https://www.doi.org/10.53964/jmge.2022009

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Journal ofModern Green Energy
Open Access

ISSN 2790-3206 (Online)

Systematic Review
Renewable Energy Policies in Ghana
Mohammed Takase1*, Rogers Kipkoech1#, Joy Kibet2, Faith Mugah2, Seth Yao Ahiabor3, Richard
Kwadzo Asare4
1

Department of Environmental Science, School of Biological Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural
Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
2

Department of Spatial and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Kenyatta
University, Kenya
3Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, PMB 31. Hohoe campus,
Ghana
4

Ho Technical University, Ho, Ghana#*

Both authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

Correspondence to: Mohammed Takase, PhD, Department of Environmental Science, School of Biological
Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast CC000-CC525,
Ghana; Email: mohammed.takase@ucc.edu.gh
Received: September 20, 2022 Revised: November 5, 2022 Accepted: December 12, 2022 Published: December 30, 2022

Abstract
Objective: Renewable energy policy is a framework used by governments or institutions to address
problems related to renewable energy production, distribution, and consumption. The aim of this review
is to explore into the goals, instruments and planned measures of the Government of Ghana in the
renewable energy resources field.
Methods: Methodologically, the review focused and based its findings on the overview and analysis oflaws and regulations and other official documents used by Ghanaian Government. Rapid review method
was used in evaluation of what is already known concerning the policy and assessing critically current
researches through systematic review methods.
Results: The results of the study revealed that progress has been made in renewable energy resources
sector recently. The midterm targets for the proportion of renewable energy out of the overall energy
consumption has been defined; input tariff have been adopted; legislative and socio-economic barriers ofincreased exploitation for renewable energy resources have been analysed and measures and activities
suggested for effective resolution. The outcome of the review revealed that existing renewable energy
resources related legislation is imprecise and incomplete. Several bylaws, standards and guidelines arestill outstanding. The key renewable energy related documents are also inconsistent, lack clarity and areinaccurately decisive when implementing specific measures of incentives for the production of renewable
Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This open-access article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,provided the original work is properly cited.

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energy in Ghana. Furthermore, ineffective government policies have increased greenhouse gas emissions
from fossil fuel combustion.
Conclusion: Investors therefore, have lost confidence in the government’s ability to maintain and achieve
current and future renewable energy policy targets, resulting in a reduction in investment in renewableenergy projects. The massive transition of Ghana’s energy sector to low-carbon technologies over the
next 10 to 20 years is also a challenge.
Keywords: energy, Ghana, renewable, policy
Citation: Takase M, Kipkoech R, Kibet J, Mugah F, Ahiabor SY, Asare RK. Renewable Energy Policies in Ghana. J Mod Green
Energy, 2022; 1: 9. DOI: 10.53964/jmge.2022009.

