The seven-week program, held at the ECG Training Centre in Tema, provided participants from nine African countries with advanced knowledge in electricity network design, distribution system planning, system protection and control, and cable and substation maintenance.

Representatives from Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania participated in the training.

At the closing ceremony, the Chief Representative for the JICA Ghana Office, Ms. Suzuki Momoko indicated that the second phase of this training program has been expanded to cover nine countries, drawing from the success of the first session which had participants from four countries in the West African region, saying that “seeing the success of last year, this year, we have expanded our target countries to nine countries. The seven-week training program targets technicians in the maintenance of electrical equipment and engineers in distribution planning, design, system protection and control”.

Madam Momoko emphasised that resources can be put into projects and equipment, but if the human resources are meant to manage, these are not equipped. Then the investment could turn out badly. For this, she said, “We believe that capacity building of technicians and engineers is indispensable. It is the technicians and the engineers who are maintaining the network and ensuring that electricity is distributed as planned. I hope that what you have learned here will contribute to your country’s sustainable electricity system”.

On his part, the ECG Director for the Training Centre, Ing. Godfred Mensah indicated that as part of the course, “the trainees got field trips to Helios Solar plant in the Tema Free Zones enclave, Mienergy solar plant in Mankoadze near Winneba and the Akosombo Dam. The purpose of these trips was for them to gain insight into power generation in Ghana”.

He also added that “they also got to appreciate the roles of power transmission and distribution, considering that the generation sources in Ghana are remote from the load centres”. He urged them to share the knowledge they have gained with their colleagues and seek to contribute meaningfully to their respective utility companies in their home countries.

The closing ceremony where these remarks were made was held on Friday, November 22, 2024, at the ECG Training Centre, where certificates were presented to the participants.