Stakeholders in the energy sector have been educated on the need to leverage cutting edge technology to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable power generation to fuel the economy.
This came to light at the Ghana Industrial Customer Workshop organized by Siemens Ghana under the theme “Electrification as a catalyst for growth.”
Addressing participants, Mr. Edmund Acheampong, Country Manager of Siemens Ghana, said, with 165 years of excellence in innovation and technology, the company has the tried and tested technology available for meeting Ghana’s energy need.
Siemens has in the last two years made investments in Ghana’s energy sector with an already 330 megawatts of installed capacity added to the national grid. The company is also working together with Rotan Energy to develop and build one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly thermal plants, with a capacity of 660 megawatts (MW) at the Aboadze Power Enclave located in the Western Region.
According to Mr. Acheampong, the workshop provided the opportunity for stakeholders to discuss pertinent issues around sustainable energy generation for Ghana.
“Converting waste into energy, renewable energy, small scale power generation, digitalization for Oil and Gas and efficient Energy Management, are essential topics that must be addressed as part of the energy value chain to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable power generation to fuel our economy,” he said.
He stated that the impact of Ghana’s annual growth in population on the country’s energy needs points out the importance of electricity to the growth of the economy.
“As government, together with businesses, scale up industrialization across the country, Ghana’s energy needs will expand. All this makes the need for adequate power generation and supply for both domestic and industrial use more urgent. And Siemens is here to provide cutting edge technology and solutions for Ghana,” he said.
Mr. Acheampong also underscored Siemens contribution to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education in Ghana. The company recently donated automation equipment worth €25,000 to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Takoradi Technical University to boost engineering training at both institutions and also bridge the gap between academia and industry, making students readily employable for industry.
Andreas Pistauer, Executive Vice President for Siemens Power and Gas Africa, said Siemens is committed to contribute innovative solutions to Ghana’s energy sector. He said efficient electricity supply is critical in achieving meaningful economic development hence the decision by Siemens to provide technology and expertise for the provision of reliable energy for Ghana and the sub-region.
Ing William Amuna, former CEO of Gridco in his key note address said in his keynote address that with new technologies available, the generation, transmission and distribution systems can be made very reliable, noting that: “Siemens has state-of-the-art generation systems as well as Scada systems and substation automation systems that can be employed in power systems to raise reliability and safety levels very high.”
He indicated that despite 85% of Ghanaians having access to electricity, work still needed to be done to ensure a gradual build-up of mini grids to connect island communities that do not have access to electricity.
“So far, five communities have been powered and it’s expected that 200 communities will soon have mini grids so that gradually Ghana will be approaching universal access to electricity,” he said.
Energy experts from Siemens delivered presentations on topics including Small Scale Power Generation for Industry, Digitalization for Oil and Gas Applications, Renewable Energies in the Energy Mix, Project Financing, Next-generation Power Plant for Ghana “Time for F-class GT” and Siemens’ value propositions for the biomass and waste to energy.
