Hope for energy sector

Some American investors have expressed a strong desire to invest in the country’s energy sector.

The move will help the country to inch closer to meeting its 5000 megawatts production capacity by the end of 2016 while achieving its dream of becoming a net exporter of energy to the rest of the sub-region.

This came to light when a high-powered American trade mission led by the United States Secretary of Commerce, Ms Penny Pritzker, visited the country to explore investment opportunities in the Ghanaian energy sector.

Among the delegation were firms with the requisite expertise to help Ghana develop and manage its energy resource systems.

Others were also interested in building plants for power generation, transmission, and distribution.

This comes at a time when the current energy crisis in the country continues unabated with no end in sight. 

The unreliable energy situation in the country is particularly affecting industry as players in that sector are experiencing increasing cost of production, thereby affecting the prices of their products and services as they are forced to pass on the cost of generating their own energy to their consumers.

There are also indications that the lack of reliable energy supply in the country is also driving away foreign investors who would have preferred to invest in the country because of the relatively stable political environment. 

The President and Chief Executive Officer of Maclean Power Systems, Mr Thomas P. Smith, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on May 19, “We are manufacturers of products for the delivery side of the electrical grid”.

According to him, the company’s area of expertise is the delivery of power in an efficient, safe and reliable way stressing that “even though power is generated, if the delivery systems are not good, then the power doesn’t make it to the end consumer.”

The company, he said, would be a supplier to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and would provide the equipment that ECG would use to deliver the power. 

He also said the company’s investment in Ghana he would be long-term and once the market opportunities grew and the rules of business were clear enough the company would establish a factory here in Ghana.

The Global Head of Business Development, Cargill Energy Transportation and Metals Division, Mr Fortunato Costantino, also noted that the company was strongly committed to the sustainability of energy resources thereby increasing efficiency of energy resources to ultimately increase the value of power generation in the country.

The Senior Vice President in charge of Development at Solarreserve, Mr Alistair Jessop said the company has a technology which allows people to store the sun’s energy and use it to generate electricity for usage when needed.  

“Looking at the opportunities in Ghana, we believe they have solutions that can help make it a reality,” he said.  

US commitment to Ghana

The United States Secretary of Commerce, Ms Pritzker said all the companies coming into Ghana were committed to finding mutually beneficial opportunities in the Ghanaian energy sector.

“Ghana is one of Africa’s dynamic and rapidly growing economies, and the 4th largest US export market in sub-Saharan Africa.  It is a market that the United States is actively promoting as one of the next best opportunities for US firms to do business,” she said.

She also said the partnership between the two countries will fuel economic growth and spur job creation, adding that the United States of America (USA) has a sustained commitment to enhancing trade between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the US is preparing a US$500 million grant to support Ghana’s power sector through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact.

When finalised, the compact will directly strengthen the power sector by improving reliability and service delivery, as well as help ensure continued and cost-effective power supply in the country.

The coincidence of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the grant and the visit of the American companies in the energy sector gives room to suspect that the American government intends to get companies from that country to execute projects that would be funded from the grant.

The threat is that Ghanaian companies that may have the same capacity as the American companies to execute power projects in the country may be denied that opportunity.

The dilemma is that should the government insist on getting Ghanaian companies with expertise to handle the projects with the grant, the American government would hold back the funds.

Impact of energy crisis

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu said the country currently had a couple of challenges in the energy sector and was optimistic the partnership would help eliminate them.

“We do as a country have some 3-tie challenge, in terms of our energy resources and management. We do have a challenge of generation, transmission and management in terms of efficiency in the delivery of energy,” he said.  

According to him, industries are underperforming because of inadequate and unreliable energy supply, and consumers are unable to have 24-hour access to energy.