THE CASE OF SOLAR ENERGY - MY PERSPECTIVE

When you mention solar energy, why do people only think you are talking about bulk infrastructure?

Solar is more than that. Solar is modern technology driven by local innovation.

In fact, the solar revolution in Africa today is driven by small solar lighting solutions wired to Pay As You Go (PAYG) software and hardware. It has less or 'nothing' to do with bulk infrastructure!!!

First and foremost, nobody pays for it, it’s just there and for the next ten billion years humans can and will be able to tap it. Interestingly, developing solar energy may seem like a no brainier but there are legitimate concerns when it comes to the capabilities of it and its implementation.

Photo Credit : Google

Over the years, there have been a lot of arguments concerning solar energy which ranges from the cost involved where the general notion is that it’s too high when adopted. But from further readings and research, it has been identified that, there are different ways for calculating costs and the alternative methods also doesn’t compare easily to each other.

There’s also been the case of how feasible it is to generate power when the sun shines on them. Other factors such as its storage, its accompanying environmental costs are all valid points in the argument for and against the case of solar energy but in my opinion, I believe the positives outweighs the negatives.

The Government of Ghana and for that matter most African governments in my opinion doesn't believe in solar energy, it is rather the citizens who do.

GHANA NEEDS $22.6 BILLION TO IMPLEMENT CLIMATE ACTIONS

Ghana needs $22.6 billion in investments from domestic and international public and private sources to finance its climate mitigation and adaptation actions.

The country's 31 programme of actions will drive the strategic focus of a “10-year post-2020 enhanced climate action plan” that would be developed after the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris.

This is contained in Ghana’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submitted on September 23, 2015 to the UNFCCC, ahead of the deadline.
An INDC is a government's proposed 'contribution' to the UNFCCC as to what it will do about climate change.

COP 21 CLIMATE CHANGE

The Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC invited parties to communicate to the secretariat their INDCs well in advance of the Paris climate summit in December 2015 “in a manner that facilitates the clarity, transparency and understanding of the INDCs.
As at October 1, there were 108 submitted INDCs on the UNFCCC website, including that of Ghana.

Ghana's INDC is anchored on the medium-term development agenda (Ghana Shared Growth Development Agenda II – GSGDA 2), National Climate Change Policy and the Low Carbon Development Strategy, as well as the anticipated 40-year long-term development and the universal sustainable development goals.

According to the document,“the proposed measures to achieve the INDC goal will build on existing measures and strategies”.
In all, 20 mitigation and 11 adaptation programme of actions in 7 priority economic sectors are being proposed for implementation in the 10-year period (2020-2030).

The implementation of the actions are expected to help attain low carbon climate resilience through effective adaptation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in the priority sectors: Sustainable land use including food security; Climate proof infrastructure; Equitable social development; Sustainable mass transportation; Sustainable energy security; Sustainable forest management; and Alternative urban waste management.

Ghana's emission reduction goal is to unconditionally lower its GHG emissions by 15% relative to a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario emission of 73.95 MtCO2e by 2030.

An additional 30 percent emission reduction is attainable on condition that external support is made available to Ghana to cover the full cost of implementing the mitigation action (finance, technology transfer, capacity building).
With this external support, a total emission reduction of 45% below the BUA emission levels can be achieved by 2030.

The total investment cost for implementing the 20 transformational mitigation actions is $9.81 billion – representing 45% of the total investment. Out of this, Ghana will mobilize $2.02 billion (21% of the total investment cost) to finance the two unconditional INDCs. An additional $7.79 billion will be needed to finance the remaining 18 mitigation actions in order to achieve more ambitious emission reductions in the 10 year period.

The long-term goal of Ghana’s adaptation is to increase climate resilience and decrease vulnerability for enhanced sustainable development.
Ghana will require $12.79 billion for adaptation – $4.21 billion (34%) will be mobilized at the national level, whilst the remaining $8.29 billion is the international contribution Ghana is looking for in order to meet the cost of implementing its adaptation actions.

