GYEM to Hold Stakeholders’ Workshop on Renewable Energy Act

The Ghana Youth Environmental Movement (GYEM) will hold a stakeholders’ workshop next month, as part of its advocacy efforts to review and enforce Renewable Energy Act 832 (2011) to develop and promote the renewable energy (RE) sector in Ghana. This action is supported by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and its development partners; DANIDA, EU and USAID.

The Renewable Energy Act was passed to facilitate the achievement of the goal set for renewable energy in the National Energy Policy to account for 10% of total energy generation in the country by 2020. Passed by Parliament of Ghana and assented to by the President in 2011, the Act provides the legal basis for fiscal incentives and regulatory framework to attract investment towards the development, utilization and efficient management of renewable energy resources in the country. However, key provisions in the document such as establishing a Renewable Energy Authority to oversee the implementation of renewable energy projects and activities in the country, and operationalizing a Renewable Energy Fund for the development, promotion and utilization of renewable energy resources in Ghana have not been implemented.

According to Gideon Commey, Coordinator of the organization, the stakeholder engagement couldn’t have come at an opportune time, since the President of Ghana, H.E Nana Akufo-Addo in his 2017 State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered on February 21, 2017 admitted that the Renewable Energy Act needed a review to “provide further incentives to attract the private sector to invest”. Mr. Commey indicated that the President himself had acknowledged that the challenges and difficulties Ghana faced in generating enough electricity to meet her increasing demands for economic growth and development in the past “resulted in frequent power outages and planned power rationing across the country in recent years, leading to reduced workforce productivity, high cost of doing business, and lack of power for essential activities in the home”.

Against this backdrop, the workshop will attract key figures and institutions in the renewable energy industry, civil society players, state actors and implementing institutions such as the Energy Commission, Ministry of Energy and others to discuss the full implementation of key provisions in the RE Act such as the establishment of the Renewable Energy Authority and the operationalizing of the Renewable Energy Fund, among others.

Earlier this year in March, the organization held a Sensitization event on the RE Act 832 (2011) which saw resource persons from government, private sector and civil society engaging and educating participants on the RE Act and how all key stakeholders can work together to fully implement the Act to benefit the industry.