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For the most part, Africa struggles to develop large amounts of energy, and Ghana is striving to change this. Apart from the northern and southern parts of the continent, Africa has no major energy sources and no efforts have really been made to fix the problem. Blue Energy, a British renewable energy investment firm officially verified plans to build Africa’s largest solar panel installation. It will be a one hundred fifty five megawatt photovoltaic plant, and construction will be located in Aiwaiso, Ghana. Officials are hoping that this is the start of a revolution for renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa, and it will show whether or not governments can unlock the large potential that Africa holds for solar energy.
The plant will make a large, positive contribution to the national economy, and provide energy that has been needed for a long time. It will also serve as a base where researchers can develop the skills for the future in order to have bigger and better things. Another positive of the plant is that it will create many much needed jobs for the people of Ghana, and it will greatly improve the poor living conditions that many citizens have to endure. The benefits of the plant seem to be endless if all goes according to plan, and it will be interesting to see the economic affect that it has. It is the plan to have energy being generated by early 2014, and to keep starting new sections as they are completed. It should be completed by October 2015.
The installation is expected to power approximately one hundred thousand homes and create over two thousand one hundred jobs after it is fully operational. For the country as a whole, it will help different aspects of society such as agriculture, education, health care, and construction. As a country in which twenty five percent of its inhabitants live below the poverty line, a project such as this could turn around and boost the economy of Ghana. As a developing country it is also a great idea to have solar installations because of the fact that there isn’t much infrastructure in the first place, so there is plenty of room for it to be built. The new solar installation will hopefully spur more power sources like it in surrounding regions of Africa, potentially starting a new industry to fuel the African economy.
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