GHANA – German multinational conglomerate Siemens, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Republic of Ghana to address the country’s energy and infrastructure challenges.
Siemens work will also contribute to the Government’s growth and development agenda of creating high quality jobs and enhancing the vocational skills of Ghana’s youth.
The MoU was signed by Siemens and the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) in the presence of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo and the President and Global Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG, Joe Kaeser.
Under the agreement, the two companies will work collaboratively to upgrade and extend Ghana’s transmission infrastructure.
They will also collaborate in improving the country’s grid capacity and stability.
Siemens will also help GRIDCo in expanding a stable power export to neighboring countries in the West African Power Pool.
“Access to electricity is an imperative need for the people and business and, thus, for economic success of any economy.
As Ghana has significantly invested into generation capacity, there is now an urgent need to build a reliable, affordable and sustainable electrical network for the country and its people.
With our proven and unique end-to-end electrification solutions, our expertise and reliability, Siemens can be a technology partner and help the country achieve its objectives,” Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens.
President Akufo-Addo has set out to achieve an ambitious strategy to transform the country, both socially and economically, driving its progress to becoming a sustainable industrialized county.
The Government is currently delivering on the promises made in their 2016 election manifesto.
These goals include the reduction of electricity prices and reversing the trend of declining economic growth.
To support Ghana’s increasing need to reform the national Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system, Siemens will also educate and train young Ghanaians in various engineering disciplines and provide training on Siemens equipment for STEM education and TVET.
Improving the energy sector in Ghana is now one of the key priorities for Siemens, therefore the implementation of this MoU will help leapfrog the country and its people towards its industrial and societal development goals.
The electricity supply challenges in Ghana can be attributed to a number of factors, including a high level of losses in the distribution system, which is mainly due to the obsolete nature of distribution equipment, as well as nonpayment of revenue by consumers.
Siemens strategic support will therefore be highly beneficial especially at a time when the country is targeting to achieve universal access to electricity for its citizens.
