Ghana Off-Grid Households To Benefit From 100,000 Solar PV Systems

April 21st, 2015 by Joshua S Hill

UK provider of commercial PayGo solar systems, Azuri Technology, has announced that it plans to partner with Oasis African Resources to provide 100,000 off-grid homes in Ghana with pay-as-you-go solar power over the next 2 years.

The announcement was made at the Solar & Off-Grid Renewables West Africa Event on Tuesday, in a partnership which is supported by the Ghana Ministry of Power, and according to Azuri Technology, “aligns with the Government’s current efforts to bring reliable power to Ghana at scale.”

The project will partner with agricultural cooperatives and women-based organizations, and focus primarily on the country’s cocoa farming regions. This new initiative will build upon previous work done by the Ghanaian Government, which according to Azuri Technology has “proven the success of this solution for rural Ghanaians over the last 18 months.”

“This initiative supports the Government’s commitment to fully incorporate renewable energy into our energy supply mix, as outlined by the President during his State of the Nation’s Address,” said Ghana’s Minister for Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor. “The Ministry of Power is pleased to support this project for rural households, and will also explore other avenues with Oasis, Azuri, and other renewable energy partners to establish solar as a significant and reliable power source for micro enterprises in both rural and urban communities.”

The country of Ghana has been experiencing an increasing energy crisis for some time now, however this crisis — which sees rolling blackouts of 24 hours or more in urban residential and business areas — has mostly ignored off-grid residents of Ghana. Data quoted by Azuri Technology shows that 80% of Ghana’s population have access to the energy grid — though with less-than optimal results — leaving about 5 million people in rural Ghana without access to reliable energy.

Which leaves a lot of room for off-grid solar solutions.

“Azuri is delighted to be helping bring high quality domestic solar power to rural Ghana,” said Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO of Azuri. “Azuri’s Quad solar home system brings affordable power to rural households and provides the starting point for families to embrace clean renewable power and ultimately to access power for economic gain.”

[Image: Azuri]









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