Future of Energy Conference: Africa must power production, not just consumption — policy leaders

African countries must move beyond expanding electricity access for household consumption and focus on using energy as a catalyst for industrialisation, value addition and economic transformation, policy leaders at the Future of Energy Conference 2026 have said.

While African economies continue to pursue ambitious targets for universal electricity access, the experts argue that access alone will not deliver meaningful economic transformation unless energy systems are designed to support productive sectors.

Ghana, for instance, currently has about 89 percent electricity access and is targeting universal access by 2030.

At the conference, organised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), experts stressed the need for African countries to align their energy strategies with industrial and economic development priorities.

Dr Marit Kitaw, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said there could be no just minerals transition without a corresponding just energy transition.

She said Africa must fundamentally rethink how it plans and deploys energy, moving from a consumption-driven approach towards one that supports production.

"Universal energy access remains a moral and development imperative. Access alone is not enough and industrial transformation requires power that is affordable, reliable, scalable and available," she said.

Dr Kitaw's position was echoed by Ghana's Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who called for a shift from the export of raw materials towards high-value production within Africa.

"We must not replace fossil fuel export with raw minerals export and call it transformation because that it not," he emphasised.

The Finance Minister said Africa's industrialisation agenda must be pursued collectively, leveraging the continent's large market rather than treating its 54 economies as isolated markets.

"Africa must industralize as one market, not 54 fragmented economies. The Africa Continental Free Trade Area gives us reach but agreements alone does not create trade. We must move from trading what we produce to producing what Africa trades in," he stated.

He said Africa had the resources, market and human capital required to transform its economic fortunes, but the continent must now translate those advantages into productive capacity.

"The resources are here in Africa, the market is with us, the people of Africa are ready. Let us turn Africa's potential into production; production into jobs; and jobs into prosperity," the Minister said.

Dr Kitaw further noted that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides an opportunity to transform fragmented national markets into a single market of about 1.4 billion people.

She said stronger regional energy cooperation could also provide the foundation for industrial growth by improving reliability, lowering costs and enabling countries to optimise their energy resources.

"Regional power pools can help countries share generation capacity, reduce system costs and improve reliability, while regional mineral corridors can connect mines to processing hubs, manufacturing centers and markets," she said.

According to Dr Kitaw, Africa's energy strategies should be directly linked to mineral development plans, industrial policies, trade frameworks, infrastructure corridors and skills development.

The policy leaders' call comes as African countries seek to leverage their vast mineral resources, expanding energy systems and the AfCFTA to accelerate industrialisation, create jobs and retain more value from the continent's natural resources.

The emerging consensus is that Africa's energy transition must not only ensure that people have electricity, it must ensure that electricity powers factories, processing plants, businesses and the productive economy.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Future of Energy Conference: Africa cannot industrialise in the dark – ECOWAS Bank President

President of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Dr George Nana Agyekum Donkor, has warned that Africa’s industrialisation ambitions will remain elusive without adequate, reliable and affordable energy.

 

He said Africa had for decades supplied the world with raw materials, including cocoa, gold and bauxite, while importing finished products at significantly higher costs, a situation that has constrained value addition, job creation and economic transformation on the continent.

 

"We have lit up other continents while over 600million of our own people remain in darkness," he stated as keynote speaker at the Future of Energy Conference 2026 in Accra. "Africa cannot industrialise in the dark".

 

Dr Donkor said achieving Africa’s industrialisation agenda would require deliberate policymaking, stronger coordination and substantial investment in energy infrastructure.

 

He stressed that no industrial revolution could take off without a robust and dependable energy system capable of supporting manufacturing and other productive sectors.

 

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa requires about $25 billion annually to achieve universal access to electricity, highlighting the scale of investment needed to close the continent’s energy deficit.

 

Dr Donkor said EBID, recognising energy as central to Africa’s industrialisation, had committed more than $1 billion of its resources across the energy value chain as of June 2026.

