contents editor-in-chief ing. henry teinor journalist deborah enam apetorgbor marketing cornelius kwame atiase gerald odum-mensah creative design samuel a. mensah (0556125269) web developer michael kwabena afreh publisher energy media group (emg) office: east legon, accra tel: +233 559 300 631 email: info@energyghana.com web: www.energyghana.com dear reader, profound thanks for your interest to read this edition of the en- ergy ghana magazine. it means a lot to us at the energy media group. the next edition of your cherished magazine promises exciting and insightful presentation of happenings in ghana’s energy sector. be sure not to miss it your feedback on this issue of the magazine is greatly welcome, together with suggestions for the next edition: get in touch deborah@energyghana.com deborah enam apetorgbor, journalist. energy ghana magazine ing. henry teinor, editor-in-chief ghana to assist sierra leone implement power compact 08 13 17 12 24

editorial team dear reader, w elcome to your quarterly publication of the energy ghana magazine. in this issue, we bring you hap- penings in the global and african energy space as well as national topics in the power and petroleum sub-sectors. in this february edition, we feature the outcomes of the cop26 in our special report, and in other reports we discuss africa’s steps toward energy transition and the adoption of cleaner forms of energy, financing options for investments into the continent’s energy sector revisit the 5th ghana energy awards with us, as we bring you word from the organisers, the former president john agyekum kufuor, who graced the occa- sion together with daughter of former president jerry john rawlings as they both co-receive the prestigious lifetime achievement awards. relive these glo- rious moments with photos from the night. our exclusive interview also brings to you one of ghana’s finest minds in the power sector, ing. emmanuel antwi-darkwa, chief executive of the volta river authority as he shares his insights on the country’s power sector, and how he managed to pull off one of the incredible financial turnarounds in the history of the country. you don’t want to miss it. with a blend of news on wind and solar energy, ghana’s down and upstream sectors, this edition of the energy ghana magazine gives you interesting insights on the energy space from the national level to the world energy space. ing. henry teinor editor-in-chief do enjoy!

energy news/africa uganda tops afdb’s electricity regulatory index for fourth consecutive year four for successive years, uganda’s electricity sector has maintained the spot as africa’s best regulated across a number of key metrics, according to the african development bank’s 2021 electric- ity regulatory index-eri. east african neighbours, kenya and tanzania, as well as namibia and egypt followed as other strong performers. the 2021 electricity regulatory index, an annual report, covered 43 countries, up from 36 in the previous edition, and as- sessed their impact on the performance of their electricity sectors. the index covered 3 countries in the north africa region; 14 in west africa; 6 in central africa; 7 in east africa; and 13 in the southern africa region. “the unprecedented participation of so many countries shows the commitment to strengthen the countries’ regulatory envi- ronment with a view to improving the per- formance of the respective electricity sectors,” said dr. kevin kariuki, the african development bank’s vice presi- dent for power, energy, climate and green growth. the african development bank group's flagship electricity regulatory index for africa measures the level of de- velopment of the regulatory framework for the electricity sector in african countries and the capacity of regulatory authorities against internationally accepted best prac- tices. the eri is made up of three pillars or sub-indices: the regulatory governance index; the regulatory substance index; and the regulatory outcome index. among the 2021 report’s key high- lights, regulatory independence is one sub- indicator where african countries have room to improve: in 93% of sampled coun- tries, governments, and stakeholders exer- cise influence over regulatory authorities. in terms of regulatory substance, partici- pating countries scored lowest on ade- quacy of setting and frameworks, as well as licensing frame- works when compared with best practice. according to the report, the average performance on economic regulation has continued to decline since 2018. a third of countries surveyed indicated they lack methodologies to determine tariffs; an- other 40% rely on tariff methodologies that do not include key attributes such as tariff their “ “the unprecedented par- ticipation of so many countries shows the com- mitment to strengthen the countries’ regulatory en- vironment with a view to improving the perform- ance of the respective electricity sectors,” dr. kevin kariuki, the african development bank’s vice president for power, energy, climate and green growth. sure full implementation,” he said. the report has also received positive external commendation. eng. abel didier tella, director general of the association of power utilities of africa, said, “it is in- teresting that the utilities in most of the top-performing countries in the electricity regulatory index are listed on their na- tional stock exchanges, which requires compliance with transparency in informa- tion sharing and good governance prac- tice.” since its launch in 2018, the electricity regulatory index has highlighted aspects of electricity regulation that need reform, identified appropriate areas for interven- tion, and encouraged stakeholders to be proactive in addressing challenges. since then, the index has been widely adopted by regulators and other stakeholders across the continent as a benchmark for the reg- ulatory environment as well as for ongoing reforms. automatic tariff adjustment and tariff in- dexation mechanisms and schedule for major tariff reviews. wale shonibare, african development bank director for energy financial solu- tions, policy and regulation, commended the top-performing country. “uganda top- ping the rankings consecutively for four years comes as no surprise to many, as the regulator spends significant time on con- sultation and analysis, including regula- tory key interventions and follow-through to en- assessments impact of instrument the report's includes benchmarks based on a continuously growing, proprietary database of utilities and regulators across the african conti- nent. it also tests the actual impact of the regulators’ actions and decisions on per- formance of utilities and the power sector in general. the eri assesses underlying regula- tory factors that impact performance, identifies gaps and outlines a set of inter- ventions for success, and prioritizes the in- terventions needed to improve regulatory performance. source: energy ghana february 2022 energyghana.com 07

