Ghana

A comparison between monofacial and bifacial PV systems in Ghana showed how changes in system parameters can affect the bifacial gains. The researchers found that changing the albedo of a land-based system can increase the bifacial gain from 5.25% to 14.5%.

Ghana’s Ministry of Energy is now welcoming applications for the design, supply and installation of 35 minigrid and solar PV net-metering projects to be located at a range of island and lakeside communities in the west African country.

A project combining solar with hydroelectric power at the Bui dam in Ghana has given a massive boost to the country’s efforts to provide universal electricity access by 2025. Digital transformation is also reducing the time to resolve technical issues at the dam.

A research group in Ghana has conducted a series of tests to assess the performance of polycrystalline solar modules in PV systems operating in their home country for at least 5 years. They found that the vast majority of the panels may ‘fail’ before 20 years in operation under outdoor conditions.

Huawei Digital Power Technologies, a unit of Chinese multinational tech giant Huawei, recently signed a deal with Ghana-based solar developer Meinergy Technology to build a 1 GW solar plant coupled with 500 MWh of storage in Ghana over the next years. Under the terms of the deal, Huawei will supply solar-plus-storage systems for the project. Meinergy will be responsible for the development and construction of the facility. pv magazine recently spoke about the project with Kevin Wu, CEO of Meinergy, and Peter Acheampong, Deputy Director of Renewables for the Bui Power Authority, which owns the installation.

Redavia, which leases plug-and-play solar systems to commercial clients in Africa, secured the fresh credit line after settling a previous $2 million loan supplied by the EDFI ElectriFI European development finance institution.

Huawei and Meinergy plan to build a facility that could end up being Africa’s largest solar-plus-storage project. Huawei will supply its storage tech for the installation.

A business based at a Namibian mine has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement which will back the construction of a 5.4MW solar project. Elsewhere, the AfDB wants to roll-out solar panels to provide electricity access to six million people across six nations over the next six years.

The closing day of the African Energy Week event held in South Africa this month heard voices casting doubt on a renewables-only energy transition and calling for a gradual change and continued investment in petrochemical production.

The move will encourage private sector renewables companies to be part of the national energy industry, a representative of the regulator told a recent webinar which considered how to accelerate clean energy roll-out in Africa.