Good news for Ghana. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $28.49 million in funding to support electrification in the West African country. This is a grant from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) under its Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (SREP) program.
The CIF program is being implemented in other sub-Saharan African countries, including Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania and Niger. In Ghana, the CIF grant supports a project to accelerate electrification through off-grid solar systems. The Ghanaian government plans to install 35 solar photovoltaic mini-grids and build stand-alone solar systems in 400 schools, 200 health centers, and 100 community energy service systems in the Lake Volta and Northern regions.
Over $80 million mobilized
The project also includes the installation of 12,000 rooftop solar photovoltaic systems in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). All of the decentralized solar systems will have battery storage systems. According to the AfDB, the project includes the design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing and commissioning of these systems in island communities in the Lake Volta region.
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The work is expected to “close the gender gap in outcomes by creating 2,865 equitable jobs and livelihoods, 30% of which will be for women and youth,” says the Abidjan, Ivory Coast-based financial institution. To date, the Ghanaian government has already mobilized more than $85 million for the implementation of the project.
The Ghanaian government is contributing $16 million. The other part of the financing is provided by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs ($13.30 million), and the African Development Fund ($27.39 million), the concessional lending window of the AfDB Group.
Jean Marie Takouleu