company profile the first company to develop the first ever ecofriendly floating solar in ghana and west africa meinergy technology (ghana) limited is a regis- tered company under the laws of ghana and a partner of ningxia lgg instrument company limited (longi) in china. longi is involved in national grid infrastructure in asia, south africa and other africa countries. in south africa, meinergy is in partnership with ole power system pty to deploy both smart water and electricity intelligence meters. meinergy has been active in the ghana en- ergy sector and has developed 20mw solar pv farm that feeds into the national grid since september, 2018 at ecg/pds bulk supply point at saltpond. they supplied solar panels and pv plant components for the development of the first phase (10mw) of the bui power hybrid project. in may 2015, meinergy engineering procurement construction financing (epcf) bxc company (ghana) ltd. 20mw solar pv project that was commissioned february 1, 2016. the company also developed the first ever ecofriendly floating solar in ghana and west africa in response to the problem of land degradation and its posing dangers to man and the environment. in total, meinergy installed 64,400 solar panels, 400 smart inverters and laid 15,000 dc cables in order to set-up the 20- megawatt plant at gomoa onyaadze. characteristic of regular floating solar panel in- stallations with associated primary risks of electric shock and electrocution, this project mandates the possession and use of personal protective equipment (ppe) such as safety shoes, life jackets, safety helmets, reflective jackets, gloves, safety belts and the use of out- board motors at the working site. it also fea- tures the use of waterproof cables and equipment such as marine cables, marine bat- teries, stainless steel supporting frames in the anti-electrocution products meinergy used for safety purposes. through its products and services, meinergy boosts the existing hydropower plants and pro- vides high generation of electricity for many residents. source: energy ghana

industry news /downstream the finale, the defending champions re- tained the trophy. the event, was well attended by dr ben k.d. asante, ceo of the ghana na- tional gas company, representatives from the ministries of energy, education, infor- mation, ghana national fire service, ghana police service, national youth au- thority, ghana journalists association, ghana broadcasting corporation, gaming commission, ghana energy awards, and a host of others. the contest performing to rousing support, loud cheers from school mates and coaches, and to chants of the slogan: “knowledge is power, gas is power” the participants went through five rounds of open-ended, calcu- lations, and multiple choice questions on the gas value chain; topics span policy, reg- ulations, downstream, mid and upstream operations, as well as the operations of rel- evant stakeholders in the gas industry. questions were drawn from study guides given to all participating institutions. a close call, the contest concluded with umat finishing first with 61points to carry the day, followed closely by knust with 58 points, and ug coming in third place with 44 points. “this year, we had a quality contest, contestants showed enthusiasm and un- derstanding of the gas sector,” says quiz mistress, emmanuella kwao-boateng, at the end of the show. she added that there had been more active participation than previously with very close markings be- tween the schools. the contest, she stressed, had exposed energetic young people with the zeal to take on the gas sec- tor fully for the next level. going forward ghana gas also has plans to do the ‘in- novative challenge’ aside the quiz compe- tition. the concept is to throw in possible challenges identified in the industry to the universities to find solutions to that partic- ular problem. for instance, teething prob- lems including financing alternatives for investments into infrastructure to enable to meet these needs, the tertiary quiz competition dubbed ‘gas challenge’ was birthed in 2019. as the formal state agency responsible for coordinating all aspects of the gas value chain in the country, ghana gas, as gngc is widely known, did identify the present need to educate the general public about the use of gas, the health and safety aspects of it, what the company does with the indigenous gas produced in-country, and what exactly the purpose of the ghana gas is. to meet these needs, the tertiary quiz competition dubbed ‘gas challenge’ was birthed in 2019. “ this year, we had a quality contest, con- testants showed enthu- siasm and understanding of the gas sector,” says quiz mistress, emmanuella kwao-boateng access to the country’s natural resources. though this was planned for this year, technical problems resulting from covid prevented its realisation. stakeholders have commended the programme as a great initiative but called for more publicity, and an increased col- laboration with the media, oil companies and other players in the energy sector in ghana to spread accurate information on the gas industry. the gas challenge platform is to cor- rect certain misconceptions regarding gas utilisation and related issues in the coun- try. it is scheduled to run every year. source: energy ghana challenge winners, umat, being presented with a cash cheque and other items. february 2022 energyghana.com 13

