German funded waste to energy power plant to help Ghana sustainably manage piling urban waste

Ghana – Ghana and Germany have launched a 400 KW hybrid waste-to-energy (w2e) power plant to treat urban solid waste in the country.

The plant which will be in Atwima Nwabiagya, Ashanti Region is expected to help Ghana help Ghana deal with the menace of solid waste by treating and generating power from the treated waste.

Additionally, the project to be implemented by the West African Science Centre on Climate Change and Advanced Land Use (WASCAL) is expected to help close the carbon cycle by starting the value chain of production and utilization of compost.

The compost from the plant would be sold to farmers to boost agriculture and cut down on mineral fertilizer whilst improving the soil structure.

Speaking during the project launch in Accra, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, said the Plant was expected to be built and operated within four years as a pilot.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng added that after the pilot phase, 10 or more plants would to be built within the next 10 to 20 years in different regions.

Under the project, the Minister explained, the “sun and other biodegradable materials would be used to create and generate energy and biogas while plastics and other things would go through paralysis to also produce energy.

The minister described the project as “an environmental and sanitation project, which would help us clean our environment and generate energy”.

Mr Christoph Retzlaff, the German Ambassador to Ghana said the project was being funded by the German government with an amount of six million Euros and would help create 50 new jobs in the Ashanti Region.

Retzlaff added that the new waste to energy plant would save about 800,000 tonnes of harmful emissions from being released to the atmosphere each year.

The German Ambassador also said that the project would also enhance human resource capacity building, high level of research and development.

The German Government will be overseeing the project through the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF).

It will be represented by the Project Management Agency Julich which will be collaborating with universities both in Ghana and Germany, to undertake the project.

The project would also contribute to Ghana’s climate change mitigation strategy as well as to the inclusion of renewable energy.