Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo has disclosed that government is going to change power installation at the Jubilee House to solar power in the coming days as part of a bigger national agenda to promote the use of solar energy in the country.
Yaw Osafo-Maafo made this known at the opening of the 5th Renewable Energy Fair and National Energy symposium, according to him, the move is to increase the use of renewable energy and reduce the financial burden government puts on utility distributors.
“We are committed to the promotion of renewable energy in the country. We are in the process of connecting the Jubilee House on solar at the seat of government following a successful connection of the Energy Ministry to solar which has reduced the power intake from the national grid and lessening the economic and financial burden on their activities.â€
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He further disclosed that the government is seeking funds from donors to connect all government facilities to solar power.
“We are also negotiating with our development partners to provide funding support to connect key government facilities including the Ministries, municipalities, departments, and agencies to solar powerâ€
This, he believes, will also reduce the government’s burden of having to pay utility bills for those establishments
Meanwhile, the government has assured that the renegotiation of the Take or Pay contracts will reduce the cost of power in the country.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in the Mid-year budget review announces a renegotiation exercise for all contracts within the Energy sector as a way of reducing the financial burden regarding energy generation in the contract.
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According to the government, there is the need to renegotiate the contracts within the energy sector which were all issued on take or pay basis.
This means that while the country is paying for all the over 4,000 megawatts of power generated, only 40% which is equivalent to 2,300 MegaWatts is actually used, while the cost of the remaining 60 percent of excess capacity is a loss incurred by the state.