…requests for different management board
- 6% RE currently used against 10% 2020 target
- Over US$340m allocated for RE expansion
Climate change movement, 350 Ghana Reducing Our Carbon (350 G-ROC), is calling on government to establish a different management board to operationalize and steer affairs of the Renewable Energy (RE) Fund.
The Fund, which is currently being managed by the Energy Commission, G-ROC noted in a report, has been creating conflicts of interest as there is little transparency in managing the fund.
“As it stands, more than 90 percent of citizens don’t even know there is a fund of that sort because little has been done to create awareness and how much money the fund has accumulated since its inception in 2011”, the Coordinator for 350 G-ROC, Portia Adu-Mensah told the Goldstreet Business at a media engagement.
To ensure the full utilization of renewable energy, government in 2011, passed the Renewable Energy (RE) Act 2011 (Act 832) to provide for the development, management, utilization, sustainability and adequate supply of renewable energy to contribute to a medium-term target of 10 percent RE use to electricity generation by 2020.
Section 35 of the Act, provides for the establishment of the Renewable Energy Fund, to serve the purpose of providing financial assistance and resources for the promotion, development and sustainable management and utilization of the country’s renewable energy sources.
With two more years to reach the medium-term target limit, the country, as of now, is only utilizing about 0.6 percent of renewable energy.
As one of its mandates, the Energy Commission, formulates national policies for the development and utilization of indigenous energy resources, in particular, renewable energy; solar, wind and biomas.
G-ROC however maintains that the Commission has not been proactive in the management of the Renewable Energy Fund after the organization had reviewed the Act.
“The fund must be publicized and managed differently and not attached to the Energy Commission Board. The citizen should be made aware of how much is in the fund and how much has been disbursed so far, among others,” G-ROC indicated.
Ghana has allocated over US$340 million for renewable energy projects in the last few years, with government in 2016, launching a US$230 million scaling up renewable energy investment programme, with multiple international public and private capital IFC, AfDB and Climate Investment Fund.
The German government last year, also signed an agreement to support the country with US$117 million (€100 million) to expand renewable energy resources.
“Ghanaians are interested to know what percentage of those monies has been committed into the Fund or whether they are entirely meant for other projects”, Adu-Mensah said
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe
