The next renewable energy masterplan must put Ghanaians at the forefront, truly

Last month in Accra, Africa’s energy leaders convened at the Future of Energy Conference (FEC) to debate our continent’s future. This week, I head to Banjul for the Energy Sustainability in Africa (ESIF) forum to tackle the pivotal question of finance. In the crucial interval between these two pivotal gatherings, our nation is drafting its next Renewable Energy Master­plan. The pressing question for us all is this: will this plan be bold and pragmatic enough to truly put Ghanaians first?

I recall a visit to Fufulso (a.k.a. Damongo-Junction) in the Savan­nah Region, where the immense potential of solar power is starkly overshadowed by the enduring reality of a kerosene queue, even though the village appears to have grid power access. This contrast is a microcosm of Africa’s great paradox. The FEC revealed that while investment in Africa’s energy sector is projected to reach $100 billion this year, a staggering half is still funnelled into fossil fu­els. Even more concerning, our continent receives a meagre two per cent of global clean energy investment. So, while international financier’s debate blended finance models in conference halls, moth­ers in Ghana are still bargaining for expensive, polluting fuel to light their homes and power their small businesses. This is the profound frustration. But within it lies an even greater promise. Ghana’s new Masterplan is our sovereign chance to bridge this gap ourselves.

Solar targets versus reality

Our national ambition is clear: 1,300MW of renewable ener­gy by 2030. The on-the-ground reality, however, is that we have installed just over 150MW. The FEC’s concluding action points were emphatic: simply connecting more households to the grid is a failed strategy; “electricity access must drive productivity, not just connections.” This is why the government’s vision for a 24-hour economy is inseparable from a successful, implementation-ready Masterplan. We must power more than light bulbs; we must power jobs, agro-processing, cold storage, and night markets. Energy is the essential oxygen of the 24-hour economy. Without it, the dream suffocates.

To achieve this, the Masterplan must be built on four detailed, Ghanaian-centred pillars, enriched by the hard lessons from Accra and the emerging consensus from Banjul.

1. Policy and regulatory reform with Ghanaians in mind

We need more than aspirations; we require legally binding targets to provide the long-term certainty that attracts serious investment. We urgently need a digital one-stop-shop, perhaps under energy.gov. gh, to eliminate the bureaucratic maze and delays that cripple local projects.

Furthermore, a supercharged, standardised net-metering policy, uniformly applied by ECG and NEDCo, is essential to allow SMEs, schools, and households to become active energy producers. This aligns directly with the FEC’s top-level call for “cross-party accountability laws” that will “pre­vent policy reversals.” Stability and clarity are the foremost invitations to investment. Ghana should lead by embedding this wisdom into our Masterplan.

2. A Ghanaian Quality Assur­ance Framework (G-QAF) – Build­ing Trust, Unlocking Capital

Ghanaians deserve absolute quality and protection from sub­standard equipment and installa­tions. We propose a Ghana Quality Assurance Framework (G-QAF), inspired by the

UK’s successful Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). This would see the Energy Commission empower an industry body to certi­fy solar companies against rigorous technical and financial standards. Why empower industry body? Because the Energy Commission lacks the personnel to do this job nationwide and timely? Every installation would be registered in a mandatory national digital registry, generating a unique Ghana Installation

Certificate—this becomes the golden ticket for consumers to access net metering and protects their investments.

This is not a peripheral issue. As the FEC concluded, “Governance safeguards are the backbone of Africa’s transition.” This frame­work is the ultimate de-risking tool. It provides the “demonstrated technical, financial & legal feasibil­ity” that institutions like Deloitte identify as core to bankability. It transforms our solar market from a wild west into a trusted destination for capital.

3. Financing that Works for Ghanaian Innovators and Com­munities

We must move beyond tradition­al models. The FEC highlighted that a single dollar of conces­sional finance can unlock three dollars of private capital. To truly empower Ghanaian communi­ties, we must leverage innovative finance—from Ghanaian Green Bonds and diaspora investments to carbon market revenues—to fund community-owned mini-grids and agro-solar hubs, while expanding Results-Based Financing to ensure every cedi spent delivers measur­able economic impact for local families. We must urgently establish a Ghana-focused

Blended Finance Fund, combin­ing climate finance, development bank guarantees, and private capital to specifically de-risk produc­tive-use solar applications for local developers.

Furthermore, we must aggressively position Ghana to capitalise on the evolving carbon markets, as detailed by the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI). Demand is shifting from low-cost credits to high-in­tegrity, high-price removal credits. By whitelisting solar and

PUE in our national carbon strategy, we can crowd-in invest­ment, using carbon revenue to improve project economics and fund further deployment. This, coupled with leveraging domestic resources like pension funds and plugging extractive sector revenue loopholes—as urged at FEC— turns carbon finance and nation­al revenue into a catalyst for a virtuous cycle of indigenous green growth.

4. Skills, Innovation, and Captur­ing Value for Ghanaian Jobs

This transition must be built by and for Ghanaians. It requires a mandatory national certification programme for solar technicians, integrated into the curricula of our technical universities. Critically, we must authorise and train personnel from certified Ghanaian companies to install and commission bi-direc­tional net meters, solving ECG’s logistical backlog while creating formalised, skilled jobs.

We must pilot cutting-edge technologies like agrivoltaics (combining solar farms with crop cultivation) to address food and energy security simultaneously, and embrace pilot projects for battery storage (BESS) and solar-powered EV charging hubs for our ubiqui­tous motorcycles and tricycles. The FEC was clear: “Africa must seize value chains in batteries and EVs, not just export minerals.” This is how Ghana can link renewables to the 24-hour economy. Let’s start that value capture here. And this matters because it will deliver real-world impact by creating jobs from Bawku to Accra, ensuring food security through solar-pow­ered cold chains, and guaranteeing fairness via consumer protection and bankable data-building a more resilient Ghana for all.

Why this does detailed, four-pil­lar approach matter? It matters for jobs, food security, and national fairness. A stark lesson from Deloitte’s presentation in Accra is that 60 per cent of failed African energy projects stem from weak feasibility studies. Let the Master­plan mandate and support creative funding of feasibilities to de-risk platforms for local firms, position­ing Ghana as a regional hub for learning and implementation. This is how we ensure the Masterplan is designed by Ghanaians, and rooted in our realities.

The spirit of the upcoming ESIF conference in Banjul is one of regional solidarity. Ghana can show true leadership by embedding these detailed lessons—finance with accountability, energy for productivity, and governance with teeth—into a Masterplan that be­comes a model for ECOWAS.

Let this Masterplan be remem­bered not as another glossy report on a shelf, but as the moment Ghana turned its boundless sun­light into shared, tangible prosperi­ty. Let it be designed by Ghanaians, for Ghanaians, and offered as a promise to West Africa. The sun shines for everyone; it is our duty to ensure its power benefits us all.

The writer is the CEO of Suka Wind & Solar Energy Ltd.

BY ALHAJI ABDUL RAAJ

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