration has since issued a statement to apologise for the unfortunate incident.
In the statement signed by the Acting Director-General of the Public Affairs Department of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Kwesi Ofori said that four of the officers have been interdicted for their action.
The statement said the four breached the standard operating procedure of the Service.
“The officers will face a service inquiry, subject to the regulations of the Ghana Police Service,” the statement said.
“We apologise unconditionally to the affected persons and the general public,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, a source at NEDCo has told energynewsafrica.com that management has seen videos of the unfortunate incident and are investigating the issue.
According to the source, NEDCo will issue a statement when it concludes its investigation.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA),Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, has paid a working visit to the Petroleum Regulatory Agency in Sierra Leone to familiarise himself with their operations.
In a post on the NPA’s Facebook page, the petroleum downstream regulatory authority said Dr Abdul-Hamid, in a meeting with the Executive Chairman for PRA-SL, Dr Brima Baluwa Koroma, shared experiences in regulating the petroleum downstream industry.
“PRA-SL requested to partner Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority in their pursuit to improve their human resource capacity, legal and institutional reforms in their operations,” the post read.
According to the NPA’s post, the visit afforded Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid the opportunity of meeting Dr Edward Hinga Sandi, the Sierra Leonean Minister for Trade and Industry.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Mr Dzamesi, therefore, invited the private sector to commit to energy, adding that the Bui Power Authority is ready for such partnerships in the next phase of the Climate Change fight.
He expressed confidence that the Energy Commission’s collaboration with the Ministry of Energy in promoting electric vehicles and also drive the productive utilisation of excess electricity in the grid system is a step in the right direction. 
Source: https:// energynewsafrica.com 
“Electric vehicles are the future and the future is here with us,’’ the Minister said.
Dr Opoku Prempeh added that his Ministry was working closely with the Ministry of Finance to secure an import waiver for 100 per cent electric vehicles to help drive the penetration of electric vehicles, while putting together other measures to drive further growth and the sustainable utilisation of electricity.
He was hopeful that the maiden conference would provide the platform to shape the E-mobility agenda to open new markets for green investments in Ghana.
The Board Chairman of Energy Commission, Prof Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, said the Commission was in the process of developing standards and regulations for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to ensure safety and a level playing field for the EV market.
A Deputy Minister for Transport, Fredrick Obeng Adom, said through collaborative efforts, the Ministry had also commenced a process to develop an E-mobility Policy for Ghana, incorporating implementation frameworks for the deployment and scale-up of Electric Vehicles.
“This would be the first of its kind and would propel green development initiatives. It will also serve as important leverage that would set the tone for the gradual decarbonisation of our transportation system,’’ he said.
“The Meter Management System was specifically requested by ECG as a solution to current challenges with multiple meter types, procured from a variety of meter vendors, none of which could communicate with the other,'” said Prof Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu, the MiDA Board Chairman, in a speech read on her behalf by Martin Eson-Benjamin, the MiDA CEO.
She also stated that “the mix of activities under the ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround (EFOT) Project is intended to reduce revenue losses and under-billing and ensure that ECG recovers its operational costs and invests in maintenance and expansion, without additional financial support from the government.”
The System can cover some five million ECG customers.
The Meter Management System comprises 17 Servers in six racks, 40 Point-of-Sale devices, UPSs, laptops, printers, which have been delivered to two Sites; the ECG Project Office and the ECG Legon District Office.
At the moment, 12 prepaid meter types have been enrolled onto the MMS System, with others programmed to join in phases.
The state-of-the-art system, supplied and installed by Messrs. Siemens SA, is equipped with full redundancy, a backup that will enable the System to run at all times.
It has a Primary Site and a Disaster Recovery Site with an online real-time backup capability.
“The MMS System would make a big impact on ECG’s revenue collection efforts,” said Keli Gadzekpo, the Board Chairman of ECG.
The Country Director of Millennium Challenge Corporation, Mr Steven Marma said: “The US$316 million MCC Ghana Power Compact is the U.S. Government’s down payment on a brighter future for Ghana, and the completion of the Multimeter Management System is an important milestone for the Compact Programme.
“The MMS is an IT investment that lays the foundation for improved customer service and revenue mobilisation, modernize ECG’s operations and improves service delivery to everyday Ghanaian citizens. MCC looks forward to ECG’s continued rollout of the system across all regions under ECG operations,” he added.
The Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Agyapa Mercer, who spoke on behalf of the Minister for Energy, noted that “as part of the government’s policy pursuits for the electricity distribution sub-sector, we are desirous of strengthening the electricity distribution system to enhance competitive electricity supply and retail services for the ultimate benefit of the consumer.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com