By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
To avert the possible energy crisis staring in the face of the country, the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, has stressed the urgent need for the country to transition to a gas-to-power system to cut costs and improve efficiency in the energy sector.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency, in his preliminary comments made during the National Economic Dialogue hinted that the continued reliance on liquid fuel to power electricity generators is financially unsustainable and contributes to corruption and wastage.
The minister’s remarks come amid concerns over the financial health of Ghana’s energy sector, which is burdened with GH₵80 billion in outstanding liabilities.
“Finally, from what I am seeing, we immediately have to move into a gas-to-power era. The liquid fuel bills alone are about $1 billion this year.
“Half of that can build a gas processing plant that will save us about $600 million per annum. And so for me, that is something non-negotiable,” the Energy Minister told the gathering at the event on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, held at the Accra International Conference Centre.
According to him, Ghana has significant gas reserves that remain unused, forcing the country to rely on costly liquid fuel imports.
“We have stranded gas that we cannot use, yet we have to buy liquid fuel. We must bring that gas processing plant on and cut the cost. That will also cut corruption and cut the wastage,” he emphasised.
Mr Jinapor has warned that without urgent reforms, the energy sector is at risk of collapse, with power producers already shutting down plants due to non-payment of debts.