1 INTRODUCTION
Renewable energy policy is a policy approach whichgovernments or organizations use to address renewableenergy production, distribution, and consumption issues.
Every renewable energy policy prioritises much on
supply, security, cost and environmental implications.
According to National Energy Policy, renewableenergy policy should be cost-effective, reliable, andenvironmentally sound. The policy must also account for
the influences of human behaviour and energy systems.
Typically, Government of Ghana has developed andimplemented renewable energy and energy efficiency(REEE) technologies policies in 2020 to achieve a 10%
penetration rate in energy production and 100% national
electrification to reduce the emission of greenhousegases (GHGs)[1,2]. Despite the massive deployment of
low carbon technologies, there is a continuous increasein the emission of GHGs and lack of legal and regulatory
simplicity in accomplishing the renewable energy
policy objectives and institutional independence[3-5].
In addition, inefficient government policies haveresulted in the rise of GHGs emissions from fossil fuelcombustion. As a result, investors have lost faith in thegovernment’s ability to maintain and achieve existing
and future renewable energy policy targets, leading
to underinvestment in renewable energy projects[1,6-8].
According to Gboney[9], the massive shifting of theenergy sector to low-carbon technologies in 10 to 20
years in Ghana is also a challenge among the developed
and the least developed countries.
Ghana has abundant renewable energy resources
such as biomass, wind, solar, and hydropower[5,8,10-12].
The country is among the initial United Nations’ (UN)members in embracing the initiative dubbed ‘‘Sustainable
Energy for All’’ (SE4ALL) that the UN put forward.
SE4ALL Country’s Action Plan has been developed toaddress three objectives; i) ensuring global access tomodern energy services; ii) increasing the improvement
in energy efficiency rate by double; and iii) doubling
the share of renewable energy within the global
Innovation Forever Publishing Groupenergy mix[2,6]. Global energy generation has replaced
conventional fossil fuels to pollution-free energy thatcan be generated through renewable energy sources[13].
For example, Denmark generates more than half of its
electricity from solar and wind. In 2017, Costa Rica’s
generated their electricity from renewable energy
sources for 300 days. In the past years, countries suchas Germany, Portugal and Denmark have been using
renewable energy sources. Many countries are shifting
to renewable energy sources because of lack of oil andgas reserves and they also want to be less dependenton import of energy[14]. Ghana employed renewableenergy sources to generate electricity and other energy
products. As a result, renewable energy has evolved
from “alternative energy sources” to “competitive energy
sources”[1]. This has made renewable energy becoming
a viable source of a long-term energy for Ghanaians’
economic, social and environmental needs[7,13-15]. The
security of energy supply and global climate change hascompelled renewable energy policies to be ranked the
top of political agendas[7,16-18].
Ghana expanded its access to electricity by morethan 70% in the past five years, though statistics showthat rural areas are lagging[8,19-21]. Mahama et al.[8] andBonan[22] asserted that adequate access to electricity
among the non-urban communities would help developrural areas and create business opportunities. It will also
increase access to water and health services and lightningsystems as well as connecting rural communities tourban centres via information technology. Not withstanding, Asumadu-Sarkodie and Asantewaa Owusu[23],noted the severe constraints concerning the connection ofelectricity to the rural areas to the national grid including
geographical and financial constraints.
Ayerigah [11] believed Ghana must expand accessto electricity among the rural communities using offgrid community-based electrification based on theincreasing share of renewable energy and promoting the
productive uses of it. According to Asumadu-Sarkodie

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and Asantewaa-Owusu[23], the Government of Ghana
developed a project to support broader socio-economicand environmental objectives and reduce poverty. This
project of expansion of the electricity was formulated toenable Ghana and China to share their experience andskills on technologies in renewable energy. The authors
indicated that the project was to facilitate the exchangeof expertise and technology in renewable energy
between China and Ghana. The project also highlighted
on building the institutional framework and capacity
needed to reduce the absorption of technologies locally.
This was collaborated by The Energy Commission in
Ghana and Ministry of Science and Technology in China
with the Country Offices of UNDP in Accra and Beijing.
During the implementation in the first year, theproject focus was to establish the environmentthat would enable transfer, produce and regulate
the application of renewable energy technologies
in Ghana. The project began on an assignment of“Renewable Energy Policy Review, Identification ofGaps and Solutions in Ghana”. The project reviewed
the past and the present policies and strategies on
renewable energy in Ghana and consultation by
the stakeholder in identifying the policy gaps andproposal of solutions in boosting the renewableenergy sub-sector in Ghana. There was an expectationthat the impacts of these projects would lead to thesubsequent activities of the project[12,13,24].
On the other hand, the Ghanaian government realised
the need to change to renewable energy resources forthe country’s electricity generation and supply. Energy
Commission found several reasons to begin generating
electricity from renewable resources. According to
Heffron[25], seven energy principles should be consideredwhen characterising and establishing energy law. Thus,(a) national resource sovereignty principle; (b) energy
justice principle; (c) rational, prudent and sustainable
use of natural resources principle; (d) environmental
protection, human health and climate change mitigation
principle; (e) access to modern energy services principle;(f) energy security and reliability principle; and (g)resilience principle. The principle of energy law isbased on fundamental reasons for adopting renewableenergy law such as energy security, climate change, andenvironmental preservation[15,26,27].
Ghana has implemented various REEE laws andprograms to maintain energy supply security anddiversity. The country still faces cyclical energy outages
and persistent insufficient energy supply systems.
Gyamfi et al.[28] opined that Ghana’s renewable energy
law could only be effective when the aims, instruments
and measures surrounding renewable energy meet thecountry’s energy demands. Nevertheless, many questions

