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Energy Commission Ghana to use PLEXOS to optimise energy landscape

Team Energy Exemplar : January 10, 2023

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Energy Commission Ghana to use PLEXOS to optimise energy landscape

Energy Commission (EC) of Ghana has signed an agreement to use Energy Exemplar’s modelling software to understand the whole energy landscape across Ghana, including gas and electricity
Modelling with PLEXOS will help Ghana work with neighbouring countries to adopt wider use of renewables
The software was obtained with funding from The World Bank
The agreement comes ahead of cooperation between African nations crucial to the region’s COP27 aspirations

10 January 2023, London: With the Ghanian government looking to increase the proportion of renewables in the national mix from 42.5MW to 1,363MW (>30x), the Energy Commission Ghana has announced a two-year agreement with Energy Exemplar to use their modelling software PLEXOS in supporting the country’s energy aspirations.

Founded in 1997, Energy Commission of Ghana is a government body in charge of managing Ghana’s energy resources. It consists of seven commissioners responsible for licensing, renewables, infrastructure, and efficiency.

Interconnectivity between countries will allow African nations to cooperate to meet energy requirements and keep costs affordable for the consumer all year round.

PLEXOS, which is already in use in Senegal and Morocco, is fast becoming a ‘common language’ for African states wishing to harness the continent’s wealth of resources, reducing dependence on biomass for thermal energy by 2030, as per Ghana’s Renewable Energy Master Plan.

The agreement with Energy Exemplar was funded by The World Bank.

“Working with Energy Exemplar is a significant step forward to realising Ghana’s clean energy objectives. Ghana and its neighbours in the West African Power Pool have enormous renewable energy potential which we now have the opportunity to understand, to harness and to optimise to a level previously unattainable.

We hope that our innovative approach provides an example to the whole continent of how to adapt and respond to growing climate, market and geopolitical challenges.”

- Ing. Oscar Amonoo-Neizer, Executive Secretary, Energy Commission

Ghana is looking to expand and optimise its existing hydropower (already accounting for 29 per cent of total installed electricity generation capacity in 2021), as well as wind and solar. Energy Commission Ghana will also use PLEXOS to obtain a greater understanding of fluctuations in the price of gas, 20 per cent of which comes from Nigeria via the West African Gas Pipeline.

Cooperation will prove crucial to meeting COP27 targets, which have a particular focus on the centrality of water, agriculture, biodiversity, and decarbonisation – key themes in Africa’s accelerating renewable aspirations.

“We are excited and humbled that our software PLEXOS is contributing to the energy transformation towards zero carbon emissions in Africa, especially in providing a shared ‘sector language’ for all those states looking to optimise their energy systems supporting collaboration and exchange.

Having historically invested less in carbon-intensive oil and gas, Africa is in a prime position to take a clean leap towards renewables. PLEXOS will prove indispensable in making that transition as risk-free as possible."

- Michael Schneider, Senior Vice President, Head of EMEA at Energy Exemplar

Clean energy investment can be difficult to secure in Africa, which is why international support was stressed at COP26 and will likely be readdressed at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt this year. Energy Commission of Ghana obtained PLEXOS with the help of funding from the World Bank and is planning to go live on January 1, 2023.

About Energy Commission Ghana: Founded in 1997 by an Act of the Parliament of Ghana, Energy Commission is the government body overseeing Ghana’s entire energy sector. Its stated mission is “to regulate and manage the development and utilisation of energy resources of Ghana to ensure the provision of affordable energy supplies in a reliable, efficient and secure manner in order to promote the social and economic well-being of the people of Ghana, enhance environmental quality and public safety.”

About Energy Exemplar: Headquartered in Adelaide, Australia – with offices in the US, Europe, North and South America, and Asia – Energy Exemplar helps 450+ customers, comprising a large share of the world’s top energy market stakeholders across 71 countries, to analyse scenarios for the most accurate outcomes while supporting their organisational and digital transformation.

Energy Exemplar supplies energy solutions across the electric, gas and renewable markets and supports infrastructure projects worldwide. Energy Exemplar supports PLEXOS, the market-leading integrated energy simulation software. Along with electric power, water and gas datasets, users can digitally replicate real-world energy markets to deliver crucial forecasting. PLEXOS helps to inform trading, generation scheduling, capacity expansion and market analysis across multiple industry sectors.