events /ghana energy awards events /ghana energy awards honour people while they are alive – j.a. kufuor former president john agyekum kufuor has entreated the country to endeavour to honour personalities who serve the country well while they are alive, and not sing their praises when they’re no more. he made the statement when he received the lifetime achievement award at the 5th ghana en- ergy awards (gea) held at the labadi beach hotel in accra on friday november 19, 2021. “i believe our country should get accus- tomed to honouring people whiles they are quick and alive. we shouldn’t wait till they’re gone before we do the honours,” the former head of state stressed. former president kufuor added that such acts “would be the way to inspire the up and coming generations to do service to the nation, believing that when they do some good work, the nation would bestow the honours on them before nature calls them out.” the awards committee bestowed the award on him for his leadership and di- verse contributions to the country’s energy sector, especially for his roles that led to ghana’s oil find in 2007, realisation of the west african gas pipeline-wagp project, and his efforts that culminated in the ma- terialization of the bui dam project. upon receiving the award, the former president said the foundations of the ac- complishments of his government in the energy sector had been laid by the preced- former president john agyekum kufuor, lifetime achievement award co-recipient ing administration in the 1990s. that the fundamentals of the wagp, for instance, and the feasibilities into possible oil discov- ery in the country had all been initiated be- fore he assumed office. what he did was to continue with these instruments, and the rest is what everyone can now attest. the lifetime achievement award is one of the major highlights of the gea awards scheme that seeks to honour he- roes in the country whose tremendous services have had long-standing impacts on the nation, especially in the energy sec- tor. overwhelmed by the gesture, former president commended organisers of the awards scheme, energy media group and partners gp business consulting, for the initiative and encouraged them to do more. source: energy ghana build on legacies of leaders – dr agyeman-rawlings to ghanaians member of parliament for klottey korle, dr zanetor agyeman-rawlings, has ad- vised ghanaians to build upon the legacies of the former president jerry john rawl- ings, whose vision did not die with his passing nor with the end of his tenure in office. “it is about building upon what we come to find because his legacy is not just his, it is for all of us, as it is for all presi- dents subsequent — president j. a. ku- fuor, the late president john evans atta mills, president john mahama and now president nana addo dankwa akufo addo,” she said. dr agyeman-rawlings, who is the daughter of former president rawlings, made the statement when she, together with her brother, kimathi agyeman-rawl- ings, received a lifetime achievement award posthumously awarded to former president rawlings, for his invaluable con- february 2022 zanetor agyeman-rawlings giving an acceptance speech at the awards night tribution to the energy sector, at the re- cently held 5th ghana energy awards at the labadi beach hotel in accra. jj rawlings was posthumously hon- oured for his astute leadership evident in the energy sector reforms that birthed the public utilities regulatory commission (purc), energy commission, ghana na- tional petroleum corporation (gnpc), bulk oil storage and transportation (bost), and other state institutions; in- creasing electricity access, the securing of thermal complementation into the energy mix to offset power shortfalls from the hydro plants, and conceptualizing the par- ticipation of independent power produc- ers (ipps) in the country’s energy space. “due to revisionism, a whole genera- tion of young ghanaians are blissfully un- aware of the immense contributions that the late jerry john rawlings made to- wards establishing a solid foundation of power generation for ghana. a foundation upon which all subsequent governments have benefited and built upon. “we all have a duty to speak the truth about our history so that the younger gen- eration can learn that we build upon what we come to meet,” she said. dr zanetor agyeman-rawlings related how in the mid-1980s, former president rawlings having concluded that the con- tract between ghana and valco, for the use of the country’s hydro-electric energy energyghana.com 17

events /ghana energy awards gea’21 2021 awards in pictures in recognition of the contribution of individuals and organizations in the energy sector, energy media group in partnership with gp business consulting instituted the ghana energy awards to honour these individuals and entities. february 2022 energyghana.com 19

events /gea’21 in pictures february 2022 energyghana.com 21

events /gea’21 in pictures february 2022 energyghana.com 23

personality profile ing. emmanuel antwi-darkwa chief executive, volta river authority energy ghana magazine’s male personality of this edition is the ce of the vra, ghana’s premier power utility and production hub. a civil engineer by profession, ing. antwi- darkwa, commenced his career with the volta river authority (vra) in 1985 and served in vari- ous capacities until his appointment as chief executive. with over thirty years of extensive experience in the en- ergy industry, he has detailed knowledge in the func- tional and regulatory influences in ghana's energy sector, and the dynamics of international power systems development. he has been responsible for the celebrated financial turnaround of the authority from its near bankruptcy. taking the reins of a near financially bankrupt organi- sation in 2017, he divulged an innovative strategy "braise" aimed at transforming the operations and fi- nancial position of the vra. the six pillar braise strat- egy with a primary focus on financial sustainability, yielded positive results in the areas of improved staff performance, innovations in the authority's genera- tional activities and the vast incorporation of ict into business operations. under his leadership, he has overseen the implemen- tation of a revised condition of service scheme with keen interest in appropriate remuneration and staff welfare. the implementation of his strategy has translated into an improved relationship with various stakeholders within the energy sector. stakeholders are appreciated annually on a customer loyalty day, which forum be- yond appreciation, offers the authority an opportunity to engage efficiently with both identified and prospective business partners, whilst appropriately marketing op- portunities the authority offers its clientele. also, under his leadership, the vra has expanded its generation capacity with the construction and develop- ment of the 19.5mwp solar project in kaleo/ lawra and the us$993 million pwalugu multipurpose dam project which includes a 60mw hydroelectric power plant and 50mw solar power plant. various levels of construction have been reached under the renewable agenda of the authority; bongo 50mwp solar, kaleo 13.1 mw solar, pwalugu multipurpose dam – 60mw hydro dam and 50 mwp solar, and 150 mw wind energy – three prospected sites. moreover, committed to the optimal health and safety of staff and the company’s external stakeholders, ing. antwi- darkwa, instituted a covid – 19 task force which ensured the implementation of improved and modified work regimes whilst ensuring the availability and access to ppe's for all staff and stakeholders who visited the facilities. it is in recognition of all such invaluable leadership that the ghana energy awards adjudged him the energy personality of the year at the recently held 5th edition in accra. source: energy ghana february 2022 energyghana.com 29

