Africa-Press – Ghana. The GIZ’s Green People’s Energy Project has established a four-acre demonstration field at the Ho Technical University (HTU) to promote solar-powered irrigation.
The 143,000-euro project is designed to train students, farmers, technicians and other stakeholders in the Region and help promote renewable energy in the country.
It comes under a global initiative of the German Government to help provide selected communities with improved access to renewable energy and support businesses and individuals with modern sustainable renewable energy technologies.
Mr Raphael Wiese, the Project Manager of Green People’s Energy, speaking at a commissioning ceremony, said the initiative offered a much cheaper alternative to the high maintenance fuel-burning pumps. He said the Ho Technical University was well positioned and ready with several courses in solar energy.
The University recently introduced a solar irrigation energy course, while Practica Foundation from the Netherlands is providing competency-based training for technicians, extension staff and credit officers as part of the project.
Professor Ben Q. Honyenuga, the Vice-Chancellor, said the project aligned with the University’s strategic plan to transform its fortunes based on partnerships.
The GIZ, the Ministry of Energy, Council and Management and the Faculty of Agro Enterprise Development of the University, worked together on the project. The sod cutting for the project was done in August 2021 following an MoU signed between the parties.
The HTU Solar Powered Irrigation System (SPIS) comprises a solar-powered pumping system mounted on a borehole and a water reservoir feeding over three acres of diverse irrigation facilities.
The Vice-Chancellor said the project would go a long way to address challenges to water access in remote communities where grid power was mostly inaccessible, adding that with year-round availability of solar energy, the photovoltaic system would provide the best form of renewable energy in the country.
The initiative is also being extended to two other tertiary institutions – the University for Development Studies in the Northern region and the University of Energy and Natural Resources in the Bono region.
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