The Volta River Authority (VRA) is officially commissioning the Kaleo solar photovoltaic power plant in northwestern Ghana. The 13 MWp solar park was financed with a loan from the German development agency Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).
The Kaleo solar power plant was inaugurated on 23 August 2022 at a ceremony attended by the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The solar park is being built on a 20.4 hectare site in the Nadowli Kaleo district of northwestern Ghana. The Ghanaian head of state had also visited this locality for the groundbreaking ceremony of the facility in February 2020.
The Kaleo solar plant has a capacity of 13 MWp. The Volta River Authority (VRA), which initiated the project, plans to increase its capacity to 28 MWp. The electricity generated by the new solar plant is fed into the grid of the state-owned Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) from the 161 kV Wa substation 15 km away.
German funding
“The project will boost tourism in the Kaleo community and provide a destination for educational and technological excursions in the region. It will help promote the advancement of science education, engineering and technological activities in the region, and expand the career opportunities of our youth,” said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his speech at the inauguration ceremony of the new solar power plant.
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The Kaleo plant was launched at the same time as the Lawra plant. “At peak sunshine hours, the Kaleo and Lawra plants can meet the entire load of Wa and its environs. This can make Wa the greenest city in Ghana. The completion of the Kaleo solar plant is in line with Ghana’s nationally determined contributions to combat the effects of climate change,” says the Ghanaian president.
The Lawra solar plant, with a capacity of 4 MWp, is built on a 6.13 hectare plot of land. The cost of the two solar parks is estimated at 25 million dollars. The VRA is financing the work with a loan from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the German development agency.
Jean Marie Takouleu