 

"We have invested in electricity generation,  both conventional and renewable, transmission and distribution projects, while also supporting fuel procurement to keep economies running," said Dr Donkor.

 

He said the bank’s Growth, Resilience and Optimisation Strategy would see it commit a minimum of $2 billion to the energy sector by 2030.

 

Dr Donkor proposed a four-pronged approach to addressing Africa’s energy deficit and creating the foundation for industrialisation.

 

The approach includes strengthening national and regional grid systems, deploying large-scale renewable energy systems, exploiting domestic natural gas resources and expanding embedded generation capacity within industries.

 

"Effective industrialisation in Africa requires a mixed energy system consisting reliable electricity, renewable energy, natural gas, regional power pools and distributed energy solutions. The objective is not merely to increase electricity access but to ensure that industries receive affordable, reliable and sufficient energy to drive manufacturing, value addition, employment creation and economic transformation," he said.

 

From minerals to industrial value chains

 

The Africa Mineral Development Centre (AMDC) also underscored the need for Africa to move beyond the extraction and export of raw minerals and develop industries capable of converting its vast natural resources into higher-value products.

 

Interim Director-General of the AMDC, Claudine Sigam, said Africa already possessed many of the mineral resources required to participate meaningfully in the global energy transition.

 

She said the key challenge was to develop the energy, industrial capacity, skills and markets required to transform those resources into materials, competitive enterprises, jobs and sustainable prosperity.

 

"When the global conversation focuses on minerals, Africa must broaden into materials, value chains and markets. Minerals alone does not create industrialization. We need competitive energy to transform minerals into materials, industrial capabilities to transform materials into products, and markets capable of sustaining those industries," she said.

 

Ms Sigam said Africa’s energy, mineral and industrial transformation should therefore be treated as an integrated development agenda aimed at maximising value creation on the continent.

 

The Future of Energy Conference 2026 is being held in Accra on the theme: "Powering Africa’s Industrial Transformation: Energy Systems for Value Addition and Competitiveness".

 

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

EV boom: Ghana moves to standardise charging infrastructure to protect power grid

The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Dr John Abdulai Jinapor, has called for greater standardisation and regulation of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure as Ghana prepares for rising electricity demand from the growing adoption of electric mobility.

 

He said the rapid expansion of EVs, coupled with increasing electricity needs from industries, mines, data centres and businesses, requires deliberate planning to prevent pressure on the national power grid.

 

Speaking at the 2026 Future of Energy Conference (FEC) in Accra, Dr Jinapor said the government was working to ensure that the growth of electric mobility was matched by adequate investment in electricity generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

 

"Our research shows that when you use EV vehicles, you save about 40percent on the cost of fuel alone. So naturally, Ghanaians are opting for EV vehicles," he observed.

 

He said while the transition to electric mobility offered significant economic and environmental benefits, the uncoordinated expansion of charging infrastructure could create new challenges for the electricity distribution system.

 

According to the Minister, Ghana leads the African Market of EV vehicles, noting that some private operators were establishing charging stations using new technologies capable of charging vehicles within 10 to 15 minutes, but such fast-charging systems could draw significant amounts of electricity from the grid.

 

He cautioned that the concentration of high-demand charging facilities without adequate grid planning could put pressure on local distribution networks and transformers.

 

"So what we are saying is that you'd need permission to set up those EV charging stations from the Energy Commission. That gives us the opportunity to reinforce the grid to install more transformers to accommodate the charging stations," he said.

 

The Energy Commission has already directed individuals, companies and institutions intending to install or operate EV charging stations and battery-swap systems to obtain prior approval from the Commission. The directive is intended to ensure that charging infrastructure complies with national safety, technical and operational standards.

 

The Commission has also been developing regulations covering EV charging infrastructure and battery-swap systems, in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority. The proposed framework covers residential, workplace, public and commercial charging infrastructure, as well as safety and consumer protection.