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have been raised on the dormancy of the renewableenergy policy in Ghana. Likewise, many believe
Ghanaian’s renewable energy policy is not working andtherefore the purpose and basis of the policy have beenquestioned[17,29-31].
The aim of this review is to give insight into goals,
instruments and measures put in place by the Ghanaian
Government in the field of the renewable energy basedon an overview analysis of the laws and regulations.
Among the areas of highlights in this review include;
the purposes of Ghanaian Government Renewable
Energy Law, the international obligations and strategicorientation of Ghana in the domain of renewable energy
such as, present legal framework and incentives forthe production and exploitation of renewable energy
sources in Ghana which are; renewable energy sources
related legislations, such as the National Energy Policy
and the Ghana Shared Growth and Development
Agenda (GSGDA). The review further highlights
main institutions in renewable energy resources sectorin Ghana, key energy stakeholders and, obstacles ofincrease usage of renewable energy in Ghana.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Rapid Review
The rapid review evaluates what is already known
about a policy or practice issue by searching for andcritically assessing current research using systematic
review methods. Rapid reviews were selected to boost
the speed of analysis. In this case the rapid review was
employed to collect secondary data and analyses it using
repeatable analytical approaches. The method helped tosynthesise the evidence and developed broad or narrow
research questions and discovered as well synthesise
data directly related to the systematic review. Research
projects were evaluated critically and qualitativeand quantitative data synthesised. This provided acomprehensive overview of current data relevant to theresearch subject[1,32,33].
2.2 Data Search and Analysis
The researchers collected existing evidence(information from the Ministry of Energy and Energy
Commission) on the subject. Then, the researchers
searched using Scopus, Pubmed, Medline and Google
Scholar. The relevance of the selection stage determinedthe validity of the literature review. Several inclusions
and exclusion criteria were used. Thus, documents not
written in English and unfinished papers and articles
were omitted from the review. Duplicate publications
and studies that did not provide important information
regarding the research topic were also eliminated.
Articles that had nothing to do with the keywords werealso omitted. Then, researchers meticulously readthrough those articles to select articles that meet the

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purpose of the study. Critical analysis of the papers wasthen done.
3 RESULTS
3.1 The Purposes of Ghanaian Government Renewable
Energy Law
Global population growth and related resourcepressure usually lead to laws or policies enactment to
respond to industrial transformation[18,33-35]. Governments
worldwide develop procedures to control environmental,
economic, social, political and energy crises. Henceforth,
the government of Ghana enacted a renewable energy
policy to ensure all energy demands in the country are
met. Initially, Ghana only relied on hydroelectric power,with few watts[2]. The government planned to double therenewable energy share to ensure efficient production,
use and mitigate climate change. According to the
Ministry of Energy[19,36-38], the renewable energy policy
sought to provide sustainable energy consumption,
improve production and promote its efficiency[18]. The
policy also expresses the hope of ensuring the creationof an efficient energy market that will supply sufficient,viable and efficient energy services for Ghana’s
economic development[20,39-41]. Ministry of Energy[38]affirmed that Ghana’s Renewable Energy Policy aims
at accelerating the development and use of renewableenergy and ensure efficient energy technologies. In
addition to this, the government wanted to achieve 30%
rural electrification with renewable energy technology
by 2020.
The policy is designed to offer a legislative andregulatory framework for achieving renewable energy
policy objectives [6,21,42,43]. Kuamoah [6] asserted that
the Renewable Energy Act (Act 2011) establishes
legislative and regulatory frameworks for achieving
renewable energy targets. The Renewable Energy Act’s(2011) overarching goal is to provide efficient andenvironmentally sustainable development, management
and utilization of renewable energy resources togenerate heat and power [44-46]. The policy was also
to encourage the development and use of renewableenergy resources and create a climate conducive toinvestment in renewable energy resources. The policy
was as well to promote the use of renewable energy,
diversify renewable energy supplies to provide energy
security and enhance access to electricity[23,47-50]. Public
education on renewable energy production and use isneeded to establish indigenous capacity in renewableenergy technology in order to fulfil the goals of otherinternational bodies[21].
3.2 International Obligations and Strategic Orientationof Ghana in the Domain of Renewable Energy
Being a party to the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the COP 26, Ghana

