Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
As Above
So Below
That which is Below
corresponds to that which is Above,
… to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing.
- The Emerald Tablet
of Hermes Trismegistus
imagining -
Rural Ghana
Industrial Revolution
- Harnessing Sun Life
& Light
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National Commission
for UNESCO presents
As Above
So Below
Rural Ghana Industrial Revolution
- Harnessing Sun Life & Light
exhibit title
exhibit description
sponsors
Wilkins Engineering
Groupe Birago Bonsu
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None of this would have been possible, said Liz Badu, a manager of the
advocacy group, Here Comes The Sun. Not the orphanage, not the Riviera, not
the various housing projects, and certainly, not the 2030 Clean City Dream
project target which we have surpassed for a couple of years now. None of this
were it not for the communally supported solar power mechanized recycling
facilities afforded and maintained by local tax payers here in Odornaa and
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Agbogbloshie. It has been key to the consistent and vastly improved sanitation
efforts in the Agbogbloshie Korle Gonno area. Something is also to be said for
the first waste-to-energy plant installed in 2018 near the rubbish and e-waste
landfills which the Agbogbloshie Area Association was made to acquire and
lease for the HCS project. It is highly significant in the narrative - it is what
secured this entire vision.
Odornaa Riviera, celebrated twice annually, has proven a major and fantastic
success. Generating funds mainly contributed by Ghanaians living abroad, it
supports the orphanage of 450 youth under 15 years of age and provides
them basic literacy and numeracy skills as well as extracurricular activities
with a focus on renewable energy culture, skills and devices.
With the support of local tax payers, a second solar powered waste-to-energy
plant in Ayalolo and a third near Kasoa both made possible by the group Here
Comes The Sun, have massively contributed to the sanitation efforts and
renewable energy efficiency agenda and vision in the whole of the Greater
Accra region, said Adebayo Worsornu, CEO of Here Comes the Sun. Employing
more than 900 people and generating some $2.7 million in gross revenue in
the last three years, Mr. Worsonu added that the thriving industry in Accra
has ensured the 2030 Clean City Dream project and positively stimulated the
economy - supporting several townships with community and environmental
health and infrastructure, remarkably stabilized energy supply along with
reduced energy costs.
In Brong Ahafo, 60km north and south of the capital Sunyani, a 7.5MegaWatts
grid connected solar PV plant consisting of about thirty thousand solar panels
has been constructed showcasing magnificent landscapes on entering and
exiting the region.
She explained that the youth in the surrounding towns and villages
considered capable, have received training partly funded by the solar
companies. Fully operational, each solar plant creates about eighty temporary
and thirty permanent jobs. Other benefits have been partnerships to form co-
operatives supporting, one suburb or settlement at a time, a total of 21,000
homes in the region, a project which also provides temporary jobs.
The towns are gaining good infrastructure, she said, beaming with pride. It is
the number one goal of the regional development agency. The estate
developers and smart urban planning follow when industry makes bold steps
and investments. We welcome all of that.
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Not many residents thought solar panel cropping will catch on. When it
started, it looked ugly, unsightly, unnatural, unwanted, says Madam Ohemaa
Amina, the yam market queen of the Ahafo-Tamale border towns where the
project started.
A representative of the regency, Mr. Eli Adamu, informed us that within seven
months to a year, along the main road on entering the northern region from
Brong Ahafo, thousands of what from the distance look like blank grey green
billboards, like an evergreen forest, canvased the landscape. They are PV or
photovoltaic solar farms built from thousands of solar panels, he explained.
They may, perhaps, be unsightly close up, however from afar, they make for a
relaxing, and mood elevating landscape – and surprise, surprise, they have
caught on.
Increasingly, clans and families in the various townships have followed suit -
handing over difficult to farm or unproductive agricultural lands for sun
farming to the agency. The northern parts of the region now feature rows
upon rows of grey green panels covering a total of 700,000 sq. miles -
harvesting sunshine guaranteed practically all year round and constantly
powering recycling facilities, and also irrigation and mechanized farming.
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It’s one hundred percent reliable profit, said Mr. Abu Mohammed who insists
on his lifestyle as a farmer particularly keeping to his grandfather’s farmland
which these days enjoys a resurrected irrigation system, thanks to solar
power. He now hopes to specialize in growing crops with high nutritional
capabilities which do so much better with mechanized agricultural practices
now possible with his daily harvest of solar energy. With more and more
semi-arid conditions to be confronted, a guaranteed crop and harvest with no
worrying about drought, locusts or pests, that is gold. … Solar energy, he tells
us, is the new cash crop. It is my golden insurance.