 

Ghana's move towards electric mobility forms part of a broader effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and cut emissions from the transport sector. The Energy Commission's Drive Electric Initiative, launched in 2019, is intended to promote electric mobility while supporting the development of the necessary charging infrastructure.

 

The Commission has also demonstrated the potential of renewable-powered charging infrastructure through a solar-powered DC fast-charging station at its headquarters in Accra. The facility uses 105 solar photovoltaic panels with a combined capacity of 61.43 kilowatts, supported by a 60-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery.

 

Reliable power critical to industrialisation

 

Dr Jinapor also stressed that Ghana's industrialisation ambitions would remain difficult to achieve without reliable and competitively priced electricity.

 

He acknowledged no economy has industrialised without cheap power.

 

"You simply cannot industrialise without energy," he stated. "Industrialision requires electricity at scale; not just the electricity buy reliable electricity, predictable tariffs so that industries can plan and good power quality."

 

He said the country's energy planning must therefore anticipate future demand rather than respond only after new loads have emerged.

 

The anticipated growth in electricity consumption is expected to come from several sectors, including manufacturing, mining, electric mobility, digital infrastructure, data centres, commercial businesses and modern agriculture.

 

The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Benjamin Boakye, said energy policy and industrial policy could not be considered separately if Ghana was serious about adding value to its natural resources.

 

"We have spent considerable time talking about industrailization and adding value to our national resources... but industrial production requires competitive input and energy is one of them the important.

 

"Processing requires energy, manufacturing requires energy, modern agriculture increasingly depend electricity while digital infrastructure depends on reliable power," he noted.

 

Mr Boakye's comments underscore the growing importance of electricity reliability and affordability to Ghana's industrial transformation agenda, particularly as the country seeks to move from the export of raw materials towards domestic processing and value addition.

 

Ghana currently has electricity access for about 89 per cent of its population, according to recent government and development-partner data, with universal access targeted by 2030. The country's National Energy Compact also identifies reliable and affordable electricity as a critical enabler of economic growth and industrial development.

 

The expansion of EVs is therefore expected to add another layer to electricity-demand planning, making investment in generation capacity, transmission infrastructure and distribution networks increasingly important.

 

The government has also encouraged investment in solar-powered EV charging systems as part of efforts to ensure that the transition to electric mobility is aligned with Ghana's clean-energy and climate objectives.

 

The FEC 2026, organised by ACEP, is being held under the theme, “Powering Africa's Industrial Transformation: Energy Systems for Value Addition and Competitiveness.”

 

The conference brings together policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, investors and young professionals to deliberate on Africa's energy future and the role of energy systems in driving industrialisation, competitiveness and economic transformation.

 

By Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Citizens energy manifesto to engage political attention in Ghana

Political parties going into Ghana’s 2016 General Election will need to prioritize issues of energy if they are to get the mandate of the electorates to govern.

That is the consensus of a forum on the ‘Citizen Agenda for Energy Sector Development’ held in Kumasi, which attracted industry players, civil society groups, students and the media.

Ghana’s power crisis has over the past five years damaged the country’s economic growth prospects – businesses have collapsed, jobs lost and livelihoods negatively impacted.

Meanwhile, petroleum exploration in the past three-and-half years has generated some Gh3.5billion in revenue, and more revenue is expected with the coming of stream of the TEN and Sankofa projects.

Yet there have been concerns about the prudent management and investment of revenue from the oil and gas sector.

As electioneering 2016 heats up, energy will be an important area of interest, observed Seji Saji of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP).

“The petroleum sector of our country has become so intertwined with our national lives that the wishes of our people will be unfulfilled if we do not make energy an important issue in this year’s election,” he stated.

ACEP, with support from the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG), has therefore set forth a process to engage the public on priority areas in the power and petroleum sectors to inform political parties’ manifestoes in Election 2016.

The discussions to collate public inputs, taking place in the Northern, Ashanti and Western regions, will form the basis of the Citizen’s Energy Manifesto.

Some participants of the citizens’ forum in Kumasi said they will be interested in knowing the management and investments of oil revenue as well as plans of the various political parties to deal with the power crisis.

