This document presents a current and persistent challenging issue in the Ghanaian society. It focuses on ways to help achieve the Sustainable development Goal (SDG) 7 in Ghana. It takes a look at power (energy/ electricity) shortage or crisis and its effects in the developing country.

1. FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT 2015 - MASSIVE OPEN
ONLINE COURSE (MOOC)
Final Project
Proposal to key stakeholders to help access
affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern
energy for the Ghanaian society.
by
Emmanuel Osei
12/9/2015
This document presents a current and persistent challenging issue in the Ghanaian society. It focuses
on ways to help achieve the Sustainable development Goal (SDG) 7 in Ghana. It takes a look at power
(energy/ electricity) shortage or crisis and its effects in the developing country.

2. 1
Introduction
Moving from the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) to the new Sustainable
Development Goals (SGDs), affordable and clean energy has been pinpointed as one most
important goal. The number 7 SDG goal is “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable
and modern energy for all.”
Image 1
In this document, my focus will mainly be on Ghana’s electricity energy systems and
challenges.
Electricity/energy is the backbone of most countries’ development in this technological age.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is leading a Sustainable Energy for All initiative to
ensure universal access to modern energy services, improve efficiency and increase use of
renewable sources.
Current Situation (Energy Crisis)
Although intermittent power is common in most developing African countries, the energy
situation in Ghana is already spiraling out of control.
“Dumsor” is a name in the local Twi language for the frequent power cuts –“dum” meaning
off and “sor” meaning on. Dumsor has caused a lot of challenges (problems) or better still add
up to existing challenges in recent times. (For example; over 15,000 people have lost their
jobs recently due to the energy crisis). Some areas lack electricity for hours on end; others
receive multiple power cuts each day. Sometimes, the blackouts last for extended periods,
some lasting longer than 24 hours.

3. 2
Image 2 An office experiencing power cuts.
Image 3 Ghanaians demonstrating against energy crisis in May 2015.
Despite the challenge, electricity tariffs keep increasing making the situation worse.
Causes
In Ghana, hydro-electric dams and thermal plants are the major sources of electricity. The
mentioned causes of dumsor include;
a. a very low water level,
b. mechanical problems on some of the turbines and machines being used,
c. unavailability of gas/light crude oil/diesel to power plants and
d. increment in number of consumers.

4. 3
Image 4
Akosombo Dam in Ghana as seen from Volta Hotel. The dam supplies electricity to Ghana and neighboring countries. Photo
released under Creative Commons by Wikipedia user SandisterTei.
Effects and Challenges
Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today.
Be it for jobs, security, climate change, food production or increasing incomes, access to
energy for all is essential. Sustainable energy is opportunity – it transforms lives, economies
and the planet.
According to se4real.org; Number 1 reason women and children in developing world die of
treatable conditions is lack of energy – for light, equipment, fridges for vaccines. Energy
poverty rubs human beings of health, time and opportunities.
Image 5 Health workers relying on torch lights to operate

5. 4
Recommendations/ Solutions
Increase
unemployment
Increase cost of living
Poor health care
delivery
It increases hunger
It leads to high rate in
crime and inseurity
It leads to conflicts
and political
instability
Collapsing Economy
Government and/or
authorities should
consider alternative
forms of energy
source as solar, wind
and biogas.
Options like privatization
of the energy sector (to
allow competition from
private industries)
Educating consumers not
to misuse and abuse the
limited energy resources
available
Building a separate power plant for the
few large electricity consumers in
Ghana (For Example, VALCO and the
mining companies alone could be
considered).

6. 5
Financing the development
Image 6
Japan and Ghana has signed a grant agreement of an amount of $35.5 million to finance
reinforcement of power supply to Accra central (the Capital City). When completed, the
project will help to save about 21MW of power, ensure stable and reliable power supply to the
capital city and ensure voltage improvement. It will also improve efficiency.
Innovations and Partnership should be strongly encouraged. An example is the multi-
stakeholder partnership undertook by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the
Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Carbon War
Room, KLM, Novozymes and the UN Foundation to scale up the development and
deployment of sustainable bioenergy solutions.
Countries should plan, initiate and undertake a productive program to help achieve the goal.
For instance, Brazil has successfully initiated “Light for All” Programme, which is another
innovative way of financing the development. Saudi Arabia planned $109 billion dollar
investment in solar energy which will also help achieve affordable and clean energy.
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and government should help make investment into
sustainable energy more attractive for private sector
Blended Financing( Public private Partnership)
Grant Agreement
Government Budgetary Allocation

7. 6
Image 7
Conclusions
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said, “With Sustainable Development
Goal 7, the United Nations has for the first time agreed on a universal goal on energy, with
targets on access, renewables, efficiency, and means of implementation. This is great news –
not just for the energy community, but for sustainable development as a whole. We need
sustainable energy for everything from ending poverty to combating climate change”.
Mr. Eliasson noted that progress is too slow in some areas of the world, most notably in sub-
Saharan Africa, but with leadership and the foundations that are already laid, “we can have
legitimate hope that we will achieve our goals by 2030.”
“But it is going to be an arduous work,” he said. “We have set the vision and direction. Now
we must take the concrete steps forward in a determined way to the benefit of all.”
Image 8
In conclusion, creating the continuous awareness of how important this goal is, will motivate
more investors and donors to finance this development.

8. 7
References:
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015
http://www.se4all.org/2015/11/11/watch-how-energy-access-saves-lives-se4alls-new-
campaign-film/
http://graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/54497-japanese-govt-supports-power-fisheries-
sectors.html#sthash.buSS28QQ.dpuf