Engineering and Energy can bring economic growth

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday December 1, 2007
The President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), Dr Essel Ben Hagan, says the close connection between engineering and energy services should be harnessed to support the nation’s economic growth.

This he said can be achieved through capacity building of indigenous engineering firms, facilitating innovation in the energy sector and strict regulation of engineering practice.

Dr Hagan was speaking on the occasion of the 38th Presidential Address of the GhIE in Accra on Thursday, under the theme: “sustaining the 3e Nexus in Ghana: Engineering Energy and Economic growth”.

Dr Hagan said “reliable and sustainable supply of energy is a critical input to this economic growth, and the engineers of Ghana are poised to provide the needed human resource to the energy sector to achieve this objective”.

He said in the 2008 budget statement it was made clear that the government was putting in place many interventions to expand the energy sector for future use and engineers will have to position themselves properly in order to be part of the expansion programmes.

“The challenge is on us to seize the opportunity to fit into the government’s action plan for the energy sector.”

On renewable energy system he said, “Ghana has significant renewable energy resources in the form of direct solar radiation and biomass as well as wind energy along the coastline which could be developed to support national development”.

Dr Hagan urged indigenous engineers to participate fully in the development, installation, repair and maintenance of renewable energy systems.

He also challenged the Volta River Authority (VRA), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and independent power producers to support the development of renewable energy and integrate it into their systems.

He said the recent energy crisis that hit the country should serve as a constant reminder for all stakeholders to promote effective energy security for the country.

He commended the government’s effort to encourage the use of energy efficiency bulbs, saying that “the promotion of energy efficiency and conservation tells how the crisis affected us”.

He said the recent oil discovery presents real challenges and opportunities for indigenous engineers.

Louis Casely-Hayford, an energy expert and past president of GhIE who chaired the function said the responsibility rests on engineers to take advantage of the offers in the budget statement to support the government to promote energy efficiency.

“Engineering, energy and economic growth are very crucial in today’s circumstances as well as the future development of the country”.