The Energy minister has asked the International Renewable Agency (IRENA) and their partnering financial institutions to help reduce the tariffs on renewable energy.John-Peter Amewu believes a downward review in the price of renewable energy will promote its quicker adoption in Africa.
The minister also asked donor agencies to stop attaching ‘unhealthy’ conditions to donor grants and finance for renewable energy projects.
He said this while the African Ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the ongoing IRENA conference in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking on the theme, “Scaling up Renewable Energy Development in AFRICA” Mr Amewu was emphatic that although every country accepts that renewable energy is very beneficial in so many levels, the costs of adoption are sometimes extremely high.
He said this has created an unnecessary barrier towards the adoption of renewable energy, especially in developing countries.
Mr Amewu noted that while the tariffs for renewable energy is fast dropping in the developed world, donors and finance partners, who are from the developed world are asking African countries to commit to long term renewable energy deals with tariffs as high as 24 cents in some cases.
According to him, this is very unattractive and is a big disincentive to the adoption of renewable energy particularly for electrification purposes in Africa.
He was, however, grateful to IRENA for their support for Ghana’s adoption of renewable energy and called for more help to develop capacity within Ghana.
