By Edward Acquah
Accra, Sept. 13, GNA – Selected energy experts and engineers from across Africa have converged in Accra for a two-week training on energy demand analysis to provide sustainable energy to support socio-economic development.
The training, which is underway in Ghana’s capital city, will introduce participants to the use of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Model for Analysis of Energy Demand (MAED) tool.
The MAED evaluates future energy demands based on medium to long term scenarios of socioeconomic, technological and demographic development, and provides an overall picture of future energy demand growth.
The training is being organised by the IAEA- African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA) and facilitated by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).
Regional professionals are training the participants and they would be required to replicate the training in their respective countries.
Addressing the trainees at a brief opening ceremony on Monday, Professor Dickson Adomako, Deputy Director-General, GAEC, described the workshop as timely.
He said the training was being organised at a time when several African nations were beginning to see the need for expanding their energy supply to meet fast-growing demand.
“We anticipate that your capacities to use MAED for planning to conduct studies for electricity supply, energy system options, and energy investment planning and energy environment policy formulation shall be enhanced,” Prof. Adomako told the participants.
He said the training would help the participants to understand the fundamentals of nuclear power and the requirements as well as encourage knowledge sharing to enhance energy production on the continent.
Mr Oscar Amonoo-Neizer, Executive Secretary, Energy Commission, said the workshop was useful, and expressed hope that the experts would harness the best out of the training and impact their various countries.
Touching on Ghana’s nuclear power project, he said the country had many expertise to successfully add nuclear power to her energy mix.
“Other countries have done it and we can also do it. It is just a matter of proper planning and putting in the infrastructure with all the safety measures being considered,” Mr Amonoo-Neizer said.
Some of the participants expressed delight about the training and called for the creation of a common platform that would encourage knowledge-sharing and collaboration among experts in the region.
Ms Felister Mukuri, a participant from Kenya, said the training was “a good opportunity to learn about the model and apply it to our system.”
Another participant, Joseph Ebako, from Cameroon said: “We need to know how to meet up with the energy demand and ensure that energy is available to everyone.”
GNA