Accra, July 29, GNA - The World Bank (WB) has approved 95.5 million dollars to finance a project to increase electricity access, supply and reliability in Ghana.

The Board of Executive Directors of the bank and the Global Environment Facility, under the project, aimed at assisting the Energy Development and Access Project (EDAP) to support long-term efforts to improve the performance of the power companies, increasing energy efficiency, scaling-up energy access to reduce urban-rural imbalance and enhancing renewable energy generation capacity.

In an electronic mail to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Sunday, the WB said rolling blackouts and inaccessibility in Ghana continued to impede economic growth and acknowledge an urgent need for a long-term visionary approach to sector management.

The current energy crisis in Ghana, according to WB Senior Energy Economist, Mr. Paivi Koljonen is one of the key impediments to growth. "Improving overall sector management, and the access and reliability of electricity supplies are pressing needs for Ghana today, and the Project is designed to address these.

"It will also help provide infrastructure that will help in the creation of new business opportunities and the acceleration of economic growth and employment," Mr Koljonen stated.

He said, in support of Ghana's multi-faceted energy sector strategy, the EDAP would provide grants to developers of renewable energy generation projects such as small hydropower, wind, and biomass for the benefit of communities outside the main national grid system. It will also finance the establishment of an independent Rural Electrification Agency, which would coordinate all rural electrification programmes. In all, 134,000 new customers in rural towns and villages would be connected to the national power grid.

An important component of the project is the improvement of the distribution of electricity supply in the long-run, and in improving the sector's commercial performance. It is estimated that about 25 percent of total electricity generated is lost in the distribution process, and at a time when Ghana needs every unit of electricity to power the country's growth.

"Over one quarter of all electricity produced in Ghana is lost due to technical and commercial inefficiencies and theft," Mr. Koljonen stated, stressing that, the EDAP project would help address the losses to help make more power available.

The Government has both short and long-term strategies to improve the availability and reliability of power.

The long-term strategy is the regional integration of Ghana's energy system through two major multinational energy projects - the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) and the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP), both of which are financed by the World Bank. In the short-term, the Government is addressing the power capacity deficit and financial issues on several fronts, including a crash investment programme to install thermal capacity this year, load curtailment, demand side management measures, and increases in power tariffs.

The WAGP is currently under construction and should bring Nigerian gas to Ghana in 2008. This gas would diversify Ghana's hydro-based power system with a cleaner burning, lower cost source of thermal power, which also would have environmental benefits.

In addition, the ongoing WAPP will enhance cross-border power trade in West Africa by strengthening interconnecting power lines from Cote d'Ivoire to Togo and Benin along the Ghanaian Coastline. The WAPP will also establish new interconnection lines within Ghana to transfer lower cost, gas-fired power generated along the Ghanaian coast northwards to Burkina Faso and other Sahel countries. 29 July 07