The Bui Power Authority’s Hydro-Solar Hybrid plant is in the middle of Bui, a small town in Ghana’s Bono Region. It has done a lot to change the energy landscape and help local businesses grow in a way that is good for the environment.
Bui Dam is a 400-megawatt hydroelectric project. It is built on the Black Volta River at the southern end of Bui National Park. The construction cost of the dam is $622 million.
It is the second-largest hydroelectric generating plant in Ghana after the Akosombo Dam.
Like many other African countries, Ghana has had problems with getting energy and making sure it works all the time. This has made it harder for both urban and rural areas to become industrialized. Ghana had a very bad electricity problem called “Dumsor” from late 2012 to 2016.
This crisis happened because of a drought in the Volta Lake, which made it dangerous for Ghana’s biggest power plant, the Akosombo dam, to make electricity.
Because of the crisis, there were severe power rationing plans all over the country, which caused heavy load shedding. At the height of this crisis, people had to deal with power outages for at least 16 hours out of every 24 hours.
Ever since, we have made a lot of great progress in getting 86% of its people access to electricity, which puts it in first place in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the country still has problems with power supply reliability and affordability.
To fix these problems, the government made changes to its policies in 2019 that were meant to increase the use of renewable energy and help the country reach Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7).
The most important part of these actions was the government’s Renewable Energy Master Plan, which aimed to do things like raise the share of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix from 42.5 MW in 2015 to 1,363.63 MW by 2030.
Ghana added some renewable energy sources to its main power grid in this way. One of these is a Hydro-Solar Hybrid (HSH) plant at Banda in the Bui enclave. The Bui Power Authority is in charge of running this HSH plant. It can produce 404 MW of electricity from hydropower and 55 MW of electricity from solar power.
Huawei’s Smart Photovoltaic (PV) Solution is used at the plant to power the national grid, which serves over 24,000 people in the Banda community in their homes, factories, large businesses, and small businesses.
The people who live there mostly farm cashews and sugarcane, and they depend on energy production to power the machines they use to plant, harvest, and turn these raw materials into useful products like sugar and cashew oil.
One of these is the Bui Cash-U Factory, which processes cashew nuts and is located in the Bui enclave. The factory is spread out over about 2000 m2 and employs about 150 people who work to process 6 to 8 tons of cashews every day. In addition to giving people jobs, the factory tries to teach people in the Bono Region how to work in the cashew nut value chain business.
Afeke, who works at the factory, said, “This place has taught me how to grow, pick, and choose the best cashews for processing.” She also said that working at the factory is a more stable and better way to make money than her previous seasonal job.
Cashews are very important to Ghana, especially when it comes to making money in foreign currency. A report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development says that the country exported more cashews than any other country in the world in 2021, making over $128.70 million from cashew nut sales in the first quarter.
Ghana can process 65,000 tons of raw cashews every year because it has 10 active cashew processing plants. Over 800,000 people are working directly and indirectly in the country’s cashew industry right now. These people include farmers, factory workers, buyers, and exporters.
Huawei’s Smart PV Solution does more than just make electricity. Working together with Meinergy, the owner of the cashew factory, and the Bui Power Authority, the company wants to teach 800 locals how to work in the cashew nut value chain business.
Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the First Lady of Ghana, spoke about the issue and said that her office is still committed to working closely with Huawei and other companies in the industry to help close the gender gap and improve the lives of Ghanaians.
“The world is going green, and projects like the Hydro-Solar Hybrid Plant that powers a huge cashew factory in a rural town show that Ghana is on the right track to a sustainable and eco-friendly digital future,” she said.
Utilizing the strength of renewable energy, this project not only solves the country’s energy issues but also supports economic growth, giving people in rural areas hope and the tools they need for a better future.
Credit: Myjoyonline
