Total Group to lead investment consortium for solar energy farms in Ghana

The senior business development manager of Total’s renewable energies division, Frederic Ciamous, said two 20-megawatt (MW) solar electricity generating facilities will be built in the north of the country, backed by consortium partner French renewable energy firm Neoen and with support from international financing institutions such as the World Bank.

Ciamous said in an interview with China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency that the facilities will be built over a two-year period at an estimated cost of $40m to $50m each.

However, Ciamous said: “There is the need to aggregate some critical skills sets in order to make this possible. That is the reason we formed the consortium with Neoen which has capacity in such skills in order to make the project a success.”

"We expect the project to be constructed and commissioned by 2017,” Ciamous said. “As soon as we receive the approval from government, everything will be constructed and commissioned within these two years.”

The facilities will deploy ‘SunPower Oasis’ technology from the US Silicon Valley-based company SunPower, Ciamous said.

Ghana’s government has said it is on course to achieve its 5,000 MW domestic power generation target by 2016. The country is also poised to achieve gas-based generation for 80% of the country’s thermal power plants during this year. According to the government, biomass accounts for 57% of total energy use in the country. A feasibility study has also been launched into the potential for further hydro power projects in the country.

Last August, the World Bank committed $5 billion in new technical and financial support to encourage increased international investments in energy infrastructure projects in six African nations, including Ghana, under the US-backed Power Africa programme.

In November, the bank approved a further $20m International Development Association grant to help generate international investment in large-scale sustainable energy projects in Southern Africa.

Also last year, Ghana’s parliamentarians were told of government plans to connect 90% of communities in the country to the national grid by 2016.