U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded a US $704,815 grant to a Ghanaian solar power developer Home Energy Africa that will help to build a 100 MW PV plant in the village of Nyimbale-Sankana, Ghana.
According to the grant agreement signed at the U.S. Embassy in Accra last week, the developer will use the money to finance the technical assistance of the project. This includes preparation for power purchase agreement negotiations, services contracts and financing arrangements. Home Energy Africa has selected Brooklyn-based GreenMax Capital Advisors to provide the service.
Lack of power is a challenge we see across sub-Saharan Africa. Two out of three people in this region lack access to electricity. That hinders business, and it hinders prosperity. Weve made increasing access to power one of the top priorities for our bilateral relationship, said the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Robert P. Jackson.
The new PV plant in Nyimbale-Sankana is expected to generate enough clean electricity to power 80,000 average homes in Ghana. According to the local media, construction of the facility will start in 2017.
The lack of sustainable power supply is a main hurdle in Ghanas economic growth. The government is currently targeting 5GW of installed power generation in the country, including 10% from renewable sources.
In early April, Ghana's first solar module manufacturing plant, with an annual production capacity of 30 MW, was opened in Kpone. A week later, a Chinese company Beijing Xiaocheng powered a 20 MW plant near Accra, which is the countrys biggest operating PV facility to date.
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