At a three-day workshop being organised by the USAID in conjunction with the Ministry in Accra, the United States Agency, reaffirmed its commitment towards joining efforts with Government to mitigate the country’s energy crisis.

The workshop, which was on the theme: “Shifting Ghana onto a path of Clean and Affordable Energy”, formed part of the U.S government’s Power Africa Initiative to support the Energy Sector development on the African continent.

The workshop which would end on August 10, was aimed at enhancing the capability of the power sector to address the challenges of integrating renewable energy resources like wind, solar and hydropower in the national grid, a statement issued by the USAID in Accra said. 

Mr Steven E. Hendrix, the Acting Mission Director of USAID-Ghana, said the U.S Government continued to make power accessibility in African countries a priority to propel their efforts to achieve economic development. 

 “In 2013, the U.S. government launched the Power Africa Initiative to increase energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa. “Together with our partners, we work to add new generation capacity, connect homes, hospitals and businesses to the electricity grid and deliver power to communities who live beyond the national grid,” Mr Hendrix said.     

He added that increasing renewable energy was critical to “our agenda of delivering power to all Ghanaian citizens.” The USAID’s Acting Mission Director said, through the power of partnership, the Power Africa Initiative would help leverage private sector investment to “provide renewable energy solutions that will build Ghana’s power sector for years to come.”

Mr Lawrence Apaalse, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy, said government resolute to welcome prudent plans that would strengthen the energy sector and that it would stay committed to utilise the efforts of the USAID to increase public access to affordable electricityThe dialogue saw key stakeholders from public institutions, development partners and personnel from the private sector deliberating on issues on generation expansion and renewable energy integration and how to mobilize finance for the power sector.

“Panellists discussed how to expand the generation of renewable energy integration, ways to mobilize finance for the power sector, and lessons learnt global”, the statement said.

The dialogue touched on how Ghana could adopt international best practices and case studies on renewable integration, energy planning processes to support long-term development and emerging business models.The USAID works through the Power Africa Initiative is working closely with in partnership with Government to enhance energy efficiency and encourage the use of renewable energy.