Acting Director Addresses Bioenergy Conference

The Acting Director of The Energy Center, KNUST represented the Minister for Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, at the Opening Session of the Bioenergy Markets West Africa Conference which took place at the La-Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra on Tuesday 27 October 2009.  Bioenergy Markets West Africa was organized by Green Power Conferences and it brought together key players from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region as well as global industry experts.  The conference highlighted West Africa’s agricultural potential for bioenergy production with a focus on food security in the region and the need to reduce rising import bills, especially for oil-importing ECOWAS Member States, through substitution of locally produced biopower, biogas, bioethanol and biodiesel.

The Acting Director, Prof Abeeku Brew-Hammond, represented the Minister of Energy in his capacity as Board Chairman of the Energy Commission of Ghana.  Other Fellows of The Energy Center, KNUST who attended the Conference are Dr Ahmad Addo and Mr Francis Kemausuor, Senior Lecturer and Lecturer, respectively, in the Department of Agricultural Engineering at KNUST.  Dr Addo is Coordinator for the Biofuel SMEs Project sponsored by Trust Africa, a joint venture between the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and Ford Foundation of the US.  Mr Kemausuor is co-author of the Background and Issues Papers for UNIDO’s upcoming Roundtable on Biofuels Industries in Africa to be held in Vienna, Austria, December 2009.

In his Keynote Address at the Bioenergy Markets West Africa Conference, Prof Brew-Hammond reviewed the key programmes pursed in Ghana to date in the broad area of bioenergy, from the promotion of improved cookstoves to the implementation of pilot projects in biogas technology.  He lamented the fact that, since 2003, Ghana has failed at the policy level to go beyond various drafts of a National Biofuels Policy and he commended companies like Biofuel Africa Limited for pursuing a Food First Policy in their commercial production of jatropha oil in Ghana.  Prof Brew-Hammond also emphasized the importance of effective R&D support from local institutions, The Energy Center, KNUST, if Ghana is to succeed in a dynamic and sustainable bioenergy-based agro-industrial economy.

For a copy of the Keynote Address by Prof Abeeku Brew-Hammond, please click here.

For more information on the Bioenergy Markets West Africa Conference, please click here.