Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate
Change Adaptation and Food Security inCoastal Regions of Ghana:
A Policy Perspective
African Technology Policy Studies Network

TECHNOPOLICY BRIEF | No. 30
Mahu Seth Agbeve

Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate ChangeAdaptation and Food Security in Coastal
Regions of Ghana: A Policy Perspective

Mahu Seth Agbeve
TMT Energy Consult Ltd,
Osu-Accra, Ghana

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, private sector actors andpolicy makers promoting the generation, dissemination, use andmastery of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) for African
development, environmental sustainability and global inclusion.
ATPS intends to achieve its mandate through research, capacity
building and training, science communication/dissemination andsensitization, participatory multi-stakeholder dialogue,knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy.
Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network
P O Box 10081, 00100 GPO Nairobi Kenya
2011

Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network

ISBN: 978-9966-030-12-2

Table of Contents
Acknowledgement

4Introduction

5

Impacts of Climate Change Effects on Coastal Communities

5Conclusion and Summary of Recommendations

7Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate Change Adaptation and Food Security in Coastal Regions of Ghana: A Policy Perspective | 3

Acknowledgement
This policy brief was produced as part of the implementation of the African Technology Policy
Studies Network (ATPS) Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012 funded by ATPS Donors including theMinisterie van Buitenlandse Zaken (DGIS) the Netherlands, Rockefeller Foundation, amongst
others. The authors hereby thank the ATPS for the financial and technical support during theimplementation of the program. The Authors particularly thank the ATPS Climate Sense Program
Director, Dr. Kevin Urama (ATPS); and the Program Coordinators including Prof. Francis Mutua(ATPS Kenya); Dr. George Essegbey (ATPS Ghana), Prof. Eric Eboh (ATPS Nigeria), Dr. Nicholas
Ozor (ATPS), and Ms. Wairimu Mwangi (ATPS) for their technical support during the research
process.

4 | Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate Change Adaptation and Food Security in Coastal Regions of Ghana: A Policy Perspective

Introduction
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economies of many rural coastal communities inGhana. Due to changing climatic conditions, the economy of these communities
is experiencing low productivities that in turn lower their living standards. Poorand erratic rainfall patterns, high incidence of pest and disease outbreaks, severe
and prolonged droughts, among others, have led to persistent crop failure
making agricultural practice less attractive to the youth. In other words,
agricultural practice is left to the poor and older generation, who are becoming
increasingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change as their livelihood is
gradually being eroded. To curb the tides of diminishing economic fortunes, rapid
rural-urban migration and build climate change adaptation resilience there is aneed to address the distinct climatic needs of these coastal communities so as tospeed up their adaptation innovations and behavioral changes.
From a local context, natural resources within these communities must be
identified and harnessed effectively and efficiently to stimulate and speed up
processes of climate change adaptation and to address the constraints toadaptation. This policy paper therefore presents critical climate change
adaptation issues confronting coastal communities in Ghana, and provides
recommendations for the effective exploitation of wind energy resource
potentials in the region to support and push the drive for climate change
adaptation processes.
The estimated gross wind electric potential for Ghana is about 5,600MW or
5.6GW. The areas of moderate to good resource areas account for 4.0GW ofelectric. Over 60% of this potential is spread along the coastal areas, a region that
also has good infrastructure such as roads, transmission network and bulk load
centers.

Impacts of Climate Change Effects on Coastal
Communities
Table 1 summarizes the impacts of climate change on agriculture amongcommunities living along the coastal region of Ghana.

Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate Change Adaptation and Food Security in Coastal Regions of Ghana: A Policy Perspective | 5

Table 1: Climate Change effect on agriculture along the coastal
areas of Ghana
Climate change effects

Observed/experienced impacts on agriculture

Poor rainfall, severe drought
and excessive rainfall

Poor crop development, decreased yields; increased insect pest outbreaks, delayed
planting time in some communities. Crops badly affected include cassava, maize andindigenous vegetables. Other areas are fishing activities and livestock production

Rising temperatures

Bushfires leading to crop s and livestock destruction, poor soil fertility, low yield andperiodic crop failures.

Heavy precipitation /Floods

Damage to crops; soil erosion; inability to cultivate land due to water logging of soils ,destruction of crops, loss of biodiversity
Abortion of flowers and dropping of fruits and complete dislodging of plants

Strong winds
Severe DroughtLand degradation and soil erosion; lower yields from crop damage and failure; increased
livestock deaths; increased risk of wildfire; loss of arable land.

