Ghana intends to sell electricity to Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa, in order to expand its power sector and get 100% universal access to energy.
Hanson Monney, the director of Nigeria’s Ministry of Energy’s Generation and Transmission Unit, revealed this during his presentation at the Nigeria Energy Leadership Summit in Lagos.
He emphasized that Ghana had successfully achieved 80% to 85% universal electricity access via the development and execution of strong policies.
He said that Nigeria may import energy from Ghana as soon as it resolves its grid issue. Ghana is exploring several energy options, including mini-grids, solar energy, and grid energy, in order to provide everyone with access to electricity by 2024, according to Nairametrics.
According to Monney, geopolitical constraints make it extremely difficult to provide universal electricity access in the West African nation, particularly in rural regions, villages near rivers, and communities by lakes.
According to him, Nigeria is attempting to match Ghana’s renewable energy access, which is how the government intends to advance its renewable energy program until 2022.
The speaker highlighted that one of the primary obstacles facing Ghana’s power industry is maintaining financial stability, given the nation’s heavy debt load and overcapacity acquisitions.
Ghana is also very concerned about high electricity prices, and Monney made clear how important it is to keep electricity costs low, particularly for industry.
He said that Ghana’s industries have been supporting residential areas, arguing that this should not be the case and emphasizing the necessity for businesses to continue operating profitably in order to employ people.
Monney also disclosed Ghana’s problems with gas security and supply while thanking Nigeria for meeting its gas demands.
According to him, the nation is experiencing an 80-day gas supply outage, which is especially detrimental to the electricity industry. While expanding access to electricity, Ghana is aggressively tackling issues related to gas delivery.
The event occurred as President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria saw two national grid collapses in a single week.
Nigeria, although having a large population, struggles with inconsistent power supplies and is ranked poorly among African nations with reliable access to energy.
