Overview of what we do

The Association of Ghana Industries have held its 3 day annual Industrial Summit and Exhibition at the Accra International Conference Center in Accra.

The Summit provided opportunity for industries and companies to interact and share ideas especially on the onset of the African Contintental Free Trade Area issues.

ISEES and the Digital Global Biogas Cooperation Project was there to interact with industry actors on the adoption of biogas and biomass gasification technologies and how to promote sustainability.

The second Digital Global Biogas Cooperation (DiBiCoo)- Ghana stakeholders’ consultative workshop has ended in Accra with an assurance by the Ministry of Energy of developing a regulatory framework for the biogas industry in Ghana.

The workshop was organised by the Institute of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Solution (ISEES), a non-profit research and training institution in Ghana, to provide local stakeholders with the opportunity to work together and get involved in the DiBiCoo programme.

The DiBiCoo is European Union Horizon 2020 Project, which seeks to create a sustainable market for biogas/biomethane between Ghana, Europe, Indonesia, South Africa and 13 consultative partners in nine countries being coordinated by GIZ.

Mr Seth Mahu, the Director of Renewable Energy of the Ministry of Energy, who gave the assurance in an address, said the time had come for biogas to be brought into proper focus in Ghana because of the enormous opportunity for the country.

“My search at the Energy Commission indicates that the Commission has already taken measures to draft the first biogas regulatory framework and after this event, we are going to escalate it and get the Minister to communicate to the Executive Secretary to expedite action in developing and completing the framework for the industry.

“I want to give you the Minister’s assurance that we are going to work with the Energy Commission to ensure that the regulatory framework for biogas is developed as quickly as possible,” he said.

Mr Mahu said when that was done it would assist to turn waste into useful products such as biogas for electricity generation for heat and other applications while helping to address the major sanitation issues that confront the country.

He said it would also go a long way to bring in the needed investment, both local and foreign, to be able to accelerate and sustain the development of the economy.

“We have been able to develop Bio-Energy National Action Plan and the draft-final is currently on the Minister’s desk. Shortly we would be inviting some of you here, if not all, to join us to do the final review of that document to ensure that it meets the expectation of the industry,” he said.

Mr Mahu said: “We believe that can be a precursor to provide the necessary information, the necessary data, as well as what we will be getting from the private sector to help us come out with a regulatory framework that would be organic; that is going to address the needs of the industry.”

Mr Prosper Ahmed Amuquandoh, the Inspector in-charge of Renewable Energy at the Energy Commission, urged practitioners in the biogas industry to be self-regulatory by weeding out quacks among them.

He said: “In every jurisdiction where the market thrives, you would realize that statutory regulation has very little role to play because the industry is self-regulatory. So you guys have to open your eyes and rout out the bad ones among you because if you have quacks; he or she would contribute to the negative experiences and negative practices either for the market or the technology,” he said.

Mr Amuquandoh said concerning the Renewable Energy Act, it was sent back to Parliament for amendment, which had already been done to allow Bui Power to get to the forefront of Renewable Energy activities and to address issues with tariffs and competitive bidding.

Mr Lovans Owusu-Takyi, the Director of ISEES, said his organization work in various sectors such as renewable energy, energy efficiency space, climate and natural resources management, biodiversity, water sanitation and hygiene.

“One of our key areas is to create a sustainable market and to enhance access to renewable energy for both grassroots and businesses, and this DiBiCoo Project sets itself very well with us. We want to make sure that technology transfer between Europe and Africa is increased and knowledge is spread to understand the technologies that are in Europe and be able to adopt them,” he said.

Mr Owusu-Takyi said: “We hoping that district assemblies, companies that are working in fruit juice, those who are into animal husbandry and others would be able to understand the concept of biogas technologies and be able to raise the profile of biogas in Ghana.”

As part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge ‘Secure, clean and efficient energy’, under the call ‘Market Uptake Support’; the Digital Global Biogas Cooperation (DiBiCoo) project held its kick-off meeting in Brussels, on October 30 & 31, 2019; in the presence of representatives from 13 participating organizations across four continents.

The overall objective of the project is to support the European biogas/biomethane industry by preparing markets for the export of sustainable biogas/biomethane technologies from Europe to developing and emerging countries. The project will help mitigate GHG emissions and increase the share of global renewable energy generation. The project also contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 7) for ‘Affordable and clean energy”, among others.

DiBiCoo aims to mutually benefit Europe and developing countries markets through facilitating dialogue between European biogas industries and biogas stakeholders or developers from emerging and developing markets. The consortia works to advance knowledge transfer and experience sharing to improve local policies that allow increased market uptake by target countries.

As part of the deliverables, DiBiCoo will identify five demo cases up to investment stages in each of the 5 importing countries. Facilitated through a digital match-making platform and classical capacity development mechanisms for improved networking, information sharing, and technical/financial competences.

During the kick-off meeting, representatives of the consortia presented their respective work packages and discussed implementation plans with the project officer of the EU, as well as the expected deliverables for the 33 months project timeline.

The target developing countries and their respective partner institutions are Argentina (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria), Ethiopia (Iceaddis IT Consultancy PLC), Ghana (Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Solutions), Indonesia (Inisiasi Pengkajian Resiliensi – Resilience Development Initiative), and South Africa (GreenCape and Selectra CC). These countries have been selected because of the high market potential for biogas projects, along with favorable regulatory environment and support schemes.

The European partner countries involve Germany (WIP Renewable Energies GmbH & Co. KG and the Fachverband Biogas – German Biogas Association), Austria (ARGE Kompost & Biogas – Austrian Compost and Biogas Association and the Austrian Energy Agency), Belgium (European Biogas Association); with the technical support from the Latvia Life Science University.

The project with a budget of 3 Million Euros is implemented by the consortia and coordinated by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. EUs Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) oversees the project on behalf of the European Commission