ELECTRICITY DEMAND REDUCED (page 30)

23/05/2010
Story: Mary Mensah
ELECTRICITY demand in the country reduced by 124 megawatts in 2008 as a result of the mass adoption of the Compact Florescent Lamps (CFLs) as the standard electricity device and the phasing out of the incandescent filament bulbs.
This translates into an annual cash savings of $33 million to the economy and carbon savings of 105,000 tons per annum.
The Chairman of the Energy Commission, Professor Abeeku Brew-Hammond, told the press in Accra on Tuesday that Ghana had been able to avoid the use of one thermal electricity generating turbine as a result of the CFLs programme.
He announced that the Energy Commission had approved a project to enforce minimum energy performance standards for refrigerators and deep freezers.
To this end, he said only refrigerating appliances that met the minimum energy performance standards would be placed on the Ghanaian market.
He said the appliances had to be labelled appropriately to enable the purchaser to know in advance the annual electricity consumption of the product before the first retail purchase.
He said the commission had also submitted a draft Energy Renewable Law to the Minister of Energy for onward submission to the Cabinet and final passage by Parliament and had also made progress in the establishment of a Ghana Energy Renewable Fund (GREENfund).
He said the commission had launched a pilot project on solar and wind grid-connected systems with a commitment of up to GH¢100,000 from the Energy Fund and the first set of eight projects should be completed by the end of April, 2010.
Prof. Brew-Hammond announced that the National GRID Code to guide the operations of the Electricity Transmission Utility (ETU) was completed and launched in February, this year and the Natural Gas Transmission Utility Operator had also been appointed.
The chairman said the commission was the government’s energy policy advisor and would make national energy policy recommendations to the Minister of Energy for the efficient, economic and safe supply of electricity, petroleum products and natural gas having due regard to the national economy.
He said since its establishment in 1998, the commission had, as of July, 2009, made major accomplishments and mentioned the enactment of 11 pieces of legislation on technical and operational rules and standards of performance of public utilities engaged in the supply and distribution of electricity and natural gas, among others.
Prof. Brew-Hammond mentioned the passage of Renewable Energy Law, the completion of the Woodfuels and Biofuels Policy and Legislative Framework, the establishment of the GREENfund, completion of Grid-connected solar and wind pilot projects and the establishment of a National Data Processing and Information Centre as some of the commission’s targets for 2010 and beyond.
For his part, Mr Alfred Ofosu Ahenkorah, Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission, explained the shortage of LPG gas in the country and said gas was imported into the country every week and that the recent problem the country faced demanded an expanded storage facility.
He said 50 per cent of the gas went to the transport sector and vehicles fitted with cylinders had to go for periodic checks to ensure the safety of passengers.
Mr Ahenkorah said as soon as the Jubilee Fields started production it would generate a lot of gas and plans were far advanced to encourage the use of gas.