Chinese tech firm leads Ghana's solar energy breakthrough

ACCRA - A leading Chinese technology innovations company, Beijing Xiaocheng Company (BXC), is providing Ghana with its first large-scale solar plant to support the country's power generation.

Project consultant, Engineer Daniel Azu, said Wednesday that the new solar plant, located near Winneba, about 70 km west of the capital, produces 20 MW of power during the day, while the country's current largest solar plant, in Navrongo, 773 km north of the capital, is just a 2 MW solar PV plant.

"The 20 MW is connected to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) sub-station at the Winneba roundabout. This plant took about six to eight months to complete and it is working well," said Azu.

It was connected to the grid around November last year, and since then, there has not been any challenges at the site or at the plant, he added.

The Chinese company invested $30 million into building the solar plant on a 100-acre land.

Project Manager Luan Ye said the company was also assisting the ECG to overcome its transmission losses and to help Ghana overcome energy challenges.

"Our company here is a power technology company. We are doing the solar plant, and in West Africa this is the first one. With this one, we hope to help Ghana people will get enough power," Luan said.

Ghana has witnessed a power crisis, which lasted over two years, and had a telling effect on industry and a crippling effect on economic growth.