He is not the only one. From Accra and Kumasi, skilled workers and graduates
from the polytechnics are following in the two or three years after estate
developers arrived south of Tamale. With the recent outcrops of new
residential estates in the sunshine and in the backdrop of solar farming and
steady growth and constant power supply, Tamale sounds like California to
many.
Mr. Osa Djan, a retired urban developer who played a key role in the design
and building of what in the seventies and eighties was the new suburb of
Milton Keynes, in England, he is gearing up to build two twin cities not far
from the Tamale Brong Ahafo border. In collaboration with Ecobank, Mr. Djan,
during the press conference yesterday, described the four projects as mid-
sized cities, each with its own town center - town hall, law court, hospital,
library and of course a recreational park and shopping mall.
In Bawku in the Upper East Region - Seven years ago in 2021, the story of 109
Senior High School graduates who formed a solar PV panel assembling co-
operative went viral.
Yesterday, they marked their first decade in business with much celebration
as the exciting and ambitious idea to complete the seventh lot of 3000 panels
was achieved on the eve of the anniversary. The co-operative has over the
years added and ensured more than 60 local and permanent jobs.
The manager of the co-operative, Mr. Alhassan Sidibe, explained their new
venture developing panels specifically for the arid desert north of the Sahelian
in the wake of the wild success they have had with panels which withstand
more humid rainforest conditions. Over the years, it has also been their core
business to advocate and support communities seeking to replace
unproductive farmlands with solar farms.
Exports of harnessed sunshine to the northern parts of Togo and Ivory Coast
began about five years ago, as well as a steady investment in communities
beyond the borders where ideas for similar solar panel manufacturing co-
operatives and partnerships could thrive. This Mr. Sidibe said, was a way to
open doors beyond borders where seasoned managers from their co-
operative in Bawku could be transferred.
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We have the same climate east and west of us, he stated. … It is good business
practice to ensure that communities in the same or similar agro-climatic zones
remain in good standing and in good company.
Over the years, the co-operative has steadily attracted international news
coverage and also the interest and investment of several business schools and
technology institutes in Bangalore, Havana, Cuba, San Francisco and Toronto.
Forget Accra. Saltpond is the new Silicon Valley, chanted the excited bunch of
graduates gathered late at night in the one coffeehouse called The CR, The
Common Room, which used to be a produce warehouse.
Tech start-ups of mostly young men, ambitious, hardy and full of vision -
grubstaking and strategic, they are focused and smartly renovating or
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Speaking at the press conference last week, Mr. Kafui Kudjo, called Mullah by
everyone, a tech evangelist and avid lawyer who represents the new district in
Saltpond, expressed hope in the outlined objectives especially the specifically
tailored business application models under research and development in
partnership with a Japanese Robotic and GeoSatelite company based in Tokyo
with an interest in establishing an institute of technology and communications
in Saltpond.
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Upper West – A town of four hundred acres where three districts intersect in
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the region and where, once upon a time, about two hundred years ago, the
biggest central market by far and for thousands of miles stood, affectionately
called Trivia, has been in the news. Not only was it an international market it
was an international transportation hub, in those days, centuries ago, when its
caravans served places as far as Djenne in Mali, Elmina near Cape Coast and
Dahomey in Benin.
The chief of the intersected district town has donated the four hundred acres
to the main tertiary institution to use at their discretion for solar farming to
support development in his town and surrounding areas.
The first three months of the project which started two years ago yielded, for
the surrounding villages from its first crop of 270 solar panels installed,
continuous electricity supply, all day and all night. Enjoying free community
electricity, their clinics open twenty-four seven, evening schools possible for
women, hand dug wells brought closer home and easier to pump, the
homesteads have been awash with song and dance, storytelling and, of course,
emailing and skyping, which out-of-date for most is the coolest experience for
the retired women farmers. Gathered in the Community Center west of the
library as students in beginners’ classes developing ICT Skills and under the
glow of orange yellow street and compound lights, they are full of singing and
cajoling.
If anything at all solar farming for a long time was regarded as the purview of
government, purely a government matter and undertaking, explains Esi
Mawutor, director of the regional public-private sector investment
partnership community program for renewable energy. Affordability was a
different matter and it was not the culture to generate power yourself. What is
now commonplace – solar panels privately mounted for residential or
agricultural use – that was hitherto unknown. Another good thing is seeing
how locals volunteer regularly attending community programs, district
assembly meetings. … Civic engagement. That is individual and community
empowerment. That is key in every development program.
farming creating better facility for irrigation, Mr. Yusufu clarified. Centralized
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Yes to real power, yelled a graffiti artist at work at the community center. This
is what the white man should have brought us three hundred years ago and
not guns or borders. This is real commonwealth and freedom for real
development. … I see visions of independence and true sovereignty.