leading a turnaround: antwi-darkwa and the vra

leading a turnaround: antwi-darkwa and the vra “ how you sequence your success is important to get people to buy in. if people start seeing the company getting back on its feet, it becomes easier to institute changes. i’m not emphasizing the word arrogance. we don’t come into the public to talk about ourselves, but rather, we leave the public to appreciate us. so as long as you press your switch and electricity comes on, we have done our work. i don’t know how we built this culture but it could be because of our twining relationship with ontario hydro, where in the past we had a training arrangement with them. however, that culture has come to stay. thought leadership also has always been there. first to extend power to the north, first to bring ipps in, first to do utility scale solar, first to do a lot of things. i think that in my particular case, what drives me in the night, is to see vra much the same way the industrialised countries see their utilities. so i spend a lot of time trying to match what they do, not copy since our environ- ment is different. they modernise and i ask myself how they do that. i didn’t see covid coming, but i saw digitalisation com- ing. i attended a cyber-security conference in israel in 2018, and when i saw what the israelis were doing, i knew straight away that digitisation was the next step. their angle was from a security perspective, but if you peel that perspective off, you see it’s basically digitisation. so that’s when i started nursing an interest in digitisation. fortunately and unfortunately, covid has created the conditions for digitisation. emg: upon your appointment as ce, what was the state of the state utility like in the energy sector? a-d: before i came in 2017, we were all going through some dysfunction in the en- ergy sector, especially the electricity sector. some people call it dumsor, others don’t. the oil and gas sector had its own difficul- ties, but because we were producing oil, people were normally looking at the oil we were producing rather than the gas needed to sustain the energy sector. so from a pol- icy perspective, it wasn’t that clear. it was understandable, because if you’ve gone through a power crisis, all your efforts would be on survival. the long-term look is important but wouldn’t be your focus in that moment because you need solutions to your immediate problems. finances were not in the state they should have been and that’s why there were all those utility debts. the esla was enacted in 2016 but the disbursement came in 2017. so there was regulatory fail- ure, leading to overcapacity. regulation is the means to bring in a power plant or to exit a power plant. if you have more than you need, then it means you allowed too many power plants than needed, and that’s regulatory failure as far as i’m concerned. so on the regulatory side there was a chal- lenge, but on the policy side i can under- stand because we were going through crises and we were not doing a lot of long- term look ahead. on the financial side it was the consequence of the shortage of power. in all, it wasn’t in a very good shape. ment in power at the time and the institu- tions in the sector. it’s one thing having a good relationship with the government and another thing having a good relationship with institutions in the sector. you’ve got to learn to live with all of them because our paths cross. quartey was ce for a long time, he was there right through military rule. kingsley- hayford was there in 1980 for almost ten years. he was a very good stakeholder manager because the 80’s were turbulent times because that’s when rawlings was in power, a military rule. he managed to deal with the government very well. we had our first dumsor during that time 1983, and to be able to survive through a military rule with rotating load schedules is commend- able. so it means all these ce’s built that capital. there is a certain level of respect for vra. senior minister, osafo-maafo said it at our 60th anniversary, that we are the jewel in the crown. i don’t think he said it because he was an engineer, but rather it’s the appreciation that the society and gov- ernments that have come and gone have for vra. i think one of the things we have done is being able to maintain that level of confidence. we have had couple of faults in the past but i think overall we have played our role as state institutions very well. and so that’s why from dobson to myself, stakeholder management or management with our shareholders has been key. emg: what did vra do differently that has kept it relevant under the various political regimes over the years? a-d: i think if there is anything that vra has offered this country, then it’s what i would consider to be very good gover- nance. when i say good governance i mean both from a management perspective and also from how we operate ourselves. two things i would say about how we managed to survive all the storms that the various political regimes brought is that, we have always concentrated on our work. we haven’t veered into places where we shouldn’t go, and that comes from good management. our focus has been to deliver electricity, deliver it reliably, deliver from all sources, train the people, get into west africa, make ourselves dominant and get electricity gen- eration to be as competitive as possible. i think we kept to these and did not veer into things that were outside our focus. there is also a certain culture in vra. i learnt this from kalitsi. you’ll never see vra going after institutions. we use professional means to try and influence a position or an outcome rather than resort to something that is directly opposite to what we want. another culture ingrained in vra is something kalitsi calls “arrogant silence”. february 2022 energyghana.com 35

