Story By: Mabel Adorkor Annang
Blending 10 percent of ethanol with gasoline can serve as a transition fuel to help reduce carbon emissions and save Ghana about 56.3 million dollars a year.
The Chief Executive of Bulk Energy Storage and Transportation, Mr. Edwin Provencal, who stated this at the Ghana Energy Day at COP28 in Dubai, described the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy as an opportunity for Ghana’s transportation industry.
The primary focus at COP28 is expediting the shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources to mitigate climate change impacts. However, this transition has encountered resistance from oil and gas companies advocating a Just Transition.
During Ghana’s Energy Day panel discussion, carbon market issues and how Ghana’s energy agencies are preparing to capitalize on the Energy Transition agenda were topics that took center stage.
The Chief Executive of Bulk Energy Storage and Transportation, Mr. Edwin Provencal, presented the Ethanol and Gasoline blending strategy as an opportunity for Ghana’s transportation sector.
“That pathway would be which ones would gain the transition fuel. First one would be gas; the second one would be how do we make the existing fuels cleaner. Will then come the ethanol and gasoline. From the study we have done, the business case with power plant.
Meaning it eradicates poverty from the rural areas, because we discussed growing plantations for corn and cassava. We can start extracting ethanol from them and then blend it with the gasoline.”
Deputy Director of Nuclear and Alternative Energy at the Ministry of Energy is Dr. Robert Sogbadji.
“We need to install more base growth power, which is clean. We also have to look at the funding mechanism because presidents had to come in, to the extent that this is a global issue we are solving.
And so they have to come I with the funding mechanism that would lower the cost of going green.”
The Project Coordinator of SREP and GESTIP at the Ministry of Energy. Mr. James Demitrus also emphasized the need to work together to embrace cleaner forms of energy.
The panelists spoke about addressing challenges and ensuring an equitable transition, leaving no one behind in this transformative journey towards cleaner energy.
