Ghana’s Ministry of Energy and Green Transition has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a 1 MW solar project.
The solar facility, to be located in the town of Dawhenya in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, will provide power to the Dawhenya Irrigation Scheme, a project boosting agricultural production in the region.
The project forms part of the ministry’s Water-Energy-Food Nexus Project which is being funded by the Korean Government and part-implemented by the Korean Association of Machinery Industry.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony, Ghana’s Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, said the project addresses the twin challenges of energy transition and food security. Jinapor added that the solar plant will provide reliable power for irrigation, reducing dependence on costly diesel generations, while boosting rice production and food security in Dawhenya and the wider area.
The project, valued at $5 million, covers construction and training of ministry staff on operation and plant management. It is expected to be completed within a year.
According to reports from the Ghana News Agency, Ghana currently irrigates about 3% of its cultivated land, despite an irrigation potential of between 360,000 and 1.9 million hectares. In contrast, South Korea has irrigated over 800,000 hectares and partially irrigated 200,000 hectares of farmland.
The Ghanaian government has set a target of bringing more than one million hectares of land under irrigation within the next five years. Jinapor says this work will include the deployment of 400 solar water pumps in 2026, increasing to 3,500 pumps by 2028, to irrigate around 400,000 hectares.
The minister also said his department is working with Ghana’s Ministry of Finance to secure tax exemptions on imported materials and equipment for the project.
Ghana’s cumulative solar capacity stood at 188 MW at the end of last year, the same figure reported at the end of the year prior, according to figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Earlier this year, the country announced plans to develop a renewable energy investment fund.
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