Accra Girls’ School turns to solar to save energy cost

A five-kilowatt solar power system has been inaugurated at the Accra Girls’ Senior High School to save cost on energy.
The project has two components, the provision of the five-kilowatt power and the replacement of bulbs with led light bulbs in the school dormitories to help cut down energy consumption.
It was a collaborative project of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the European Union Energy Initiative Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEIPDF), Econoler, and the Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment. It was funded by the European Commission.
The project is to help the school save resources to augment the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy introduced by the government.
Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, who inaugurated the facility, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that, the EU Energy Efficiency project was to support the AMA to become more efficient in its use of resources.

He said the country had a revolving energy challenge, in terms of generation capacity being outstripped by demand, adding that, “it is estimated that at the current growth rate demand, the country will have to be adding 10 per cent more capacity every year.”
“Alternatively, we can explore the abundant solar potential and be more efficient in the use of energy, adding that, the current source of electricity in Ghana was fossil fuels like crude oil and LPG which contributes to the accumulation of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to climate change,” he said.
He said Accra has made international commitments to voluntary initiatives like BreatheLife, healthier cities, 100 Resilient Cities, and Climate Change Leadership Group, to ensure the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases.
Mr Adjei Sowah said the EU and Econoler have undertaken energy audits at two public buildings; the AMA Head Office and the Accra Girls’ SHS.
He said the school was chosen because it is one of the only two female SHSs under the AMA and in fulfilment of the great nationalist and educationists, Dr James Kwegyir Aggrey, the famous philosophy, who once said “If you educate a man, you educate an individual but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”
The Chief Executive formally announced another major initiative dubbed: “Green Senior High School” under which waste segregation bins would be distributed, supply seedlings for tree planting, promote use of waste in energy generation and solar power in all the 16 Senior
Mr Adjei Sowah later donated 40 pieces of 240-litre waste bins to Accra Girls’ SHS to kick-start the programme.
Madam Silvia Escudero, the Project Manager of EUEIPDF, told the GNA that the project would also coordinate closely with the initiatives launched by other countries.
She said the Energy Commission would play a leading role in the organisation of the energy efficiency training standard and labels for appliances as well as building codes.
“Coordination is also foreseen with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Sub-Saharan Africa and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which has worked on developing energy efficiency standards and labels in Ghana,” she stated.