A GROUP of energy experts has recommended that the country undertakes the construction of more mini-hydro electrical power systems to supplement what is currently generated from the Akosombo and Kpong dams, as well as from thermal plants.
They noted that only about 50 percent of the country's hydropower potential has been harnessed and that more than 40 viable hydro sites that could generate the requisite levels of power exist in the country (see front page report.
Power from the Akosombo and Koong dams which is fed into the national gird is used to meet the energy needs of key industrial and commercial plants such as the Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO), the steel mills, textile, garments, and leather factories, cement and cannery works and many other businesses throughout the country,
These businesses provide not only jobs for the people but also reliable sources of income which go to sustain workers, their families, and other dependants.
With the help of this power, goods are produced in such enterprises, both for domestic consumption and export, to earn foreign exchange for the country. Apart from that, the enterprises pay taxes and dividends to the government for the profits they make from such productive activity.
This immense contribution notwithstanding, it is worth pointing out that the rapid expansion of the national electrification programme to cover virtually all the country's 110 district capitals as well as many towns and villages within the last few years, has over-stretched the capabilities of the two dams.
For this reason, the opportunity for the exploitation
of thermal energy was launched with the building and functioning of the Aboadze Thermal Plant whose power output has since been integrated into the national grid. Gone location, prostallecas cover virtually all the country's 110 districts within the last few capitals as well as grany, towns, and villages the capabilities of the two dams.
For this reason, the opportunity for the exploitation of thermal energy was launched with the building and functioning of the Aboadze Thermal Plant whose power output has since been integrated into the national grid. But considering the ever-increasing energy needs of the country, it still does not appear to be enough.
From this perspective, the GRAPHIC cannot
have any quarrel with the call from energy experts for the building of more hydropower plants to help increase power supply to meet the country's energy needs for sustained national development.
Indeed, we find the call to be both appropriate and useful and one which, if carried through, would culminate in the protection and promotion of the country's cultural, industrial and commercial, and other sectors and help bring qualitative improvements in the lives of the people.
The main problems envisaged in this respect are however the issues of funding for such hydro projects and the high level of energy waste in the country. With a precarious economy and a not-too-sound revenue base, the mobilization of the requisite resources for such capital-intensive projects would not mean a task.
The most viable alternative being that of sourcing foreign funding is also far from easy, and if it has to come at all it might do so with a string of conditionalities, the combined effect of which might mortgage such national assets to foreign interests.
The GRAPHIC is all for the maximum exploitation of our water resources for national development because hydropower, among other advantages, presents one of the cheapest and most cost-effective power sources open to mankind.
We urge the government to explore opportunities for forging a joint partnership with the nation's development partners on terms and conditions that are conducive to the national interest to help exploit and harmonize our potential power sources for the benefit of the country.
In the meantime, the GRAPHIC calls for the curbing of waste within the power generating system by the power utilities and particularly the consuming public. Too much power is just being wasted on lights not being turned off at the appropriate time in our homes, businesses, and streets, in electrical appliances that are not being used, and in many other cases.
Let those of us who have electric power use it wisely so that it could be spread further to help accelerate national development for the benefit of all.
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