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expressed its commitment to fulfilling the Convention’s
obligation[24,51,52]. Ghana has put in place mitigation
and adaptation measures in its Intended Nationally
Determined Contribution (INDC) including mitigation
and adaptation in the INDC in resonating with themedium-term agenda of development (Ghana Shared
Growth Development Agenda II-GSGDA 2) and the
expected 40-year socio-economic transformational
plan and universal development goals[53,54]. There is an
expectation on the implementation of the actions which
will assist in attaining low carbon climate resilience byeffective adaptation and lowering GHG emissions. The
emission reduction’s goal of Ghana is an unconditional
lowering of its GHG emission by 15%[24,25,55-57].
The renewable energy sector of Ghana’s mirrors
the wide regional setting whose definition is about
the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS). Generally, ECOWAS communities havea low energy consumption rate because of a lack ofaccess to modern renewable energy resources suchas hydropower and biofuels. The development in the
renewable energy sector among ECOWAS is however,crucial for the growth of economic activity and theeradication of poverty. As at 2010, ten of the 15
ECOWAS member nations including Benin, Gambia,
Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Senegal, Cape
Verde, Nigeria, and Mali, had more than 20% accessto electricity. The relatively, high access to electricity
in Ghana was possible because of the success in
implementing the country’s National Electricity Scheme.
On average, the access rate of electricity in the region
was about 40% in 2011[26,58-60]. Several countries had
less than 20%[27]. In most ECOWAS member states,
access to electricity was limited to only about 5% of the
population in rural areas. This is partially because of thelittle income supply infrastructure of electricity which isunderdeveloped[26,27,61-63].
ECOWAS has put in place some measures topromote renewable energy technologies and harmonise
the legislation on national energy which will increase
independent energy supply and massive improvement ofaccess to modern energy services. The policy responds
to the increasing security concern of energy, lack ofaccess to energy and the importance of mitigatingclimate change. Achieving these goals requires several
policy strategies and programmes developed in theregions of ECOWAS as follows: white paper on regional
policy on energy service accessibility by the populationin rural and semi-urban areas. It was expected to raise
the accessibility to energy services and not less than 20%of the new investment in electricity generation using
renewable resources[31,64-66].

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been 100% to cater for the basic requirement of urban
and peri-urban areas and 36% accessibility of the basic
needs in households in rural areas as contained in thewhite paper. In addition, ECOWAS was hoping toachieve 100% accessibility of modern energy by 2015
whereby 50% to 70% was to be through Liquified
Petroleum Gas and the remainder through cookstovesusing improved wood fuel[27]. The West African Power
Pool has given a master plan that has been revised tocreate a regional market of electricity from the year 2020
to 2025. Classification of ECOWAS countries in the planis as follows:(i) Potential self-sufficiency because of a large coalfired thermal power plant after 2020. These countries
include Niger, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana andTogo/Benin.
(ii) The expectation of remaining dependent on power
imports from neighbouring countries until 2020. The
countries were Gambia, Mali, Niger, Guinea-Bissau andBurkina Faso.
(iii) Potential exporter of power after 2018 throughthe development of hydroelectricity. The countries inthis category are Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra
Leone.
The electricity supply capacity in bulk was expected
to be generated from big hydroelectric power plants
and natural gas. Based on the master plan, it isenvisaged that there will be an additional 16,000km oftransmission lines and 10,000 megawatts (MW) of theinstalled capacity. Out of this, 7,000MW is expected tobe obtained from hydropower sources by 2025. Thereis an addition of 10% of renewable energy excludinghydroelectricity to the region’s electricity fuel mix.
Interconnection project between Ghana and Togo withan output of 330 kilovolts was commissioned in late
2014[27,67-70].
Energy ministers from ECOWAS states formed
REEE in 2008 boost energy sufficiency. They received
support from Austrian and Spanish Governments and
UN Industrial Development Organisation were to offer
technical support. In Praia in Cape Verde, REE wasformed in 2010, and galvanising efforts were initiatedin various member states of ECOWAS. Its goal was tointegrate renewable energy into the energy policy of the
ECOWAS member states. The formation of REE aided
in the eventual expansion of the ECOWAS Renewable
Energy Policy to a greater extent. In November 2012,
ECOWAS member nations approved a policy withseveral objectives. Among the objectives is improving
energy supply, ensuring safety and sustainability,
reducing dependency on imported fossil fuel, andexposure to volatile hydrocarbon. Another objective wasto promote rural and urban access to energy, creating afavourable environment for the investment by the private

