Eni Ghana and the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) today signed a cooperation agreement for the joint evaluation of development opportunities in the renewable energy sector, and particularly assess the technical and economic feasibility of a 20-50MW solar plant in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ) of Ghana.

The agreement, which was signed in Accra fits in Eni’s long-term strategy, aimed at integrating its traditional business with energy from renewable sources, making the most of all possible industrial, logistic, contractual and commercial synergies.

The SADA zone accounts for about 54. 4% of the total landmass of Ghana and endowed with huge untapped potential in the area of solar energy.

The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was established by Act 805, 2010 as an independent and autonomous statutory corporation with a mandate to “provide a framework for the comprehensive and long-term development of the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ)”.

SADA places a lot of premium on this cooperation with Eni Ghana as this translates into job creation in the zone and generation of power for irrigation and commercial agriculture.

The promotion of agricultural and industrial development is at the heart of SADA to reduce poverty and bridge the development gap between the Northern half of the country and the South.

Eni has been present in Ghana since 2009, where it operates through its subsidiary Eni Ghana.

Eni Ghana operates the Offshore Cape Three Points development license, and the Cape Three Points Block 4 exploration license.