According to him, the institu­tions would be provided with the opportunity to expand their local networks, obtain practical experi­ence and establish long term part­nerships with qualified German companies in the solar photovolta­ic (PV) industry.

Mr Struss, who is also the Ghana Country Manager of Project De­velopment Programme (PDP) un­der the GIZ made these known at the opening of a five-day training workshop organised by the PDP and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International

 Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in commemoration of German Training Week (GTW) in Accra yesterday.

The training scheduled to end on Friday would also ensure that the institutions were trained on how to assess, plan, implement and fund new energy solutions in the country.

Mr Struss noted that the general idea was to bring together Gha­naian and German companies to develop solar energy with focus on the commerce industry.

“What we do specifically in the programme is identifying com­panies which have a fairly large energy consumption and explain to them the potentials and benefits of solar energy to them,” he said.

Mr Struss added that what they were doing was to train business­es and institutions on the whole process of developing a solar project to help sustain their market development.

The Cluster Coordinator for the Energy Division of GIZ, Tangmar Marmon, said the project which was funded by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Ac­tions of Germany, aimed at helping Ghanaian companies to produce their own solar energy.

This, he said, would make the companies more climate friendly, grant them access to cheaper ener­gy to fulfil their energy needs and to increase their productivity.

“It is a programme that aims at bringing German industries togeth­er with industries in other coun­tries across the world, and here in Ghana it is to bring solar energy in Ghanaian companies,” he said.

Mr Marmon said that PDP would help the Ghanaian economy and the government to fulfil its climate pledges to bring down its climate emissions.

He stated that the programme had been in the country for over 10 years, doing a lot of capacity development with partners in the country including banks, private sector, legal, public sector resulting in positive outcomes.