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sector, and employing the use of renewable energy indriving the growth of industrial and socio-economic
development[27,28,71-73].
4 DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Present Legal Framework and Incentives for the
Production and Exploitation of Renewable Energy
Sources in Ghana
4.1.1 Renewable Energy Sources Related Legislation
The medium-term of present Ghana’s national policy
framework for the country’s entire development is the
GSGDA for 2014-2017. The major energy policy guiding
the energy sector in Ghana is the National Energy Policy,
and it gets support from Energy Sector Strategy anddevelopment plan. In addition, the renewable energy
Act of 2011 was passed into law to provide the legal
and regulatory framework needed for developing andexpanding Ghana’s sub-sector of renewable energy.
Various sectors of the economy have also implemented
policies having components on the development andutilisation of substitute energy specifically, renewableenergy. In addition, Ghana came up with Country Action
Plan for SE4ALL in 2012[29,39,74-76].
4.1.2 GSGDA
GSGDA outline power as the key constraint thatbinds constraint to accelerated growth and developmentof the economy[30,43,77,78]. GSGDA illustrates that “Inthe medium-term, Government policy will focus on
increasing the proportion of renewable and other energy
sources in the supply mix, particularly solar, wind,mini-hydro and waste-to-energy. The strategies to be
implemented include the following:(i) Speeding up the implementation of the 87
provisions of the Renewable Energy Act 2011, Act 832;(ii) Provision of access to waste-to-energy technologies;(iii) Facilitation of access to the grid for stand-alone
renewable energy power plant.
4.2 National Energy Policy/Energy Sector Strategy andDevelopment Plan
The major policy guiding the development andmanagement of energy sector in Ghana is the National
Energy Policy 2010. The policy states that “the goalof the renewable energy sub-sector is to increase theproportion of renewable energy, particularly solar,
wind, mini-hydro and waste-to-energy in the nationalenergy supply mix and mitigate climate change”[19]. Theenergy sector’s vision is outlined in the Energy Sector
Strategy and Development Plan 2010. Hence, it seeks toguarantee the availability of an adequate level of energy
supply to meet the country’s internal demands and ensure
universal access to modern energy by 2025 and provide
surplus energy for export[19]. The major constraint in
the energy sector to be tackled for the realisation of this

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vision include:(i) Development of infrastructure for producing andsupplying of sufficient energy service aimed at meetingthe national obligation and for export;(ii) Expansion of the requisite infrastructure in
ensuring universal access as well as the efficiency andreliability of supply of energy services;(iii) Ensuring energy production and supply in a form
without adverse health, safety and environmental impact;(iv) Guarantee the efficient production, transportation
and use of energy.
The Energy Sector Strategy and Development Plan
outline that for solar, mini-hydro technologies, and wind,
the focus of the government will be on:(i) Promotion of exploitation and utilization of minihydro wind energy and solar resources;(ii) Support to the local research and developmentwith the aim of reducing the cost of renewable energy
technologies;(iii) Provision of tax incentives for the importation ofequipment for developing renewable energy projects;(iv) Giving support to the application of decentralized
off-grid substitute technologies (for example wind andsolar PV) in situation where competition exist.
4.3 Main Institutions in Renewable Energy Resources
Sector in Ghana
The institutional framework of the energy sector and therelated human capacities as per the design are to aid largescale energy infrastructure that is centralized. For different
parts though, renewable energy development needs otherdecentralized governance approaches including creating
new policies, regulations and plans in catalysing theactive involvement of new actors in the public and private
domain. Additionally, the development of renewableenergy plans fundamentally requires changing the roles
and responsibilities of the major actors which makes up
the energy sector institutional framework[13,19,23]. Figure 1A
below shows total primary energy supply in Ghana from2000 to 2019.
4.4 Key Energy Stakeholders and Institutions
The energy system in Ghana is under the managementof the public sector. Ministry of Energy has a responsibility
to oversee the formulation, implementation, monitoringand evaluation of policies of the energy sector. Volta River
Authority (VRA) and Bui Power Authority are owned by
the government and generate a capacity of 5,082.82MW[8082]. Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) is responsible forthe management of the transmission of national electricity
supplies as well as system operation to the industries andmining companies in addition to the two VRA electricity
distribution companies; Electricity Company of Ghana andNorthern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo)[1,32,80].

