ENVIRONMENTAL BEST PRACTICES TOWARDS
GREEN ENERGY PRODUCTION THROUGH
HARNESSING
RENEWABLE
NATURAL
RESOURCES (WIND AND SOLAR) FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – VRA’S
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
Emmanuel M. K. Amekor
Manager, Environment and Sustainable Development
Department, VRA-Ghana
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
PRESENTATION PLAN
Introduction: VRA establishment and Mandates
Hydroelectric and Thermal Power Plants
Ghana Power Plants, Capacities and Producers
The Case for Introduction of Renewable Energy
Planned Renewable Projects and Selection Factors
Institutional Arrangements
Project Implementation
Conclusions
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
VRA ESTABLISHMENT/MANDATE
ESTABLISHMENT
Established under the Volta River Development Act 1961
(Act 46)
MANDATE
Primary function is to develop the hydroelectric potential
of the Volta River (through the construction of a dam and
creation of a lake/reservoir) for the generation,
transmission and supply/distribution of electrical energy
for industrial, commercial and domestic use in Ghana and
neighbouring countries
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
AKOSOMBO DAM+LAKE
VOLTA+HYDROPOWER STATION
Volta River
4 Authority
Accra, Ghana
VRA MANDATE AMMENDMENT
AMMENDMENT LAW
The Volta River Development (Amendment) Act 2005
(Act 692) revised the VRA mandate:
 Transmission component of original mandate entrusted
to a new National Grid Company.
 VRA now a purely power generation company
 Focus now on core business of development of various
power stations for electricity generation.
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
GHANA’S CURRENT ENERGY MIX
AS AT SEPTEMBER 2011
PROVIDER
TYPE
CAPACITY
VRA/AKOSOMBO
HYDRO
1020MW
VRA/AKUSE
HYDRO
160MW
VRA/ABOADZE (TAPCO)
THERMAL
330MW
TICO/ABOADZE (JOINT VENTURE)
THERMAL
220MW
VRA/TEMA (TT1PP)
THERMAL
110MW
VRA/TEMA(TT2PP)
THERMAL
50MW
VRA/TEMA (MRP)
THERMAL
80MW
SUNON ASOGLI (IPP)
THERMAL
200MW
T3 (UNDER CONSTRUCTION )
THERMAL
132MW
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
CURRENT ENERGY MIX
AS AT SEPTEMBER 2011
TOTAL
INSTALLED
CAPACITY
PERCENT
CONTRIBUTION
I
HYDRO GENERATION
1180MW
47.93%
II
THERMAL GENERATION
1122MW
45.57%
VRA
570MW
23.15%
IPPs
420MW
17.06%
T3 (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
132MW
5.36%%
III
PLANNED RENEWABLE GENERATION (GREEN ENERGY) BY VRA
WIND POWER
150MW
6.09%
SOLAR POWER
10MW
0.41%
TOTAL RENEWABLES BY 2015
160MW
6.50%
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
THE CASE FOR INTRODUCTION OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
 Environmental problems associated with the combustion
of fossil fuels are well known and documented
worldwide.
 Both developed and developing nations are grappling
with for solutions to the CO2 and other GHGs and the
associated global warming and climate change impacts.
 VRA since 1998 actively engaged in diversification of
its power generation sources from the predominantly
hydro to crude oil and lately natural gas thermal plants,
gradually reducing the carbon footprint of generation.
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
JUSTIFICATION OF INTRODUTION OF
RENEWABLES INTO ENERGY MIX
HISTORY OF VRA DIVERSIFICATION PROGRAMMES
GENERATION PLANT
TYPE
INSTALLATI
ON YEAR
1
AKOSOMBO
HYDRO
1961
2
AKUSE
HYDRO
1982
3
TAKORADI (TAPCO)
THERMAL (CRUDE+DIESEL)
1998
4
TEMA (TT1PS)
THERMAL (CRUDE +DIESEL)
2008
5
TEMA (TT2PP)
THERMAL (DIESEL)
2010
6
TEMA (TT1PS)
CONVERTED TO GAS
2010
7
TEMA (TT2PS)
CONVERTED TO GAS
2011
8
T3 (UNDER
CONSTRUCTION)
TRI-FUEL FIRING (GAS AS
PRIMARY FUEL)
2011
9
TAKORADI (TICO)
TO BE CONVERTED TO GAS
SOON
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
INTRODUCTION OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
Data from earlier studies carried out by the Ghana Energy
Commission were reviewed to decide which types of
renewables to introduce.
VRA’s RE Development Programme phase 1 (REDP1) aims
at developing about 160 MW of installed renewable energy
capacity over the next five years.
The program consists of three components:
 Wind Power Phase 1 (150 MW)
 Solar Power Phase 1 (10 MW)
 Renewable Energy Planning & Development Integration
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM PHASE 1:
SOLAR POWER PROJECT PHASE 1
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
INTRODUCTION OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
Project objectives:
1. Develop & construct a 10 MW Solar PV plant.
2. Asses the technical/financial feasibility of developing
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Plants in Ghana.
3. Provide training to VRA’s planning, development and
operational staff on Developing and operating a solar
power plants as well as integrating wind generation into
our generation supply and expansion plans.
4. Register the wind farm projects as Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) project in order to utilise CDM
proceeds for co-financing of the project.
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
THE CASE FOR INTRODUCTION OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
Factors taken into consideration include:
 Availability of the natural resource (wind/sunshine)
 Quantity and quality of resource (wind speed, direction
solar luminance etc)
 Quantity of power to be generated in a cost effective
manner
 Availability of land for infrastructural development
 Environmental and Social impacts in riparian
communities
 Ease of power evacuation through tie-in to the existing
national grid system
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
1 Establishment of E&SD Department
 Under the Guidelines for Environmental Assessment in
Ghana, Energy projects have been classified under the
category of projects for which environmental assessment
is mandatory
 VRA therefore charged the Director of the Environment
& Sustainable Development Department with the
responsibility of satisfying the regulatory requirements
of the Ghana EPA
 Permanent interactive/consultative meetings were put in
place to obtain Permits from various other institutions.
Eg Energy License, Building permits, Environmental
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Permits etc.
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
2 Community Consultations
 An identification exercise was carried out to detail all
potential communities that could be impacted either
positively or negatively by project activities.
 Community meetings were arranged to serve as
consultation fora to receive the views of community
members about the projects
 Traditional Chiefs, Opinion leaders, Political
representatives and Local Government officials were
consulted at separate meetings to enable frank
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
expression of ideas.
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
3 Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
 Liaison between VRA and Arrangements including
meetings and communication with the Ghana EPA
confirmed the level of the environmental assessment that
is required for the projects.
4. Multi disciplinary Project Implementation Team
 A multidisciplinary team from relevant VRA stakeholder
Departments including: Engineering Services ,
Environment &Sustainable Development, Real Estate
and Survey Department headed by a Project Director has
been set up as a Project Implementation Unit for the
Projects.
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT –
MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
DIRECTOR,
ENGINEERING
DIRECTOR,
ENVIRONMEN
T
PROJECT
MANAGER
CIVIIL COORDINATOR
CONSTRUCTION
CONTRACTOR
AND STAFF
SURVEY
RESSETTLEMENT
ELECTRICAL
MECHANICAL
SUPERVISORS
ENVIRONMENTAL
COORDINATOR
ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY TECHNICIANS
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana
THANKS YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
Questions & Answers
17th UPDEA Congress Hammamet
Volta River Authority
Accra, Ghana