President of the Ghana Association of Energy Economics, Joshua Sarpong Kumankumah, is interested in seeing some of the energy levies removed on petroleum products as soon as possible.

“I also think our political parties must be bold enough and have in their manifestoes to protect the interest of the energy sector by ensuring that it is not privatized; as it happened to SIC and as it happened to GOIL, I think government can float shares for Ghanaians to own ECG,” he said.

Acting Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Eric Amoadu-Boateng, said the Union continues to oppose the privatization of state-owned enterprises, including the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

He said recent past experience in the water sector demands caution in the government’s move for private sector involvement in the distribution of power.

“We must be guided by history,” said Mr. Amoadu-Boateng. “It appears that the Millennium Development Authority (MIDA) is unduly influencing the debate; it’s about time that issues of national sovereignty are decided by the people and not Washington-influenced technocrats”.

Head of Policy Unit at ACEP, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, said the ‘Citizen Agenda for Energy Sector Development’ project will serve as an instrument for building political consensus of policies in the energy sector.

The “Citizens Energy Manifesto” will be presented to presidential candidates of political parties, who will be expected to declare their commitments to the citizens’ energy agenda.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

ACEP wants transparency in managing Ghana's Energy Sector Levy

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), an independent think-tank, has welcomed government’s move to pay debt owed by the Volta River Authority (VRA) to banks and supplies.

VRA is a strategic institution in the country’s power sector, producing about 2,400megawatts of the total 4,000 capacity power generation.

However, the debt burden of the Authority has increased over the past several years due to a combination of operational and financial difficulties.

The indebtedness makes it difficult for the company to pay millions of dollars owed Ghana Gas, the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) and the several independent power producers in the country.

Government has indicated the VRA legacy debts of Gh2.2 billion will be paid from a special account opened to receive the proceeds of the Energy Sector Levy.

Speaking in an interview with 3news.com, Head of Policy Unit at ACEP, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, said government’s intervention to settle the VRA debt is a step in the right direction.

“It is good that the government has come in to help; VRA’s debt as at now is about Gh6 billion and paying about Gh2.2billion is quite good,” he said.

Fifty per cent of the funds accruing under the Power Generation and Infrastructure Support sub-account under the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA, 2015) will be used to retire the legacy debts.

Dr. Ackah however says transparency in the management of the Energy Sector Levies will inure to the benefit of Ghanaians.

“Energy Sector levies are paid by citizens so we’d want to know how much we’re receiving, so if there could be semi-annual accounts to citizens that this is how much we received from last year, and this is how much we paid and this is the balance, at least it will promote transparency,” he suggested.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Work of Ghana’s oil revenue watchdog hampered by lack of funds

The integrity of Ghana’s oil and gas resources will be better protected when the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) is given a strong legal status, observed Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Executive Director of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP).

PIAC is a statutory body mandated to monitor and evaluate compliance of the Petroleum Revenue Management Law and ensure prudent use of petroleum revenues by government and various state agencies.

But this mandate to ensure Ghana’s oil revenue is prudently used is hampered by funding constraints hitting the revenue management watchdog.

According to PIAC’s Yaw Owusu Addo, the Committee, as at the beginning of the 2015, had a meager Gh1,000 in its coffers to run activities. This lack of funds has placed huge limitation for the committee to do its work.

“Our situation is dire, very dire,” he exclaimed. “This year we haven’t got any funding for our budget; it is only the benevolence of some benefactors which is allowing us to survive up to today but the money that must come from the taxpayer to support us so that we do this job is not forthcoming.”

PIAC’s annual reports on the management of petroleum revenues serve to inform the Ghanaian public on revenue and expenditure in the oil sector.

Dr. Amin Adam, however, says the legal status of PIAC is very weak as it lacks the power to summon public officials for information and also to go beyond the Attorney-General to proceed to court to prosecute people against whom adverse findings have been made in the mismanagement of petroleum revenue.