leading a turnaround: antwi-darkwa and the vra gether that we should change the organi- sation. initially when we started, it wasn’t going to be only braise, it was going to be much longer than braise. actually, i was going to start with the private sector mindset but i found out on the first time i went round introducing myself to staff that the people were not ready for the private sector mindset. in the sense that people were “disengaged” – they like to use that word, but i don’t. i realised that if people are disengaged, this isn’t the right time to tell them to behave like the private sector. they had to see light at the end of the tun- nel first. so how you sequence your success is im- portant to get people to buy in. if people start seeing the company getting back on its feet, it becomes easier to institute changes. in the us where you can come in and trash everybody, turn the organisation into a very lean one, throw away costs, then suddenly you become profitable. over here, we still had to work with the two thousand people whether they were productive or not. we had to find a way to get the work done such that these two thousand people who were making losses would make profits. it was a mindset thing. i also knew we wouldn’t get everybody to buy-in. so i targeted 10-20% of staff to buy into braise. i wasn’t interested in a 100% buy-in, i knew it wasn’t realistic. once we set out on braise, we started talking to people from different depart- ments through departmental durbars and various presentations. i started going out on my own individually. then, people started acknowledging the strategy was good but complained about others non- performance. i was happy with it because it was all that i wanted – self-criticism – because self-criticism helps you drive yourself to become better. our strategy for getting braise embedded into the people was successful because as i said, i was only looking for 20% of the people. so when people started criticizing themselves, i knew we were on the right path. so anytime i started to engage people, they came up with all sorts of ideas on what we can do. i decided to go on a listen- ing tour. i ended up doing one-on-one dis- cussions with as many people that i could. i went to every location and there was a long list of people who wanted to see me. i did this to get firsthand information. it gave me a fair idea of what people wanted. those who felt disengaged were contract staff. we had three hundred contract staff out of two thousand and that was the source of disengagement. people were not sure of their future or if they were going to be in employment the next day. that level of uncertainty is not the best thing to have in an organisation that you want to turn- around, so we made the difficult decision to convert all of them into permanent staff. it came at a cost, but our reckoning was that if people are more productive, that cost will be incomparable to the extra pro- ductivity created. we had to restructure the organisation to generate additional revenues and cut cost. i created the commercial services department because simply speaking, all our work is about generating and selling electricity. we needed a good marketing team to sell what we generated. we rein- forced the commercial aspect. addition- ally, we saw a lot of changes coming to the sector. so we created a corporate strategy department to take care of that. we were already excellent at operation and main- tenance, we had engineering doing the planning for us. so we did some of these “ when i came back in 2017, the toughest deci- sion i made was for vra to run on gas instead of light crude oil. light crude oil got us into all sort of troubles and fi- nancial difficulties with government. institutional changes in order to be able to position the organisation very well. there was a lot of thought that went into the cre- ation of the departments. i knew if we could get those three big departments to work properly backed by the operation & maintenance team, we would never be a poor company. however, we had another challenge. our thermal assets were under-utilised be- cause they were not available. i remember asking for the asset utilisation in 2017 and it was 32%, meaning all thermal assets worth close to a billion was working at only 32% of the time. this meant we were dead on the stock exchange. so we spent quite a lot of resources on the thermals. i made countless trips to motivate staff, have drink-ups with them among others, be- cause i felt that the engineers had processes and procedures matter to deal with. they had the brains to do it but they needed some motivation as well, because if you are running a plant and it’s always down, no matter the kind of professional you are, you will feel demotivated. i wanted to imbue a mind of steel into them that no matter how many times the plant went down, they’d let it come up. i think now they have that mindset. the reason why we are profitable is that we are able to run our combined cycles. emg: what is the toughest or most critical decision you’ve had to take as ce of vra? a-d: i think through a lot of things be- fore i make decisions. when i came back in 2017, the toughest decision i made was for vra to run on gas instead of light crude oil. light crude oil got us into all sort of troubles and financial difficulties with government. we kept on going back to government for financial assistance to get fuel and so, it got to a point in time where government felt we were frustrating it and therefore even thought of selling our as- sets. it was a very difficult decision be- cause it meant that i had to be confident enough that there was going to be a con- stant supply of gas from nigeria. if it didn’t happen, i would have fallen flat on my face because we would have gone into dumsor since there’d be no fuel to run the plants and everyone would have blamed me. an- cillary to that was also the fact that it was costing us millions of money. we also had rented tanks from tor, paying 2.4 million a month. it was thus a tough decision to say that for whatever reason, we wouldn’t buy crude but rather rely on gas. it’s a very easy financial decision to make, but it is difficult. the second tough decision was to decide not to go to government for any handouts. when i came in 2017, i told everybody, “listen, we’ve got to stand on our own two feet and not go to government for sup- port”. and it’s happened, we’ve never gone to the government since 2017 for financial handouts. it was a tough decision. we needed the organisation and staff to un- derstand that standing on our own was better off and there’d be no interference in our operations. so i made a decision that however difficult it is, we won’t go to the ministry of finance. if we have to cut back on our budget, we’ll live within our budget rather than spend and go to government for handouts. the independence that we’ve had since has helped us chalk our successes. weaning yourself of govern- ment aid is doable with the right mindset. every business is different. for us in the utility, you can’t control some of your rev- enues. ecg consumes 40% of our output currently, but in terms of payment there is a difficulty. you can’t guarantee revenues in terms of the cash flow coming in when you need it. you’ve got to plan your main- tenance activities, buy fuel among many other financial obligations. you need to have this at the back of your mind in any- february 2022 energyghana.com 37

leading a turnaround: antwi-darkwa and the vra “ it doesn’t matter to me if you are the guy who cuts the grass or the janitor or deputy chief. everyone matters in the organisation and i should accord them the respect. probability of it happening. corporate institution as a whole should also be resilient. we should be there at all times, it should- n’t really matter if the economy is performing badly or other out- side challenges. we should be able to build enough buffer around ourselves, whether there’s covid or no covid for instance. and so, that’s why even though there was covid last year, it was one of our best years. emg: how do you see vra’s finances looking into the future? a-d: i see vra on a very solid financial pedestal. however, we’ve got to control costs because that’s within our control. we are as good as the sector in which we are, and so if the sector con- tinues to face difficulties with financial sustainability, vra will be affected. it might not get to vra at the short-term because we are a bit resilient at this stage, but it will get to vra at some point in time in the future. in other words, there would be so much debt built up that all the utilities would be bankrupt, including vra itself. if the sector continues to be good, we can sustain it. we have to look for other opportunities like digitisation or look for more exports. we look good, we will stay good but there are con- ditions associated with it. emg: why should investors look in the direction of vra? a-d: vra comes with a lot of advantages. apart from being the largest utility and what i consider to be one of the efficient ones, i think the fact that we are a state institution confers some benefits on us. the unattractiveness of it is that people always ask for government consent and support which is sometimes difficult for government to offer. so it doesn’t make us as attractive as we should be but when we have the best support from the govern- ment it’s one of the best counterparties that any ipps would have. instead of bringing your plant and taking the risk alone, it’s much better to share that risk with a local operator. it is even much bet- ter if the local operator is a state-owned institution because there’s a certain comfort in having state-owned institutions part- ner the private sector. secondly, we have a core of skills that operate these plants. if you come in as an ipp, one of our attractions is the core staff that we have built over the years. in terms of how we run our business, we have a certain culture that is almost similar to what pertains in the developed countries. so in terms of familiarity, merger or joint-venture or whatever it is, it wouldn’t be that difficult for the ipp to look in our direction. i think we are also a good corporate citizen, which is what the ipps like to associate with. whether from a csr perspective or from a good governance perspective, i think we’ve stayed above bottom in all aspects of our business. vra would be profitable so that would make us even more attractive for ipps. having said february 2022 these, the greatest attraction we have is our reputation and our access to the market in the west africa sub-region. emg: personally, what principles guide you in life? a-d: i believe we are all here on earth because there’s a god who guides us in everything we do. so faith is my first principle. my second principle is integrity. you have to lead by example. number three is to be a goal getter. you need to have goals you’ve set out to achieve. the other thing i see in leadership is that everybody matters in an organisation. it’s one of my values. it doesn’t matter to me if you are the guy who cuts the grass or the janitor or deputy chief. everyone matters in the organisation and i should accord them the respect. that’s why in the braise we started with b, which is about our human capital. for me, i get on pretty well with everybody, but when you lead i don’t think you’d be exactly pop- ular. it’s always lonely at the top. i try to be accommodating as far as staff are concerned. also, i’ve never been shy to ask people to help me understand something. for instance, anytime i’m in akosombo or kpone, i make it a point to go to the control room and have a chat with our staff there. i learn certain things from them, but they don’t know that is why i’m there. one of the things that i learnt when i went back to school was to ask myself what made modern institutions tick. it’s something that i think about every now and then. i’m fascinated by how companies are able to turn themselves around. emg: how will you want to be remembered? a-d: i would leave how to be remembered to posterity. back in 2018-19 i always used to tell clement that as soon as vra be- comes successful, everybody will chase us. everybody would won- der why we are different from the others. so we start as a hunter trying to find success and when you become successful, you get hunted. success is a continuous process. we are not where we want to be but if we don’t raise our game the hunters would catch up to us. i wish we could have done more. it’s because we didn’t have the institutional capacity to do more. i’m a man in a hurry but maybe because i knew i had only four years so i wanted to achieve some success. i’m not faulting anybody. we haven’t built the in- stitutional capacity to move quickly. so it’s a lesson for people leading soes, to build that institutional capacity internally to be able to move at the pace you want. it takes a while to be able to do that. i wanted to completely modernise the organisation. i started with the laserfiche but i would have wanted to start with the digitisation agenda two years ago. the organisation wasn’t however ready for it. sequencing was also important, first things first. source: energy ghana energyghana.com 39

