Mines and Energy Committee Chairman in Parliament, Kwabena Donkor has described as wrong, the government’s approach to cut down thousands of trees to install solar panels in the Western region.
The government as part of its renewable energy initiative has decided to link 150 mega watts of solar from the region to the national grid.
It is part of government’s effort at increasing solar power generation in the country having already added some 2.4 mega watts of solar power in Navrongo. But according to Dr. Donkor, the move has no economic significance to the region and would also impact negatively on the environment.
The region boasts of very green vegetation cover. He mentioned that “what we really need is relatively cheap base load power and we’re not talking about 50 or 40 mega watts. Those are additional fanciful renewables.”
What the region needs, he noted was a solid base load of 700 to 1000 mega watts and due to the region’s soggy nature, radiation is lowered. “It is not only commercially viable but it does not give us the sort of base load we need.”
He explained “our peak demand is from 6pm to 11pm and if you do grid connected solar that will be the time when the power would not be available because the sun is gone.”
“In order to store, you would need commercial equipment just to store and that would add up to 50 per cent extra cost,” he said.