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Some regulatory agencies have been formed throughthe act of parliament to ensures every actor in theenergy sector carries out their roles efficiently andprovides a conducive environment for the protectionand enhancement of private investment in the energy
sector. The agencies are Energy Commission, Public
Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the
National Petroleum Authority. The Energy Commission
is responsible for advising the government about theenergy policy and strategy. Furthermore, it is partof indicative planning of the energy and expansionof electricity systems and licensing of energy sector
operators. PURC was formed in 1997 and is the prime
body used in setting up the tariffs and framing of service
regulations of the customers. The National Petroleum
Authority is however, an independent regulator. It
reviews the world market price including the imported
finished products and Ghana’s oil refinery[33,81-83]. There
are also many active non-governmental organizations
within the sector, institutes of research and higher edu
cation institutions, and industry associations that are
engaged in some activities related to renewable energy.
Among those activities are promoting renewable energy,
research and deployment in renewable energy[33]. Figure
1B and 1C shows total final amount energy consumed
and electricity generation by fuel source from 2000 to2019 in Ghana respectively.
4.5 Obstacles of Increase Usage of Renewable Energy in
Ghana
The desire for conventional fuels has heightened
environmental concerns and government and policymakers
have been forced to transition to renewable energy
technologies due to the economic consequences. As aresult, there is increasing daily energy requirements of
populations worldwide. Hence, the need for energy andrelated services to support human, social and economic
development, well-being and health is growing. Use ofrenewable energy helps combating climate change which
is a great idea, but it must be sustainable to fulfil future
generations’ energy demands. As a result, renewableenergy policy has been developed and structured ina way that encourages the use of renewable energy
technologies. Meanwhile lack of ability to fully harness
renewable energy resources is attributed to the following
factors:(i) Absence of legal renewable energy policy andregulatory framework(ii) Lack of access to credit and long-term finance(iii) Absence of an all-inclusive rural electrification
policy(iv) Lack of appropriate technical capacity for the
maintenance of renewable energy systems(v) Low level of research, development, demonstration and deployment on renewable energy

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MW

A

B

C

Figure 1. Energy and electricity generation in Ghana from 2000 to 2019. A: Total primary energy supply in Ghana from 2000
to 2019. Source: Energy Commission, 2020[31,79]; B: Total final energy consumed from 2000 to 2019. Source: Energy Commission,
2020[31]; C: Electricity generation by fuel source from 2000 to 2019. Source: Energy Commission, 2020[31].

4.6 Absence of Legal Renewable Energy Policy andRegulatory Framework
In spite of the commitment from the government todevelop renewable energy, the lack of an inclusive legal
and regulatory framework has been a key challenge

Innovation Forever Publishing Groupfor the independent power producers in investingin renewable energy technologies. For example,
the lack of network access rules and transparent
network pricing framework has hindered the growthof renewable energy[8]. The government’s strategy is

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Table 1. SWOT Analysis of Current Situation of Renewable Energy in Ghana
Strengths

Ref.

Ghana has a high potential for wind and solar energy due to its favourable climatic conditions of intensive solar radiationand high wind speed[3]

Ghana is politically stable hence provides a good working environment for investors[3]

Vast unoccupied land that can be used for putting up of renewable energy infrastructure[3]

Ghana has good policy framework such as Renewable Energy Act that promotes the development of renewable energy[3]

Availability of research institutions that trains students on renewable energy[3]Open opportunity for private investors to invest by reduction of the tax rate

[3]

Weakness
Licensing of regenerable energy projects is cumbersome and costly hence making investors to shy away

[3,84]

Lack of awareness about the potentials of renewable energy in Ghana hence people do not invest in it[3]

Lack of financing for solar consumers[85]

High cost of setting up the renewable energy due to high interest rates charged[3,86]

Loss of power while it is distributed[3]

Poor access to the grid limits the upgrading the network to high quantum of renewable energy[86]

Lack of technical skills to operate and maintain the renewable energy systems and technology[86,87]

Absence of all-inclusive energy policy has affected the distribution of renewable energy technology in rural areas.