power there’s a combination of hydro, thermal and renewable generating sources, from the initial single hydro, much of which is owned and operated by the volta river authority (vra). there are three hydro sources –akosombo with 1020mw install capacity; kpone generating station which has four units at a total of 1060mw; and bui, which has a capacity of 404mw lo- cated up north. there’s also a fleet of ther- mal generating plants: tapco which belongs to vra, tico which also in tako- radi. ghana currently has a total of 3550mw installed capacity in thermal generation. added to these are some renewable en- ergy sources. vra has installed solar pho- tovoltaic plant, the first in navrongo, and another at kaleo. bui has begun opera- tions on a new plant currently at 68mw – the biggest so far. bxc solar and meinergy also provide embedded generation within the distribution network, giving a total of 152mw. installed capacity is presently at 5218mw, with a total of 9482mva of transformer capacity on the transmission side. the peak demand or highest ever seen on ghana’s power system is 3206mw, on the 7th of april, 2021. this indicates ample availability of power to sort current demand and an excess capac- ity available for prospective investors de- siring to set up some load consuming entity. the country also exports power to neighbours next door – supply of 50 to 100mw to la cote d’ivoire; up to a 120mw to burkina faso; and then 100mw to togo and benin. transmission gridco operates the transmission net- work that provides lines for power, while the electricity company of ghana, north- ern electricity distribution company, en- clave power and others do the distribution for the southern and northern parts of the country as well as the free zones respec- tively. the transmission network has a total of 6472.23 circuit kilometres at vari- ous voltages. though 161kvs are around, more of the 330kv is being done currently. excluding generating station substations, there are a total of 65 bulk supply points or substations where power is given off ei- ther to ecg or any off-taker. with total number of load transformers at 138, total consumption capacity is at 482. to help check the voltage and make the quality of supply good, gridco has one static var compensator-svc at tamale, which is 14mw to provide reactive compensation along various sections of the grid. distributors aside, there are bulk cus- tomers who offtake supply directly from the grid – companies like valco and mining companies such as anglogold ashanti, and other mine operators espe- cially in the western region. some rural communities are also supplied directly through gridco’s distribution networks. meanwhile, some villages in togo, burk- ina, cote d’ivoire which are far from their own national grid, but closer to supply generating excluding station substations, there are a total of 65 bulk supply points or substations where power is given off either to ecg or any off-taker. - b u s 5 6 n o i t a t s from ghana also receive electricity supply directly from the grid. supply reliability it is not enough to get power, reliability is key. reliability is the degree of perform- ance of elements of the electric power sys- tem that results in electricity being generated to end-users within acceptable standards. yet, a host of factors have sorely affected consistency of supply in ghana. the first is generation adequacy. inadequate supply, with demand far ex- ceeding is one reason for infamous power crisis in the country, even in the presence of operating reserves which producers keep against such eventualities. second is the condition of the power system infrastructure, typical of transmis- sion networks. in a densely forested area like ghana, with a lot of vegetation cover, having a line or two tripping off during rainstorms or such is a common occur- rence. the power system can, however, be designed such that the trip off of just one circuit does not affect supply to the con- sumer. then the problem of congestion, where transmission circuits get too con- gested at a point that more power cannot be sent in because the systems there are overloaded. another restraint to supply reliability is utility financial and operational perform- ance. thermal plants especially run with expensive fuels. and so, if the companies are not in good books financially, they may not be able to buy fuel that is necessary to keep the units running. coupled with that is the hydrological situation at the hydro facilities – lower water levels have impli- cations for power production, hence the first instances of energy crisis in ghana owed more to the hydrology of the dams. the last of it is quality of supply which ends up as a reliability index. it’s not good enough for the power to just be there – the voltage of power coming in should count. in the mines, for instance, if the voltage dips so hard their crashers and others will go off, which makes quality of supply sig- nificant. gridco boldly asserts that “in the whole sub region, ghana has the highest reliability when we talk about electricity supply.” competitive pricing tariff decisions are based on prudent and efficient costs which are key to finan- cial viability of public utilities and eco- nomic growth. purc is the regulatory body that sets tariffs for vra, ecg, gridco, consumers in the regulated mar- ket, and so on. purc ensures the end user isn’t slapped with exorbitant prices to pay for electricity use. so a lot of benchmark- ing growth in the sub region and across the world is done. bulk customers who offtake directly from the grid are not regulated by purc; they have tariffs negotiated directly with suppliers. for through the efforts of the ministries of finance and energy, there are ongoing ef- forts to renegotiate power purchase agree- ments-ppa independent power producers-ipps in the country. the intent is to bring down the cost of electricity being charged by these ipps. owing to this, some generators have already re- viewed down their prices. meanwhile, unlike the usual situations where different institutions developed generation expansion plans, government has this time round inaugurated a commit- tee with sole responsibility for developing generation expansion plans for the coun- try – a centralized place where generation expansion is developed. this effort is among others to ensure least-cost genera- tion facility procurement in ghana, and is also a decent effort to ensure electricity pricing in ghana is competitive. then, there is the evolving electricity market operation. it has gone far in its de- velopment, and in a few years, operating a competitive market will also help bring down electricity cost. source: energy ghana february 2022 energyghana.com 43

