A delegation led by the Board Chair of Bui Power Authority (BPA), Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh (MP-Sunyani East), has paid a working visit to Berlin, Germany, seeking cooperation and agreement for building BPA staff’s capacity to implement their mandate as renewable energy leaders.
Other members of the delegation included Gina Blay, Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany; Samuel Kofi Ahiave Dzamesi, Chief Executive Officer-BPA; and Mr. Wisdom Ahiataku Togobo, Director- Renewables, and had very fruitful discussions which led to signing three different agreements.
Under the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), BPA will collaborate with Berlin Technical University (TU Berlin), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) as partners to implement PROREG (Professional Education for Renewable Energies in Ghana) supported by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). BPA technical staff seeking to pursue higher educational programmes up to Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy will have opportunity to undertake academic disciplines related to the work and mandate of BPA at any of the three universities. TU Berlin staff will also support developing practical models and appropriate research topics for BPA technical staff.
The second MoU was signed with the Distance Learning Institute of the Berliner Hochschule für Technik (DLI). Under this MoU, both parties agreed to fully cooperate in building the capacity of BPA technicians who cannot access advanced degree programmes, as well as non-technical staff working in the fields of finance, procurement, communication and Energy law.
The third MoU was signed with the Berlin School of Technology, SRH Berlin University of Applied Science (BST-SRH). Under this agreement, BPA will cooperate with BST-SRH to promote a systematic exchange of experts and students between BPA and BST – which will contribute to developing renewable energies through the development of academic and research activities based on existing cooperation of the BST-SRH with KNUST and the UENR.
This partnership will promote Ghanaian students’ enrollment in Master’s programmes offered by the BST-SRH, and promote participation by engineers and experts from BPA and other institutions in Ghana in the winter and summer schools offered by the BST-SRH on relevant topics in the areas of Finance, Procurement, Energy Law, Communication and Human Resource Management among others.
The delegation traveled to Rathenow to visit the Sunfarming company, where solar PV farms are integrated with agriculture – thereby providing a conducive environment for vegetable and crop farming under solar panels, and for farming livestock such as ducks, geese, fowl, cattle, etc. These animals are all kept under the panel structures rather than leaving all the land space beneath panels unutilised. The Board Chair-BPA and CEO-BPA were very impressed to see this method of farming, and agreed to cooperate with Sunfarming to set up a prototype at the Bui Generating Station.
The delegation also met with the German Ministry for Environment and Economic Affairs, where opportunities for investment in BPA were presented to them. The German Ministry lauded BPA on its achievements in deploying renewable energy in Ghana, promising to extend support for BPA through their Development Agencies.
On his part, Samuel Kofi Ahiave Dzamesi, CEO-BPA, emphasised the need for investment support in construction of the Western Rivers in Ghana – enabling BPA to undertake more deployment of solar for the hybridisation of hydro-power to ensure uninterrupted generation from solar during the day and hydro at night.
