Regulations and political support are critical to accelerating the deployment of mini-grids in Sub-Saharan Africa. By providing clear guidelines, and financial incentives, and creating an enabling environment, governments can attract private sector investment. An important tool to facilitate private investment in renewable energy projects is the carbon market, with the new Paris Agreement Article 6 mechanism. Whether existing mini-grids like the Yeboakrom Living Lab can further grow and attract third-party funding through such global climate finance mechanisms will be investigated in a Master’s Thesis by Simon Pfluger.
Therefore, Professor Rexford Assasie Oppong, Scientific Director of the KNUST SEED Center, welcomed Simon in Kumasi in January 2023. Simon will stay at the KNUST SEED Center until May 2023, where he will be collecting data for his Master’s Thesis, and also taking courses in Renewable Energy Technologies (Masters) at KNUST.
After a first kick-off meeting in January, Professor Assasie Oppong took Simon to the KNUST SEED Center living lab on 4th February 2023 to enable Simon primarily experience how the 600 people-community of Yeboakrom benefits from the mini(off)-grid. The mini(off)-grid has been providing electricity to the Yeboahkrom community since December 2021.
The living lab is supporting the Technical University of Munich (TUM) led Sustainable Energies and Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) project where a 2 km stretch of Forty plus (40+) poles mini(off)-grid of 20 KVA solar PV array, 15 KWH battery storage and 30 kW hybrid inverter for rural electrification had been constructed and installed for teaching, conducting research and academic exchanges in entrepreneurship, renewal energy systems, climate change actions, agricultural practices, eco-architecture/design, green building and construction, capacity building and financial management skills for rural development, to reduce poverty in the global south and to contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
During their visit and in a third personal meeting on 2nd March 2023, Professor Rexford and Simon intensified their academic exchange of ideas about the future of the KNUST SEED Center. Simon aims to contribute his thesis to the future development of the Yeboakrom living lab to enhance academic exchanges. He will assess options such as an extension of the current grid to adjacent rural communities or providing electrical cookstoves to the local community by investigating whether third-party funding could be mobilized through the Paris Agreement Art. 6 mechanisms for such activities within the mini-grid governance framework of Ghana.
The KNUST SEED Center has plans for Professor Rexford and Simon to engage with the Energy Commission of Ghana to further investigate Ghana’s mini-grid regulatory framework.