ROGEP Two-Day Meeting On Regional Solar Power Kicks Off In Ghana

World Bank Practice Manager, Wendy E. Hughes, has called on all representatives at the Regional Off-Grid Electrification Project (ROGEP) 2nd Regional Workshop to work together and develop a comprehensive regional standard that will benefit their countries and the region as they all gear towards providing sustainable and affordable standalone solar power in West Africa and the Sahel.
“We all know that, regional cooperation has a long history in West Africa, and regional cooperation in building a large, unified off grid solar market will increase access to the modern energy devices in all of the 19 project countries”, she furthered at the ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE).
She stressed during the opening of the workshop which runs from June 26-27, 2018, that together the countries can create a sustainable off grid market across 19 countries that will reach 395 million people, 244 million of whom currently have no access to grid electricity.
“To meet this target, we will need to input commitment from all of the sectors represented at the workshop”, she maintained.
She pointed out that, the advancement in off grid technology over the years have been truly remarkable and the wide range of products now available provide a real and sustainable alternative, in those areas where the grid is slow to reach.
She said places where the grid is slow to reach and is expensive and difficult to build, electricity can be immediately being affordable and households can meet their basic electricity needs.
Meanwhile, ECOWAS Commissioner for Energy and Mines, Mr. Sediko Douko, has disclosed that the solar energy program region has gone thru a lot challenges, siting climate change as its main source; and that despite all of their effort to provide 25 kilo watts of of solar power, only 10% of it is available due to climate change and rainfall.
ROGEP is one of ECOWAS Community Development Projects and aims to promote private sector investment with a market-based approach in expanding off-grid electricity access.
ROGEP main objective is to enhance shared capacity, institutions and knowledge to jointly increase electricity access to households, businesses and communities using modern standalone solar technologies, for instance solar lanterns, solar home systems, solar water pumps, solar mills, solar sewing machines, in project countries.
The project will focus on a selected set of initiatives that are crucial to meeting the regional strategic goals. It is divided in to two components with several other sub-components.

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