opinion ergy mix dominated by renewables. constraints and even though there are fewer fi- nancial opportunities in africa, de- velopment commercial financiers have established that suf- ficient funding levels are available to finance the future of energy in africa. the challenges faced are as follows: lack of effective collaboration to support project bankability to fast- track finance deals. this slows op- portunities improve energy access to ineffective planning due to lack of integrated engagement from multi- ple stakeholders including govern- ments, financiers, businesses, and civil society organizations payback risk is extremely high. a rethink of the revenue models is necessary to ensure return-on-in- vestment is beneficial to stakehold- ers the maturity duration of financial instruments is sometimes burden- some for african markets slow implementation of devel- oped country partnered agreements in line with the paris agreement lack of stable procurement pro- grammes to promote the sourcing of renewable energy projects to induce local supply from non-traditional producers accelerating cleaner energy so- lutions – the 3 d’s the pace of transition in africa needs to be affordable. it also needs to run in alignment with the conti- nent’s development mandate and socio-economic focus. all partici- pants in the energy eco-system must come together as africa tackles its net-zero ambitions. this can be achieved through decarbonization, decentralization, and digitalization. february 2022 “ africa’s energy transition requires complex coordi- nation; solutions tailored for the local energy supply context; and modern digi- tal technologies that sup- port the energy requirements of africans and those living on the continent. decarbonization: moving away from fossil-fuel energy sources to renewable energy will not be a one- size-fits-all solution; africa’s strate- gies and goals will need to consider its unique energy security scenarios. decentralization: the energy tran- sition in africa is dependent on the state of its electricity grid. histori- cally, power utilities have held cen- tre stage in managing the grid, which enables the generation, trans- mission, and distribution of electric- ity. reaching non-grid consumers requires a scaling up of decentral- ized systems. digitalization: the continent has immense opportunities to leverage its digital skills and capabilities to enable the energy transition; the up- take of mini-grid and off-grid solu- tions within africa’s rural commu- nities continues to support improve- ments in energy access. but it cannot be ignored that affordability remains a heavy burden in most communities and high-cost energy services may not be attainable for many africans. an enabling framework to in- tegrate financial solutions development finance institutions and commercial financers play a key role in supporting the electricity supply ecosystem by providing much-needed finance. actionable interventions can still be made to ac- celerate and scale up the existing funding efforts. a systematic ap- proach towards a well-integrated fi- nancial framework is one way of setting up countries for success as they accelerate their clean-energy projects and solutions. deloitte has carried out a high- level assessment of what such an in- tegrated framework could look like. after engaging with several finan- ciers and stakeholders, the company designed a renewable energy in- vestment facility (reif) as shown below. this is an integrated frame- work that will facilitate the acceler- ation of renewable-energy financing for african countries. the reif fa- cility can be amplified and cus- tomised based on specific country needs. africa’s energy transition requires complex coordination; solutions tai- lored for the local energy supply context; and modern digital tech- nologies that support the energy re- quirements of africans and those living on the continent. these ef- forts will not only drive innovation but also ensure that any funds and financial facilities deployed are best suited to the unique requirements within the continent. the successful roll-out of the reif facility will depend on the availabil- ity of policy, regulatory and gover- nance structures to support its systematic implementation. the way forward the financial solutions for africa’s future energy needs must continue to target cleaner energy solutions that are aligned with the continent’s different needs and sectors. these solutions must not only address is- sues around climate change but must also be implemented in a man- ner that uplifts the continent’s de- velopment and socio-economic aspirations. mandate source: deloitte energyghana.com 47

