Business News of Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Source: Edem Worlanyo

SADA succeeds in solar energy deal

Efforts by the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to alleviate poverty in the northern sector of the country have received huge boost as the authority entered into an agreement with DCH Solargiga, a manufacturer of silicon ingot for solar cells, which is based in Germany.

DCH Solargiga is to provide and add a-40 megawatts of solar energy to feed into the national electricity grid and contribute to Ghana’s energy requirements. The agreement was signed in Accra between the acting Chief Executive Officer of SADA, Dr. Charles Jebuni and the Managing Director of DCH Solargiga, Dr. Zhang Gang to pave way for the start of the project.

The 117 million-dollar project will be situated in Pigu in the Northern Region and it is expected to create employment opportunities for the unemployed youth in that part of the country. SADA is to contribute 10 per cent as equity in the venture; these include acquisition of land and facilitation, while the majority of the equity goes to Solargiga.

Indeed, several months back, feasibility studies on the project was completed by Solargiga, giving way for a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the two entities to be signed to legally proceed with the construction of the plant including design, development and implementation of the solar project.

The acting CEO of SADA, Dr. Charles Jebuni was quite optimistic that the project will go a long way to mitigate the poverty level among people in northern Ghana. On his part, the Managing Director of DCH Solargiga, Dr. Zhang Gang gave assurance that the project will be on course barring any hinge.