Obuo Tabiri, Koforidua - The Barack Obama Power Africa initiative at the
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achieved its objective and target of increasing its initial seventy rows of three
hundred solar panels in the last year.
We are talking of having added the size of fifty-three football fields installed
within one year, the district assemblyman, Yao Quarshie, explained. The
project, from the beginning in 2017, has not only been able to meet the energy
demands of the immediate area in the district and beyond, it achieved that in
spite of the population increase of about 4.5% per annum. … The whole
district is massively in support. … What can you say? None of these townships
have experienced an hour of power outage for more than three years.
The increase of 4.5% in population - these are mostly tech graduates from
Accra and Kumasi, Mr. Yao Quarshie explains. They come here to join start-
ups and to enjoy the tourism development which has come to characterize the
eastern region in the last five years. The new mood of our city is that of tech
young men and women, tech speak, tech visions and dreams, tech evangelists
and enthusiasts and they bring along with them groups of architects and
builders, and investors.. … The city of Obuor Tabiri is special, for more reasons
than one. … It is the one point we ensure by keeping the communication valve
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open between the district authority, the business and tech investors and the
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original townspeople.
River Motorway –
A project which straddles several regions, from the Volta Delta to Jasikan has
earned the moniker River Motorway, an aerial view revealing a conspicuous
line bifurcating the water right in the middle from the Delta area to Jasikan.
They are thousands of dark solar panels joined one to the other floating on the
water.
The areas along the water have gained character, that sense of common river-
bank River Motorway community culture, says Mrs. Okai Jablutey of the Volta
River Tourism Board. Like many others around the country, we all relied
entirely on the Akosombo hydroelectric plant till this venture was carved out
of Barack Obama’s Power Africa Initiative. The fisher folk around the waters
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the various town halls. Discontent, which clearly has turned into curiosity and
also a welcoming of what is considered novel by the youth of the towns along
the river. Also the spate of investments in resorts and restaurants has
considerably brought all kinds of improvement, Mrs. Okai Jablutey
emphasized.
The next phase of the project intended by 2031 is a replacement of the actual
storage facilities by more high tech reservoir systems which hold molten salts
- sodium and potassium nitrates - a system which vastly increases capacity for
storage of solar power.
Also in the Volta Region – The Kete Krachi Institute of Technology has
received investment from groups of Ghanaians resident abroad after their
very well publicized bid to raise funds to support their engineering
department went viral. The highlight of the fund-raising effort was a new
invention - solar panels programmable using rays of sunlight, the brain child
of a Kete Karachi native and graduate of the school. The new technology has
attracted local and international media attention since it was posted on a
crowd sourcing social media network site, helping to attract more funds
beyond what the institute initially called for. It also found itself, in addition,
garnering in the enthusiastic process, a team of Ghanaian engineers,
professors and investors, mainly from abroad, who have decided to become
an informal group of board members, who will focus on managing the
particular project as well as similar ones.
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The Vice Chancellor of the institute, Prof. Dr. Naana Tano, in her address, had
much to say about the exciting inventions coming out of the institute and
expressed gratitude for the dynamic support in funding for the engineering
faculty and various projects it has invested in and incubated over the years.
Western region - The scenery from the town center and the interior of Twifo
Praso all the way to its borders is a sight which fifteen years ago was
inconceivable.
Then all of Praso, Twifo Heman, all of this part of the region was an account of
unspeakable and incalculable loss and grief, says Mr. Essel, a manager at the
Pra and Offin Tourism Development Board. That one day this area could
inspire hope or beauty, a relaxing and meditative tourist attraction – that was
unimaginable. ... I wouldn’t have believed if you asked me. These parts of the
region and beyond looked by aerial views like the graveyards of the gods.
Many others, struck by the radical overhaul in the landscape for hundreds of
miles around, do agree. For two years now, solar panels cover ten 40-acre
fields, mostly degraded and ravaged by man-made craters caused by the
horrors of artisanal miners and machinery.
Solar farming is wealth, Mr. Essel added. It is equity. When and where there is
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The renewable energy advocacy group ‘Here Comes the Sun’ has won over
many communities with degraded lands by their Sunflower Fields project.
