By Dennis Peprah
Bui (B/R), Sept. 18, GNA – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has lauded the Bui Power Authority (BPA) for taking the lead to drive the nation’s efforts to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Global goal 13 calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
It is intrinsically linked to all 16 of the other Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Just about eight years to go, Dr Angelina Lusigi, the Resident Representative of the UN’s state agency, described the BPA’s solar farm developed at the dam site as exceptional, noting the project had put the nation on the right path to achieving the set target for the SDGs 13 and related goals by 2030.
After touring the BPA’s 400 megawatts hydro-electric power generating station at Bui in the Banda District of the Bono Region, Dr Lusigi said Ghana had tremendous opportunities from the BPA’s renewable energy to drive the SDGs.
She said she was highly impressed and excited about the Authority’s floating solar panel on its reservoir and commended the Management of the BPA for its innovations to expand the electricity supply.
Dr Wisdom Ahaitaku Togobo, the Director of Renewable Energy, BPA, explained the Authority’s solar farm adds 50 megawatts of power to the dam’s generating capacity.
He said the BPA was still developing the solar farm to meet its target of adding 250 megawatts to the dam, saying the Authority had expanded its switch yard to accommodate more power, and work was also progressing on an additional four megawatts floating solar panel on the dam’s reservoir.
The BPA had also installed battery power banks to take care of intermittencies, Dr. Togobo added and expressed the hope that the Authority’s existing collaboration with the UNDP would be deepened to push Ghana’s urge to achieve the set target for the global goals.
He said the BPA was also undertaking feasibility studies to enable the country to generate power from her Western Rivers, comprising Rivers Tano, Ankobra and Pra, but regretted that if not brought under control, illegal mining activities could threaten the hydro-power project.
“Galamsey poses a serious threat to hydro-power production in the country, and we must all support in the fight against the menace”, Dr Togobo added.
Dr George Ortsin, the National Coordinator, UNDP Global Small Grants Programme (GEF), said the UN agency was supporting the communities around the dam’s enclave in the management of natural resources.
“We, therefore, hope to expand our green climate fund to support the laudable interventions of the BPA to achieve desirable outcomes”, he added.
Another intervention of the BPA, the UNDP’s Resident Representative lauded during her visit, was the Authority’s Forest Resource Enhancement Programme (FREP) aimed at re-foresting the dam’s enclave.
According to Mr Chrisentus Kuunifa, the Deputy Director, Occupational Health, Safety and Environment of the BPA, the Authority had currently developed 1,400 plantations around the dam’s enclave to protect the national asset.
It contained different tree species, including Teak, Cassia, Cedrela, Mahogany, Oframo and many others.
Mr Kuunifa indicated the FREP was one of the BPA’s primary climate change mitigation tools being implemented on the acquired land within the Black Volta Basin and Tsatsadu enclaves.
He said the dam had acquired enough lands, saying with support, the FREP could cultivate and nurture more than 5,000 acres of plantation every year and appealed to the UNDP to extend its support to the project.
Earlier, Dr Lusigi and her entourage visited and acquainted themselves with actual electricity generation at the dam’s power house and the system control room,
GNA