The Policy Advisor to the Minister of Energy, William Amuna, has been decorated with a ‘Special Recognition Award’ for his dedication, passion and success in the creation of power sector opportunity through the delivery of regional transmission infrastructure.

The special recognition awards are conferred on individuals and private sector institutions that have laid the foundation for the growth of the energy sector.

Mr Amuna, is among the 10 individuals and institutions, that was honoured by the Africa Energy Forum at its 20th anniversary held in Mauritius.

The Policy Advisor to the minister in a statement issued in Accra said extending electricity to rural communities in Africa was a source of joy for children and urged decision makers to complete the electrification of the continent “to make children smile”.

The energy forum is the global investment for Africa’s power, energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors that brings together senior decision makers active in Africa’s energy sector to deliberate on how to move the industry forward.

It is being attended by 15 ministers of energy, 100 public sector participants, 300 speakers and 1600 delegates from across the globe.

Mr Amuna is an electrical engineer with over 30 years of experience, having begun his career at the Volta River Authority (VRA) in 1985 as Assistant Engineer and rose to the position of Director, Projects and Systems Monitoring.

He was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRIDCo in September 2013 to September 2017.

As CEO of GRIDCo, GRIDCo was voted best Transmission/Distribution utility in West Africa in 2015 and 2016. GRIDCo was also voted the best Utility in Ghana in 2016 by the Association of Ghana Industries and at the Ghana Energy Awards in 2017, he was voted as Best CEO in the Power sector.

Mr Amuna attended Navrongo Secondary School, Ghana Secondary Technical School and graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 1985 with a BSc. (Honors) Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

He holds a postgraduate certificate in Leadership from the United Nations University (1997) and Electrical Power Systems from the Advanced School in Power Systems, Penn State University (1999), an MBA (Finance) from the University of Ghana (2001) and MPA in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2003).

He is a member of the Electricity Market Oversight Panel and a Council Member of the Ghana Institution of Engineers. He served on the board of the Energy Foundation, GRIDCo, West African Power Pool and the Advisory Board of the Ministry of Energy.

He is a member of the IEEE and a fellow of the Ghana Institution of Engineers.