The Ghana Standards Authority has opened West Africa's first Air-Conditioner and Refrigerator Testing Laboratory to curtail the importation of low standard cooling appliances to Ghana.
The facility, which was established with great support from the U.S.-backed Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) will also help reduce power consumption and related carbon emissions.
The groundbreaking state-of-the-art laboratory cost some $1.9 million to build and forms part of the four projects under the Ghana Power Compact programme, through the US government's Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Director-General of the Standards Authority, Prof Alex Dodoo said the facility will enable standards regulator to carry out tests and ensure that all air conditioners and refrigerators imported into Ghana meet the country’s minimum energy performance standards.
It will also complement the work of Ghana’s Energy Commission in enforcing the country’s import certification scheme, which demands that selected high-risk goods entering Ghana must be certified as meeting all obligatory standards.
In addition, the facility will also aid the effectiveness of Ghana’s current Energy Efficiency Appliance Standards and Labelling regime, being undertaken by the Energy Commission, he said.
Finance for the new facility came MiDA, which is has been set up to oversee funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US independent overs aid agency.
The Ghana Standards Authority also provided $45,000.
“This laboratory will put Ghana in a leadership position, helping to enforce strong efficiency standards, reducing emissions, and saving Ghanaians money,” said US Ambassador Stephanie S Sullivan at the official inauguration of the facility in Accra last Thursday, November 18, 2021.
The new test lab has the capacity to test 96 air conditioners and 48 refrigeration appliances annually.
The facility has been provided with a 400KVA generator set and a dedicated transformer, to ensure uninterrupted electrical power supply.