Deputy Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy, Ing.
Seth Agbeve Mahu, has said adding nuclear to Ghana’s energy mix
will be critical to the country’s industrialisation agenda.
The majority of industries in the country have expressed their
willingness to endorse or advocate the inclusion of nuclear power as
part of the country’s energy mix, a survey by the Institute of
Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has found.
Speaking to the B&FT, Ing Mahu said: “Nuclear is a very good
technology that can support baseload power. It is so dense in terms
of energy density; it’s dependable, it’s dispatchable with a high
degree of predictability. With that, you can anchor a major economic
transformation agenda on it”.
Detailing the importance of adopting the technology in Ghana’s
economy and government’s efforts to massively industrialise the
country, he added: “I see nuclear becoming the base of our power
generation, which would make us more formidable in delivering
energy services to the people of this country and beyond”.
Industry support
Approximately 75 percent of firms interviewed during the ISSER
study – titled ‘Nationwide Baseline Social and Economic Survey on
the Generation of Electricity Using Nuclear Technology in Ghana’ –
expressed a desire and willingness to “upgrade their capacity in order
to be able to participate in the country’s nuclear agenda”, Dr. Simon Bawakyillenuo, Senior Research Fellow at ISSER,
stated when presenting the study’s findings.
“The majority of firms (79.27 percent) are willing to endorse or advocate for the inclusion of nuclear power as part of
Ghana’s energy mix,” he added.
Elaborating further to the B&FT in an interview, Dr. Bawakyillenuo said the data collected show a high a level of appreciation
for what nuclear energy is among industry players in the country.
“Firms are always looking for cheaper sources of energy; and in this day and age when we are emphasising the issue of
firms also dealing with clean sources of energy, we realised various firms actually have research departments assessing the
options that are viable – and this explains why industry has such a high level of awareness as well as interest in supporting
the country’s nuclear power project,” he stated.
Ing Mahu, who was at the study’s launch, described the responses from industries as welcome – adding that he is excited to
see Ghanaians also calling for it.
Nuclear power plant to be operational in 2030
Ghana’s nuclear power plant is expected to be fully operational by 2030 as the country moves toward industrialization.
According to Professor Stephen Yamoah, Executive Director of the Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), government will soon
announce the technology and vendor country or countries to partner with NPG for the Ghana’s nuclear power project (NPP).
Speaking to the B&FT during a three-day workshop for regional managers of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and selected
editors in the Eastern Region recently, Professor Yamoah said the government of Ghana has already evaluated responses
from six-vendor countries after it submitted a request for information (RFI) technical documents to those countries through
their diplomatic missions.
“We are engaging the Ministry of Energy, and once that process is through the ministry will put a memo together for Cabinet
consideration. That is the stage we are at now,” Professor Yamoah stated, expressing hope that the ministry will expedite
the memo’s preparation for Cabinet consideration