Ghana mulls 10-year Power Sector Master Plan to up medium-to-long term energy needs
As part of fresh drive to deepen energy availability and affordability, the Ghana’s Ministry of Planning is set to develop and implement a ten-year Power Sector Master Plan (PSMP) which would be reviewed to meet the medium-to-long term energy needs.
Details garnered by Business Hilights Ghana Bureau chief showed that the planned intervention will target reduction in generation, transmission and distribution losses to promote demand management while reducing the operational inefficiencies in energy supply and distribution.
The plan, according to government will push the energy strategy which formed part of moves to reposition the country and develop the downstream petroleum sector to become the regional hub of energy in the near future.
Government is upbeat that the creation of this hub will accelerate the growth of Ghana’s petroleum sub-sector and make it a major player in the economy.
However, to achieve that, Government through the National Petroleum Commission (NPC) will continue to unearth and showcase Ghana’s hydrocarbon prospectively in the open onshore and offshore to Ghanaians and the international petroleum industry.
This would serve as the prelude to Ghana’s first competitive bidding block for exploration and production rights in Ghana.
It was gathered on Monday that the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) will accelerate the reconnaissance exploration programme in the Voltarian basin to delineate areas that merit detailed oil exploration to grow the national petroleum reserves.
This is in accordance with petroleum exploration and production Act, 2016 (Act 919) to deepen transparency in the sector by accelerating work on the development of regulations and the competitive bidding processes for the award of blocks for petroleum exploration and production.
Analysts say for Ghanaian companies to succeed in the petroleum, oil and gas wealth creation, Government would encourage the use of local expertise, goods and services and effectively build their skills and capacities for transfer of technology and know-how.
