PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Isofoton signs MoU to supply solar pumping systems in Ghana

A €65 ($78 million) development loan from Spain to the government of Ghana contains €5 million ($6 million) for installing solar pumping systems in agricultural applications.

	© Sven Dernedde
Rural communication: Ghana continues its rural electrification using solar technology. Pictured is a PV powered public phone based on GSM technology installed by Ghana Telecom.

On Sept. 22, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Madrid-headquartered wafer, cell, and module manufacturer Isofoton for execution of the 16-months project. Installation of the first systems is expected to start in the second quarter of 2006. Isofoton indicated that about 60 percent of the project budget will be used for the pumping hardware and the solar modules, adding up to a total power of 325 kW. The remaining 40 percent would cover civil engineering work for the irrigation facilities. While Isofoton quotes a number of 100 sites to be equipped, Omane Frimpong from the company's local contractor Wilkins Engineering Ltd. in Accra, even expects that 150 pumping systems could be built up, spread over all of the 10 country's regions. According to Frimpong, these devices will be used exclusively to pump water for irrigation, not for drinking purposes.

Although Wilkins has already carried out several other PV projects, the new one would be the first for the local company to install PV pumping systems. Isofoton's commitment in Ghana dates back several years: already in 1998, the company received $5 million for rural electrification projects within the framework of a Spanish government loan to Ghana (see PI 11/2001, p. 6). At that time, Isofoton even intended to build a 1 MW module assembly plant in the country, but following feasibility studies the plans were put on ice. And now, despite the current pumping project and other donor-driven programs, the Ghanaian solar market is still considered too weak to sustain a local module production on a long-term basis, let aside that Isofoton is quickly expanding its module factory in Malaga, Spain.