Sea levels increase

Salting of irrigation water, estuaries and freshwater systems; loss of arable land andincrease in alternative livelihoods

Source: TMT Energy/ATPS survey compilation 2010.

These observed impacts have direct effect on livelihoods and food security
especially for the under privileged due largely to the following constraints.
> High cost of production as a result of escalating input prices vis-a-vis highquantity required,> Price instability from over/under-supply of certain crops, post harvest losses
which aggravate poverty and health risks associated with agro-chemical
applications.
> Lack of availability and accessibility of organic manure on relatively large
farms.
> Technologies incompatibility as farmers are unable to apply some introduced
technologies effectively and efficiently.
> High cost of irrigation facilities and energy make it extremely difficult forfarmers to utilize the downstream water resources to improve agriculture
production.
> High incidence of crop failure and farmers inability to scale up indigenous
innovations and technologies.
In the midst of these constraints, the following critical questions are frequently
asked:6 | Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate Change Adaptation and Food Security in Coastal Regions of Ghana: A Policy Perspective

1. How can natural resources be harnessed or exploited for integrated climatechange adaptation for coastal communities?
2. How can climate change adaptation policies be localized to better influenceagronomic practices and behavioral change in building adaptation
resilience?
3. Can local farmers adapt to climate change through diversifications?
4. Can wind power be used to improve irrigation practices and present moresustainable livelihood opportunities?
The development of the wind energy potential in these coastal communities
would obviously trigger opportunities, prosperity and growth. Apart from theestablishment of commercial wind parks in these areas, it would also lead to theemergence of green industries and creation of thousands of jobs for the people.
The trickledown effect will be the emergence of a vibrant agricultural industry.
Developing holistic adaptation policies and localizing them can largely influence
behavior and speed up climate change adaptation. For instance, an integrated
renewable energy and environmental policies for climate change adaptation canlead to an integrated wind farm and agricultural innovations in coastalcommunities. The wind energy during idle moments could be channeled tosupport productive applications mainly mass irrigation of uplands or farmlands.
An integrated policy strategy would ensure easy diversification of economicactivities and the stimulation of vibrant and sustainable agriculturalindustrialization. Farmers can therefore growth more and other crops using
available energy to create induced climatic conditions such as irrigation in placeof over reliance on rain-fed agriculture.

Conclusion and Summary of Recommendations
Perceived effects of climate change have brought about a number of emerging
indigenous innovations and technologies for adaptation in the coastal regions ofGhana. However, these innovations have not been adequately linked with otheressential requirements to speed up the process of climate change adaptation.
Some of these essential requirements include the provision of adequate irrigation
facilities, improving the agronomic practices, increasing tractor services, supplyof adequate and reliable energy services, and provision of drought tolerant agroinputs, among others.

Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate Change Adaptation and Food Security in Coastal Regions of Ghana: A Policy Perspective | 7

Coherent policy strategies are vital to creating climate change adaptation
structures that can stimulate and speed up resilience. The development of therenewable energy resources is in line with the government of Ghana's policy
objective to achieve 10% contribution of modern renewable energy in the total
national electricity generation mix by 2020.
This sector policy boost offer limitless opportunities to harness resources tostimulate the development of agricultural potential as well as to also diversify thelocal economy of coastal communities to integrate better climate change
adaptation processes.

Policy Recommendations> Wind resource is site specific; hence, the areas identified as hotspots should
be delineated and reserved purposely for wind energy development.
> Coherent policies should be developed to create the necessary framework for
integrated energy and agricultural promotion along coastal communities ofGhana.
> Strong institutional support and coordination to address these issues arerequired for behavioral changes and enhanced climate change adaptation.
> Efficient interfacing between policy, research and target communities throughregular dialogue and institutional support required.

8 | Harnessing Wind Energy for Climate Change Adaptation and Food Security in Coastal Regions of Ghana: A Policy Perspective

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, private sector actors andpolicy makers promoting the generation, dissemination, use andmastery of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) for African
development, environmental sustainability and global inclusion.
ATPS intends to achieve its mandate through research, capacity
building and training, science communication/dissemination andsensitization, participatory multi-stakeholder dialogue,knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy.

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ISBN: 978-9966-030-12-2