[90]

Opportunities
Climate change awareness hence there is a need of promoting renewable energy to reduce the negative effects to theenvironment[3]

Availability of funds such as Climate Investment Funds (CIF), Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and the Global
Environmental Facility (GEF) these funds are used for financing renewable energy particularly reducing GHGs and develop
sustainable energy[3]

Increasing electricity demand in industrial, residential, and commercial sectors with an annual growth rate between 10 and
15% per annum hence there is need of increasing the supply of electricity through renewable energy[3]

The prices of renewable energy equipment’s are reducing hence this is an alternative cheaper method of generating
electricity[3]

Regional integration of the West African states in form of (ECOWAS) will help to consolidate the region’s power generating
sources to boost the supply of electrical[3]

Threats
Subsidizing fossil fuel hinders people from using alternative energy sources of renewable energy[3,86]

Changing climatic regions will affect the production of renewable energy that depend on weather[3]

Unreliable and inefficient data on renewable energy hence limiting development and large-scale production on renewableenergy[3]

The current land ownership system (customary, public and vested) in Ghana poses as a huge threat to the development of
renewable energy, particularly solar and wind that require large and accessible area of land

[3,84]

Inconsistency in the policy leads to lack of implementation of previous projects[3]

to encourage the expansion of mini-hydro and othermini-grid-connected renewable energy. However, thelack of well-documented tariff principles and a lackof sufficient regulatory capacity for mini-grid systems
have consistently operated as roadblocks. Moreover, no
incentive is available for developing stand-alone systems
due to the absence of an appropriate pricing frameworkthat enables the system to resell power to the electric
distribution company[32,84,85].
4.7 Lack of Access to Credit and Long-Term Finance
Another challenge is the reluctance that generally
exists among the local banks and other institutions offinances regarding the financing of renewable energy

Innovation Forever Publishing Grouptechnologies[5,86-88]. Ghana has a financial sector thatis well developed and comprises more than 25 banks,
which are grouped into commercial, merchant anddevelopment banks and has an average of 310 branches
within the country. Despite this, financial provision andaccessibility to long-term credit have not been avail tothe sector of renewable energy because of the following:(i) The renewable energy project is perceived to be arisky venture(ii) Lack of sufficient funds present at the bank(iii) In adequate experience and deep knowledge by
the bank staff on how to perform a credit risk analysis of
the renewable energy project(iv) Lack of ability by the private entrepreneurs and

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the energy service companies (ESCOs) in presenting
bankable proposals.
4.8 Absence of an All-inclusive Rural Electrification
PolicyEnergy policy even though covers the renewableenergy sector, the policy does not clearly define
the rural electrification policy compared to the grid
extension plans and off-grid programmes. The gap in
the policy has impacted the deployment, diffusion andcommercialisation of renewable energy technologies
among the communities in rural and peri-urban
areas[34,44,89,90].
4.9 Lack of Appropriate Technical Capacity for the
Maintenance of Renewable Energy Systems
Weakness in technical capacity among the private
entrepreneurs has been identified as a barrier,specifically in solar PV systems. Addressing this requires
international support and cooperation to generaterequired change technologically and enhance thecountry’s capacity to embrace renewable energy[34,35,91,92].
4.10 Low Level of Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment on Renewable Energy
The key barrier to research and development,
demonstration and deployment (R&DDD) on renewableenergy is the absence of the Ghana Government policy
directive that can drive and give direction to research anddevelopment activities on thematic areas that have been
specified on areas which include renewable energy[93-96].
In addition, the funding from the Government of Ghana
for R&DDD activities in the renewable energy sector
is insufficient. In contrast, the strategic framework forattracting funding for the private sector for R & R&DDD
is not yet developed. Moreover, there is weakness in thelinkage between industry and institutions of research or
the universities which can advance R&DDD activities andoffer technological needs of the industry[97,98]. Henceforth,
R&DDD has performed a limited role in driving thedevelopment and deployment of renewable energy in
Ghana. In addition, there is weak and inefficient sharing
of information in the renewable energy sub-sectors
which has resulted in the partners in the renewableenergy industry lacking the interest in R&DDD[36,37,99,100].
4.11 Merits of the Renewable Energy Issues in Ghana
Renewable Energy Technologies, particularly PVs, canreduce the country’s dependence on centralized power fromhydro and fossil fuel sources[101]. The existence of a regional
integration network in the sub region and the increased
electrification demand in some areas is a great opportunity
in the development of the renewable energy resource. As
a result, people develop confidence of the reliability of
the renewable sources hence increasing their chances ofadopting it[3,102-104]. The Ghana national agenda to achieve

