GIS-BASED SUPPORT FOR IMPLEMENTING POLICIES AND PLANS TO INCREASE ACCESS TO ENERGY SERVICES IN GHANA


BACKGROUND
46% of the Ghanaian population have no access to grid-electricity and over 80% use traditional biomass (wood, charcoal, coconut husk, etc.) for cooking.  Meanwhile, Ghana is pursuing a National Electrification Program which aims at universal access to electricity by 2020.  Ghana has also subscribed to the energy access targets of the ECOWAS White Paper which proposes to enable at least half the population of the West African sub-region to have access to modern energy services, by the year 2015.  

OBJECTIVES
The general objective of the GIS-based Energy Project is to contribute towards effective implementation of policies and plans for achieving energy access targets by 2015 and beyond.  The specific objectives of the project include use of GIS to collate and analyze national level data and provide timely information on population distribution, services, economic activities, and status of energy access programs.

ACTIVITIES
Key steps in the execution of this project will include the following:

1. Assessment of current and future (2015) energy service needs and comparison with targets set in Government policy statements/documents and ECOWAS White Paper;
2. Development of GIS e-maps and scenarios for current and future energy services; and
3. Training of key staff in the Ministry of Energy and the Energy Commission.

MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS 
The national Multi-Sector Group in Ghana will serve as the core of a stakeholders' consultative forum for the project.  The project’s steering committee will consist of the Ministry of Energy and the Energy Commission together with ECOWAS, UNDP and the European Union Energy Initiative’s Partnership dialogue Facility (EUEI-PDF) plus The Energy Centre, KNUST where the project will be based.

For more information on the GIS-based Energy Project please click here

For information on the EUEI-PDF, which is funding the project, please click here