The Ghanaian government has commissioned the first part of a new solar power project that will eventually generate enough electricity for 32 200 households in the Upper West Region.
The first phase at Lawra township in the Nadowli district will deliver 6.85 MW, while its 13 MW sister project at Kaleo township is still under way. The presidency announced the combined 17 MW solar PV project earlier this year, subsequently increasing Lawra’s capacity from 4 MW to 6.85 MW.
According to Energy News Africa, the entire project is being funded through a EUR22.8 million loan agreement between German state-owned development bank KfW Group and the Ghanaian government. It was designed by Ghanaian power generation company Volta River Authority.
‘I am pleased that the contractor, in the process of constructing this plant, employed some 100 people from communities within the Lawra district,’ Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said at the commissioning, ‘I am expectant that persons, particularly the youth, with the requisite technical skills, would be recruited for the operation and maintenance phase of this facility.’
