Accra, Dec. 22, -The Millennium
Development Authority (MiDA) has partnered with the Ghana Standards Authority
(GSA) to roll out a project that seeks to promote the importation and use of
energy efficiency appliances in the country over a five year period.
The MiDA has already signed an
Implementing Entity Agreement with the GSA, which has the mandate to develop
the standards in Ghana.
The “Energy Efficiency and Demand
Side Management Project” forms part of the Ghana Power Compact II programme
that required MiDA to develop and enforce a standards and labels programme for
about 20 energy consuming products, including the upgrade of products with
existing standards and labels.
Among the products categorised
into lot one and two, are refrigerators, Air-conditioners, ceiling fans and
regulators, television sets, satellite decoders and TV signal boxes, lighting,
solar panels, batteries, inventers and electric motors.
Under the MiDA-GSA partnership,
the former would assist the latter, to equip an office facility and build two
test laboratories that would help in testing of electrical appliances purchased
and used by the public.
The MiDA would also procure
international standards for adoption by the GSA, directly from the
International Standards Organisations, such as the international
Electro-technical Commission, British Standards Institute, South African Bureau
of Standards, and the American National Standards, among others.
Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, Chief
Executive Officer of MiDA said the Energy efficiency programme was part of the
entire Compact programme being supported with a US$498 million dollar support
from the US government, “the special gift from the Obama government to support
Ghana’s energy sector that suffered power outages during the ‘dumsor’ period”,
and so Ghanaians needed to make good use of the funds to improve the sector for
a sustainable economy.
He said Ghana’s support would add
up to America’s assistance, to make a total of the 535 million dollars needed
to run the full Ghana Power Compact for the five year period.
Mr Eson-Benjamin said energy
efficiency and demand for power became the most important issue to Ghanaians
and so out of the six projects that fell under the Compact, Energy Efficiency
and Demand Side Management Project, being run with the GSA, aims at ensuring
energy efficiency and conservation in the use of power.
He explained that the partnership
had a budget of US5.5 million dollars which would help in developing an
enforcement standards and label activity to enable the GSA, as a gatekeeper, to
“watch over the things that come into the country”.
It would also involve the
improvement of energy auditing, and that would help build national capacity in
energy auditing through the establishment of training centres and implementing
programmes for evaluating energy consumption, as well as promote education and
public information about energy efficiency and conservation through behavioural
change.
There is also the demand side
management infrastructure activity, which would involve the undertaking of a
pilot solar programme and getting the public to use solar systems for
addressing the high lighting loads and also to install energy efficient street
lighting to replace the existing high energy consuming ones.
He said through the partnership,
MIDA and GSA would soon be gazetting some upgraded and adopted standards that
would be approved by Parliament.
Professor Alex Dodoo, Executive
Director, GSA, said the partnership would help promote energy efficiency,
sustainable for succeeding generations.
He said the GSA would play its
role to ensure that the country rids itself off substandard gadgets to make
Ghana one of the best performing MiDA countries, while ensuring that “we have
world class solar panels, batteries, microwaves, washing machines, pre-paid
meters, kettles, among others”.
Meanwhile, Mr Eson-Benjamin of
the MiDA, Friday, led a team from his organisation to present office equipment
including computers and accessories, printers, photocopiers and a projector to
the GSA, as part of the partnership agreement.
GNA
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