special rep rt per cent to reach net zero around mid-century. but with present cli- mate plans – the nationally deter- mined contributions — falling far short on ambition, the glasgow cli- mate pact calls on all countries to present stronger national action plans next year, instead of in 2025, which was the original timeline. countries also called on unfccc to do an annual ndc synthesis report to gauge the present level of ambi- tion. need, but it would significantly in- crease finance for protecting lives and livelihoods, which so far made up only about 25 per cent of all cli- mate finance (with 75 per cent going towards green technologies to miti- gate greenhouse gas emissions). glasgow also established a work pro- gramme to define a global goal on adaptation, which will identify col- lective needs and solutions to the cli- mate crisis already affecting many countries. moving away from fossil fuels completing the paris rulebook in perhaps the most contested de- cision in glasgow, countries ulti- mately agreed to a provision calling for a phase-down of coal power and a phase-out of “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies – two key issues that had never been explicitly mentioned in decisions of un climate talks before, despite coal, oil and gas being the main drivers of global warming. many countries, and ngos, ex- pressed dissatisfaction that the lan- guage on coal was significantly weakened (from phase-out to phase- down) and consequently, was not as ambitious as it needs to be. delivering on climate finance developed countries came to glas- gow falling short on their promise to deliver us$100 billion a year for de- veloping countries. voicing “regret,” the glasgow outcome reaffirms the pledge and urges developed coun- tries to fully deliver on the us$100 billion goal urgently. developed countries, in a report, expressed confidence that the target would be met in 2023. stepping up support for adapta- tion the glasgow pact calls for a dou- bling of finance to support develop- ing countries in adapting to the impacts of climate change and build- ing resilience. this won’t provide all the funding that poorer countries to meet countries reached agreement on the remaining issues of the so-called paris rulebook, the operational de- tails for the practical implementa- tion of the paris agreement. among them are the norms related to car- bon markets, which will allow coun- tries struggling their emissions targets to purchase emis- sions reductions from other nations that have already exceeded their tar- gets. negotiations were also con- cluded enhanced transparency framework, provid- ing for common timeframes and agreed formats for countries to reg- ularly report on progress, designed to build trust and confidence that all countries are contributing their share to the global effort. on an focusing on loss & damage that acknowledging climate change is having increasing impacts on people especially in the develop- ing world, countries agreed to strengthen a network— known as the santiago network – that connects vulnerable countries with providers of technical assistance, knowledge and resources to address climate risks. they also launched a new “glasgow dialogue” to discuss arrangements for the funding of ac- tivities to avert, minimize and ad- dress loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change. new deals and announcements there were many other significant deals and announcements – outside of the glasgow climate pact – which can have major positive impacts if they are indeed implemented. these include: forests 137 countries took a landmark step forward by committing to halt and reverse forest loss and land degrada- tion by 2030. the pledge is backed by $12bn in public and $7.2bn in private funding. in addition, ceos from more than 30 financial institutions with over $8.7 trillion of global as- sets committed to eliminate invest- ment to deforestation. in activities linked methane 103 countries, including 15 major emitters, signed up to the global methane pledge, which aims to limit methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, compared to 2020 levels. methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, is responsible for a third of current warming from human activities. cars over 30 countries, six major vehi- cle manufacturers and other actors, like cities, set out their determina- tion for all new car and van sales to be zero-emission vehicles by 2040 globally and 2035 in leading mar- kets, accelerating the decarbonisa- tion of road transport, which currently accounts for about 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emis- sions. coal leaders from south africa, the united kingdom, the united states, france, germany, and the european union announced a ground-break- ing partnership to support south africa – the world’s most carbon-in- tensive electricity producer— with

renewables solar pv value chain the recognizable solar photovoltaic panels we know result from a series of in- tense industrial processes beginning with the extraction of the raw material silicon, found in silica sand or quartz which are abundant in almost all parts of the earth. production continues with the manufac- ture of solar grade silicon, which is metal- lurgical grade-mg silicon, about 98% pure silicon that goes through further purifica- tion to obtain polysilicon of about 99.99% pure silicon. this subsequently gets moulded into blocks-ingots and sliced into thin wafers, which form the building blocks for solar cell manufacture and mod- ule assembling. these wafers are the primary elements in the manufacture of solar cells which ef- fectively convert the sun’s energy to elec- tricity. the production process gets rounded up with the assembling of the solar modules, an interconnected array of solar. save the extraction process, every other stage of the manufacturing cycle is a purely industrial venture, one that re- quires capital intensive inputs for equip- ment, power and other production costs. solar cells manufacturing requires the highest capital expenditure. for instance, about $900m is required for producing one gigawatt solar capacity. such financial incapacity would explain why most of africa is subjugated to the bottom end of this value chain, preferring to be involved in the assembling process which require the least capital expenditure, or largely re- main just consumers. however, assembly generally does not qualify for preferential treatment under the afcfta. moreover, the integrated process is power intensive because of the chemical processes. the polysilicon and metallurgi- cal silicon processes, for instance, are the most power intensive processes in this as- pect. such an industry would hence be too much for countries with high costs of power. way forward without a doubt, no one stakeholder or country on the continent can assume par- ticipation in all the various stages of the solar pv value chain. what any state or entity can do is to identify where their strengths and competencies lie along the chain and take advantage of the opportu- nities as they exist. countries with com- paratively lower costs of power, say less than five cents/kwh-algeria, sudan, ethiopia, angola and zambia can reason- ably get involved in this section of the value chain. along the solar cell manufacturing process, aluminium is employed in the solar pv production of the panels. coun- tries such as ghana, guinea, and mozam- bique have the raw material for this – the in africa re growth has not been as high, but evi- dence of progress is re- markable, especially for the period between 2010 and 2019. 53 of the 54 countries submitted na- tionally determined con- tributions with climate adaptation measures at the fore. generation capacity has grown from about 5000 gigawatts hour from 2010 to over 25000gi- gawatts hour by 2019. 25000 gigawatts bauxite that is used in making alumina for the aluminium – in abundant reserves. yet, this process is also capital and power intensive and may not be able to be taken up by these states, which have higher power costs. they could, however, supply the resource to their counterparts. technologies africa can ultimately benefit from the economics of energy transition if, it posi- tions itself to create an integrated renew- able energy industry; create the necessary environment for investment generation for renewable energy businesses to thrive, and promote intra-continental trade of solar pv the afcfta. but this would require that state- parties possess an understanding of the rules of origin and product specifications under the agreement that provide prefer- ential treatment and enables any country’s eligibility to benefit. it is also important for each country to understand its core com- petencies to know where along the value chain it can fare best. through source: energy ghana “ for instance, about $900m is required for producing one gigawatt solar capac- ity. such financial incapac- ity would explain why most of africa is subju- gated to the bottom end of this value chain february 2022 energyghana.com 51