Over the years, the youth in surrounding villages were trained and steadily
assisted in the assembling of thousands of panels. This initiative ensured by
Here Comes the Sun is ongoing and a key aspect of the Sunflower Fields
projects for areas with degraded lands, emphasized Liz Badu, a manager of the
group. In this case in Twifo Praso, she explained, the youth in the villages for
three years were paid and housed, so they could focus on assembling what is
now installed, their reflectors which can be heard humming what sounds like
an anthem, and as though in a gentle choreography, the panels follow the
course of the sun.
It is like theatre, said Nana Serwaa Dufie, the wife of the Nkosuohene. It is
wonderful to see in recent years Twifo Praso maintaining these many solar
and recreational fields where people meet to enjoy the outdoors just watching
the sunrise or sunset and these tall mechanical sunflowers opening up or
closing up, slowly following the course of the sun, like real sunflowers do. …
And the quiet anthem like a lullaby, it is magical. … You hardly remember the
devastation this place has suffered for hundreds of years. … It’s like a new
world.
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Not only did we need to generate electricity on our own, we were in dire need
of natural environments of beauty and inspiration, added the Nkosuohene of
Twifo Praso sub-region. Now our lands which were totally destroyed by
galamsey activities from the eighteen hundreds, these same lands are now
redeemed thanks to the Sunflower Fields project by Here Comes the Sun.
Asked about the incidents where estate developers have been refused
permits, the Nkosuohene said there was some truth to that. It’s a matter of the
town and district assembly doing their due diligence, he clarified. We have to
do this responsibly, he added. The district assemblies and royal houses have
to hire the right people with the right kinds of development culture values
before our dealing with the estate developers. We want to be known for
accountability, trust, efficiency and responsibility. No more nepotism. No
more cronyism. That kind of attitude which years ago characterized
development projects, especially in rural areas, is just as atrocious and
degrading as galamsey itself.
man passionate about finding the right problems to solve and creating jobs
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along the way. Chief executive of his firm SolarRise Inc., a solar energy
development company, he has established a $1.2million sun farm near
Parkoso, in the Asokore Mampong area earlier this month, one of the five
invested in since 2019.
Work has already started and is expected to take another year to complete,
the engineer on site near Parkoso, Ms. Kokui Ababio explained. For two years
residences for the workers, seven big apartment complexes each one holding
thirty-six small apartments were put up. We have one main hospital and
several buses which shuttle back and forth the various buildings and
construction sites.
The two go hand in hand, he said in an informal interview. You got a mind of
your own, you are independent and you care about your people and their
development, you cannot but be solving the problems they have. You choose
strategic problems – in this case an approach which requires the creation of
jobs. … A problem calls for a solution and a solution if properly defined and
managed has inbuilt profit. We need to define profit as what brings social
commonwealth and capital, of course. In our day and time we cannot go
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wrong with renewable energy and technology needs and challenges. We have
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to be attracted to these problems and in the process of solving them lift the
nation and the people up.
In collaboration with private estate and home finance investment groups, Dr.
Acheampong saw to the commissioning a year ago, of the plan and vision to
build three small townships, each one complete with schools, two recreational
parks and a hospital.
Dr. Naa Norley Korsah, the Minister for Energy and Development in her
address to a group of engineers and environmentalists at Ashesi University,
mentioned SolarRise and the brave and bold steps it has made in investment
towards community and regional development. The minister speaking at
length about the importance of community efforts in solar energy enterprises,
reminded her audience that Akosombo HydroElectric dam was created in the
sixties for Tema Industrial Area and for the running of the capital city which
comprised of not more than ten separate townships and not more than ten
modern residential areas and of course for less than twenty percent of the
current population.
In response to a question, she clarified that the domestic visa and incentive
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Accra and north of Kumasi. Using the same example, she went on to explain
that Tema was actually an industrial city which in the sixties under Nkrumah
was intended and designed at every level. In fact, at the time, she stressed, if
you didn’t have a job connected to the industries out there in the Tema
industrial area, you were not allowed residency. You could not buy a parcel of
land and build a house there as a private person. It was like you needed to
qualify for a green card to live in Tema. That is what this calls for. The national
technical employment opportunity system is yet to be perfected however for
now it works reliably well – allowing top graduates from all over the country
to apply for new and permanent jobs and housing opportunities in the various
regions.
… These are exciting times, she added. We have to build the country by first
creating industries outside of the regional hubs. Industries determine cities
and towns. First the industries, then the building of smart and intelligent cities
and townships outside of these regional hubs. That is the vision we have. That
is the mission we have invested in over the last ten years. And yes, it is the
direction in which we are headed as a country and as a people.
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