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Green People’s Energy for Africa – Ghana

Green People’s Energy offers citizens in sub-Saharan Africa the innovative technical and financial support to use solar energy in rural areas in order to improve their livelihoods and household income. In nine selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana, we are promoting the use of solar technologies in agriculture and for the electrification of social institutions in rural areas. Together with private and public partners, we develop sustainable projects, strengthen partnerships between Europe and Africa, and train Africans to deploy solar technology nationwide.

In Ghana, GIZ possesses years of experience in the deployment of solar technologies, which will be leveraged upon to rapidly implement the innovative approaches of Green People’s Energy.

EthiopiaBeninCôte d’IvoireGhanaMozambiqueNamibiaZambiaSenegalUganda

Did you know that…?

… 87% of the population in Ghana has access to electricity? This is one of the highest electrification rates in Africa.

… the power goes out for up to eight hours, several times a week?

… 4 million people, especially in rural areas, still have no access to electricity?

… despite the fact that the average per capita income of around 1,700 Euros per year is relatively high by African standards?

How we work

The initiative Green People’s Energy for Africa builds on successful approaches and implementation structures of existing projects. In Ghana, the measures were planned together with the global project Energising Development (EnDev) – and approaches from EnDev (see Practical Experience) were adopted.

The target groups of the project in rural areas of Ghana are farmers, small enterprises, cooperatives, women’s groups, schools and health stations.

The project offers education and training in solar technology, especially for solar pumping and irrigation systems, and off-grid solar power systems. Training institutes are supported in expanding and professionalising their training programmes. In order to put the acquired knowledge into practice, farmers, cooperatives and small entrepreneurs, as well as schools and health stations are financially supported in the acquisition of solar power systems. In addition, companies are supported in the development of their projects and in mobilising financing from banks and crowdfunding companies.

In the area of promoting framework conditions for investment, Ghanaian project staff advises the technical regulatory authority on the licensing of companies that install solar irrigation systems.

Practical Experience

In Ghana, Green People’s Energy intends to continue the success story of EnDev. During its 3 years tenure, the project supported the installation of 80 solar irrigation pumps in small-scale agriculture until September 2019.

They were procured by small-scale farmers to irrigate their fields all year round. EnDev carried out marketing campaigns together with private local installers and contributed a 33% subsidy. Today, Green People’s Energy is building on these experiences by targeting the double of farmers in the same period of time. The project works with 5 local solar companies, that promote the use of solar water pumps, find their customers, install and maintain the systems. The project secures state-of-the-art quality and provides an incentive of up to 40%. First successes can be seen below.

 

Latest Developments in Ghana

Five people are posing for a group photograph. They are smiling. Among them are Hans Holtdorf and Benjamin Batinge, both of whom were interviewed for the following text.
DebateSDG 7

“Greater cooperation is what we want.”

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Ghana’s UENR and University of Oldenburg partnered in 2022 and talk about what makes for good partners.
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StorySDG 7

“Access to finance is crucial”

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Bobby Gyesi, president of SGA Farms in Ghana, explains how solar irrigation is only one of many steps to a just transition.
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NewsSDG 7

Solar clinics improve rural living conditions

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After 3 years of GBE support in Ghana, over 90,000 people in rural areas now benefit from solar infrastructure.
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ProfileSDG 7

New curriculum strengthens knowledge of rural energy supply

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Context orientated academic courses strengthens students’ competencies for rural energy supply.
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StorySDG 3

“The most important facility of the village is now electrified”

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Cedikope with its 800 inhabitants is located on an island in the southern part of Lake Volta. It takes 30 minutes to get there by boat. Seth Mahu, the Director of Renewable Energy at the Ghanaian Ministry of Energy, travelled to the island anyway. There, Green People´s Energy (GBE) has electrified one of 31 health c…
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StorySDG 7

A water pump that inspires a community to do more

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In 2021, at the Langdi Paradise Farms in Upper West Ghana, a solar mechanized water pump was installed through the support of the Green People’s Energy project of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Thanks to the new irrigation, the farmers can now grow vegetables in the dry season. But fo…
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