Adaptation under Ghana’s INDC is informed by: good governance and inter-sectoral coordination; capacity-building, the role of science, technology and innovation; adequate finance from both domestic sources and international cooperation; promoting outreach by informing, communicating and educating the citizenry; and adhering to accountable monitoring and reporting.

Ambitious climate resilient economy
Africa and other developing countries remain vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

In Ghana, the agricultural and food economy are already under threat as local farmers reel under the severity of the weather.
Achieving a 2oC global temperature target is ambitious but means for adaptation and mitigation remain critical to the vulnerable.

In preparing and submitting its INDC, Ghana is mindful of its international obligations as a Party to the UNFCCC while simultaneously pursuing a national development agenda that seeks to achieve the long-standing objective of becoming a fully-fledged middle-income economy.

Ghana’s response to the threats posed to this objective by the impacts of climate change has been to pursue coordinated domestic policy actions that in effect seek to develop a policy framework that integrates adaptation, mitigation and other climate related policies within broader development policies and planning.

This is in order to safeguard developmental gains from the impacts of climate change and build a climate resilient economy.
Ghana holds the view that the INDCs should cover mitigation, adaptation, finance technology, capacity building and transparency and agrees with the common position of Africa.

Original story: ghanaweb.com

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Can Sustainable Energy be achieved by 2030?

Through out my growing life, I have been very concerned about what happens in the near future in relation to the environment and human livelihood. No doubt it has reflected in my activism being an A Rocha International member and rose to the University of Cape Coast president, Greenpeace member to mention but a few. I found this interesting piece online and I decided to blog it so the conversation can still go on. The future is what we have, so I am sure if we take all the necessary steps to keep it safe, and take the right actions, we will have a better place to live in. Continue reading.



The World Economic Forum’s Energy for Society initiative places secure and affordable energy access as the first of its five principles of which leading energy companies commit to deliver in order to meet the needs of a growing world population. Can we, however, go one step further and achieve universal access to energy by 2030 as is the target of many countries and the United Nations.



Renewable energy can play a transformative role in making this objective a reality. With the right policies, investment and public-private partnership models, we can achieve sustainable energy for all, and perhaps even before 2030.

By using our renewable resources, energy can be generated in a carbon-responsible, cost-effective manner that also creates jobs and mitigates climate change, providing a workable and affordable solution that will keep our planet healthy.



The potential of renewable energy is immense. For example, every megawatt (MW) of wind energy installed creates up to 20 jobs; a single 1.5 MW turbine can reduce CO2 emissions by over 3,000 tons every year. And, technological advances have increased the efficiency and productivity of renewable energy. In the wind industry, for example, improvement in technology have made wind turbines 100 times more powerful compared to designs from the 1980s. This is essential to meet our growing energy needs – industrialized countries need more energy to strengthen their economies and developing countries to accelerate progress.



Technological advances have also reduced the cost of renewable energy. For instance, sophisticated materials, electronics, aerodynamics and instillation of larger MW machines have brought down the costs of generating a kilowatt-hour of energy from wind by over 50%. The World Bank report, “Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development”, also demonstrates that the capital costs of wind, solar and hydropower are more than balanced by their low operational costs.



New innovative business models present an economic opportunity for incorporating renewable energy. For example, integrated desalination plants and electric cars (that can also be used to store excess energy) offer ways to reduce costs, increases efficiency and facilitate economic growth. The island community of Samso in Denmark is an example where community-owned renewable energy has helped drastically bring down carbon emissions. Wind turbines power 100% of their electricity needs, and 75% of heating needs are met through solar power and biomass. The community also makes a profit by selling excess energy to the mainland.


Renewable Energy Sustainability


Replacing traditional sources of energy completely with renewable energy is going to be a challenging task. However, by adding renewable energy to the grid and gradually increasing its contribution we can realistically expect a future that is powered completely by green energy.



If we act now, we can mitigate the threat to our planet, reduce our dependence on limited traditional sources of energy and provide every person with their fundamental right – access to energy.



This original piece was authored by, Tulsi Tanti the Chairman of Suzlon Energy and a founding signatory of the World Economic Forum’s Energy for Society Initiative.