Local subsidiary of leading International Oil Company (IOC), Total Ghana Limited weekend, unveiled its first solar-powered service station in the country with a 35 kilowatt capacity, at the Tema main harbour.
The solar-powered station has a total of 225m2 solar panels comprising of 165m2 on the station’s shop and restaurant building, and 60 m2 on the pump island canopy.
Explaining more on the energy architecture which comprises of the solar panels, inverters, batteries, genset and the grid, the Managing Director, Mr Eric Fanchini, said it was his outfit’s goal to solarize at least 50 per cent of their network of 250 service stations within five years.
According to him, the solar installation was in accordance with the company’s ambition of being the ‘responsible energy major’ as solar was now part of the modernization plan of Total Petroleum Ghana.
In his remarks, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Deputy Minister of Energy, commended management of Total for taking advantage of the abundant renewable energy opportunities in the country.
He further announced that the Ministry of Energy had commenced the implementation of the scaling-up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) with the objective of delivering over 55 mini-grids, 38,000 standalone solar home systems and 15,000 net-metered solar-with-storage systems for homes and small-medium enterprise across the country.
The minister averred that the Ministry was accelerating the process of promoting the use of solar in public buildings and facilities to reduce their reliance on the national grid as well as improve the financial health of the utility companies.
While stressing that “We are currently procuring 65k Wp solar to meet about 35-40 per cent of the Ministry’s total load and this would be extended to cover the other state institutions,” the Director, Human Resource and Administration, National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr. Kojo Jackson hailed Total Ghana for being the first petroleum company to commission a solar service station in Ghana and urged them to maintain the high standards in their operations.