Innovation Forever Publishing Group

10% increase in renewable energy utilization by 2030 has
increased the awareness of the public social acceptance andmaking the aware of the benefits. Citizen’s acceptance tothe use of renewable energy increases the demand for theenergy and therefore giving confidence to the financing
institutions to invest on the resource[105]. The national policyemphasizes on regenerating biofuels and on the other handthe country has great potential in biomass a management
and generating energy from waste hence greater advantage
for renewable energy in the country[106].
4.12 Authors’ Views on the Development of Renewable
EnergyGhana has an active power generation system andboth the public and private companies are involved init. Electricity access in the country is increasing fromtime to time diversifying to rural areas and surpassing
the demand. The adoption of renewable energy in the
country has played a significant role in addressing theincreasing energy demand and providing clean andreliable energy. The country adoption to Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) 7 by the UN which targets
on ensuring access to affordable, reliable and modern
energy services, increases the use and utilization of therenewable energy with more people embracing it. The
incorporation of renewable energy in Ghana plays animportant role in addressing the rising energy demandby the replacement of non-renewable fuels to clean andreliable fuels benefiting the local communities.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The review utilized a rapid review approach to analyse
information. The findings of the study showed that
Ghana has the potential in producing renewable energy. If
renewable energy sources are well utilized, they can sufficeand more than two-thirds of basic energy is consumed in
Ghana. Currently, the potential of renewable energy usedin Ghana is estimated to be not more than 20% and the
major one is hydropower. Among the major reasons for theneglect of the renewable energy sector in Ghana’s overall
usage is the absence of legal and technical regulation andframework that can act as a stimulant and land acquisition.
Despite this, the Ghanaian Government recently madesome strides in the renewable energy sector by adoptingsome legislation aimed at improving the feasibility of theeconomy in the production of energy through renewableenergy sources and government acquiring land compulsory
and compensation. Legislation such as the Renewable
Energy Act of 2011 seeks to provide the legal and regulatory
framework needed for developing and expanding Ghana’s
sub-sector of renewable energy. In addition, various sectorsof the economy have also implemented policies having
components on the development and utilisation of substituteenergy, specifically renewable energy[1].

9/14Additionally, Ghana ratified international legislation

J Mod Green Energy 2022; 1: 9https://www.doi.org/10.53964/jmge.2022009
such as the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. It
expressed her commitment to achieving the obligationof the Convention. Both the UNFCCC and the Kyoto
Protocol were supposed to reduce GHG emissions,with Ghana’s aim being a 15% reduction in absoluteterms. Ghana is also part of the ECOWAS White Paper
concerning regional policy on the accessibility of energy
services by the population in rural and semi-urban
areas. Ghana has key institutions in the energy sector
which are responsible for the management of energy
systems. These include VRA and GRIDCo, NEDCo.
Moreover, regulatory agencies have been created by
the act of the parliament. However, several barriers
that affect the utilization of renewable energy sourceswere identified and included absence of legal renewableenergy policy and regulatory framework, lack of accessto credit and long-term finance, absence of an allinclusive rural electrification policy, lack of appropriatetechnical capacity for the maintenance of renewableenergy systems and low level of research, development,
demonstration and deployment on renewable energy.
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge Dr. Isaac Mbir Bryant for proofreading
the manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declared that there are no conflict of interest.

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Author Contribution
The authors confirmed contribution to the paper asfollows: study conception: Takase M and Kipkoech R;
draft manuscript preparation: Takase M and Kipkoech R.
All authors reviewed and approved the final version of
the manuscript.
Abbreviation List
ECOWAS, Economic Community of West African
States
GHG, Greenhouse gases
GRIDCo, Ghana Grid Company
GSGDA, Ghana Shared Growth and Development
AgendaMW, Megawatts
NEDCo, Northern Electricity Distribution Company
PURC, Public Utilities Regulatory Commission
REEE, Renewable energy and energy efficiency
SE4ALL, Sustainable energy for all
UN, United Nations
VRA, Volta River Authority

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