Ghana is to participate in the 12th session of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Assembly from January 13 to 16 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The three-day virtual meeting, will feature a high-level engagement on the follow-up of COP26 and High-level Dialogues on Energy outcomes aligned with the Assembly theme, “Energy Transition: From Commitments to Action”.
Ghana’s participation is crucial, especially as the government planned to deploy more renewable energy sources to its energy mix.
Speakers at tomorrow’s opening would include, Mr António Guterres, UN Secretary General , Mr Abdulla Shahid, President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Francesco La Camera, IRENA and Ms Mariam Bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates.
Actors at the 12th IRENA will reassess long-standing assumptions, perceived barriers, and default decisions, and discuss the energy transition as an investment in a collective future.
Information gathered by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) indicate that the ministerial roundtables and high-level events would focus on pressing issues of energy transition such as the geopolitics of green hydrogen, adaptation, finance, and investment.
Others are just and inclusive transition, renewables in end-use sectors and latest developments on energy sources such as geothermal energy.
A ministerial event on Africa and Small Island Developing States would also be convened to allow for an exchange of perspectives among countries most impacted by climate change.
A few Stakeholder Engagement events will be organised virtually at the margins of the 12th IRENA Assembly that will bring specific perspectives on the energy transition from parliamentarians, youth, and the private sector.
The Assembly will also consider the conclusions of the Agency’s Council meetings and provide guidance on specific administrative and institutional matters.
A team from Ghana, including renewable experts and actors in the climate change space would participate in the conference and have the opportunity to make a presentation on Sunday, January 16.
Already, the Ministry of Energy had completed the preparatory activities for the implementation of the country’s flagship climate financed renewable energy programme estimated to cost about 230 million dollars.
The implementation of the programme, expected to take off this year, will result in the electrification of islands and lakeside communities with more than 250,000 Ghanaians and provide about 15,000 small and medium private sector enterprises with cheap and clean renewable energy to drive the cost of doing business down and make them competitive.
The programme forms part of Ghana’s resolve to pursue climate-friendly policies, strategies, and actions to transition the country’s energy sector to support and accelerate the low carbon economic development agenda.
The country has committed to achieving a 10 per cent renewable energy contribution to the generation mix by 2030.
Both the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Bui Power Authority have commenced initiatives to increase the deployment of different sources of renewable energy, including wind, solar, photovoltaic, and hydro-solar, in the country.
The VRA for instance, had completed the first phase of the four Megawatts (MWh) and 13WM solar power projects in Lawra and Kaleo in the Upper West Region.
Work on the second phase has commenced.
The initiatives are in line with the goal of the country’s updated Nationally Determined Contributions to generate absolute greenhouse gas emission reductions of 64 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent.
