The deputy minister for energy Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has called for the reversal of imbalances in the movement of capital for renewable energy investments between Africa and the rest of the world.
Adam made the call when he led a Ghanaian delegation to the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
He observed that global average levelized cost of utility scale solar has declined by 85% between 2010 and 2020, but Africa is yet to benefit from this development because investors continue to avoid the continent due to perceived market risks.
The deputy energy minister indicated that such perceptions were not fair as the regulatory environment had improved in many African countries.
He illustrated that many African countries had passed legislations that provided incentive support such as obligatory purchase clauses, Feed-in-Tariffs and competitive procurement of renewable energy projects.
Adam encouraged IRENA to conduct market risks assessments in different African countries to guide the decision of investors rather than leave them to classify Africa as a group not being investor friendly.
He further invited IRENA to prioritise Africa in the implementation of the Agency’s Climate Invest Platform and ETAF to ensure that investment in renewable energy is scaled up.
The deputy energy minister cited many investment opportunities in Ghana, highlighting that Ghana is a host to the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area; and therefore investors could leverage the country as the gate way to the African markets. He invited investors to establish factories in Ghana to produce renewable energy technologies and export to the African markets duty-free.
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