President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has highlighted his government’s achievements in ensuring a reliable power supply for Ghanaians. He said his administration has managed the energy sector with discipline and expertise over the past seven years.
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, the President refuted claims of intermittent power supply amid the ongoing financial crisis and asserted that the country has not experienced Dumsor over the past seven years.
He said the persistent and erratic power crisis, which plagued Ghana between 2012 and 2016, was the result of a dysfunctional system. According to him, the NPP government has managed to keep the lights since 2017, and has, therefore, avoided a repetition of the hardships that were inflicted on Ghanaians some years ago.
Nuclear power
The president added that his government is committed to generating 30% of the country’s electricity from nuclear plants.
“As I indicated at the US-Africa Nuclear Energy Summit and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Co-operation (IFNEC) Ministerial Conference, held in Accra in November last year, the first of its kind in Africa, our energy transition plan envisages thirty per cent (30%) of our electricity production to be from nuclear energy by 2070, which is the core mandate of the Ghana Nuclear Power Programme Organisation (GNPPO), an entity under the Office of the President.”
The strong commitment and position are “geared towards the provision of clean and affordable electricity to drive our industrialisation agenda. It is also meant to position Ghana as a net power exporter in the ECOWAS region through the West African Power Pool,” he said.
Gold for Oil
The president also commended the Gold4Oil initiative, saying it has reduced the forex pressures on companies that are involved in bulk energy storage, transportation, imports, distribution, and exports, resulting in more competitive premiums with suppliers.
“It has enabled them to negotiate more competitive premiums with suppliers. Premiums dropped from one hundred and eighty to two hundred dollars per metric tonne ($180-200/MT) to seventy dollars per metric tonne ($70/MT) or less. This also resulted in reduced and stabilized prices at the pumps of between twelve to thirteen cedis (GH¢12-13) per litre for the whole of 2023.”
Source: Energy Ghana