He therefore wants the Committee’s capacity adequately built to deliver its mandate.

“I have so much respect for the members of PIAC; these are members who are not coming from the industry background, they are coming from different backgrounds as journalists, as lawyers, as accountants, as traditional rulers, and so they need a strong secretariat with all the technical capacity and if they don’t have that they should be able to have consultants attached to the secretariat,” he requested.

The ACEP boss believes such capacity is critical to enable the Committee undertake its own independent analysis and technical work on the use of the country’s oil revenues.

Dr. Amin Adam hopes a review of the Petroleum Revenue Law should empower the Committee to leverage on its work done so far.

“PIAC in its current state can still play a significant role if they are given the capacity, in terms of the resources,” he noted.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Ghana in oil curse trap over prudent use of petroleum revenue

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) is worried Ghana will not be far from suffering the oil curse if government fails to prudently  utilize revenue from petroleum receipts.

Ghana’s total petroleum revenues between 2011 and 2013 stood at 3.29 billion Ghana cedis.

PIAC however says accountability and transparency in utilization of the oil revenues remain a challenge.

According to Committee member, Yaw Owusu Addo, the efficient use of oil revenue depends on prioritization of national projects.

“For example, we have prioritized roads and infrastructure as one of the sectors of our economy that we want to use the oil money; but why should we spread in one year some $20million on 118 roads? Why don’t we pick only two roads and spend the $20million on them so that we can fully construct that road and make them a showcase to the world that this is what Ghana used the oil money for?” he opined.

Inspite of the fall in global oil prices, the country’s oil money is expected to grow bigger with the exploration of oil and gas in new fields.

Executive Director of the African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, believes a long-term National Development Plan (NDP) remains crucial to guide the utilization of oil revenue in order “to have a consistent application of the resources to planned projects”.

He adds that Ghana needs a Public Investment Management Plan (PIMP) that ensures that projects are not unduly delayed, value-added projects are selected and such projects do not suffer cost and time overrun.

“While the long-term NDP will guide you in terms of where to spend the money – whether in agriculture, in industry, in education – the selection of projects and the time to deliver those projects are guided by the PIMP,” said Dr. Adam.

The Ministry of Finance has cut down the number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that receive oil money from 16 in 2012 to six in 2014.

“That is very positive,” noted Dr. Adam. “However the problem has not been cured because the Ministry of Finance does the broad allocation and the ministries that receive the money also distribute thinly across so many projects”.

He is therefore advocating guidelines on the utilization of the oil revenue as part of the Budget guideline to inform the ministries not to “distribute thinly; they should identify projects that they can fund consistently for two–three years and complete those projects”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Why Ghanaians should be worried at ENI/Vitol $7b gas deal

President John Mahama wants Ghanaians to be excited at an oil and gas deal signed with ENI/Vitol for the development of the Sankofa gas field.

The agreement for the development of the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) integrated oil and gas project – being undertaken by Italy's largest oil company, Eni Spa, in collaboration with Vitol Energy – is aimed at boosting Ghana’s gas supplies to secure the country’s energy and power sector.

“This investment is worth $7 billion and is reportedly the single biggest investment signed in recent history,” said the President in his State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Thursday.

Ghanaians should however be worried about this deal, says Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Executive Director of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP).

According to him, “the $7 billion deal they signed with Ghana is badly negotiated; it’s everything for ENI, nothing for Ghana. The only thing Ghana can guarantee is that we’ll have gas to buy, other than that what?”

Revenue accruing from the oil and gas industry is dependent on the quality of contracts signed.

“Unless you have good contracts, you will not get much revenue and unless you have contracts that will lead to production, you will not get revenue,” observed Dr. Adam, in reference to recently signed contracts and processes in acquiring oil blocks.

 

He has acknowledged government’s share of potential proceeds from new oil contracts are progressively increasing. But there are doubts the new contracts will lead to oil discoveries because Ghana is not attractive to big players in the oil business.

“Those who have been given contracts are doing nothing on their blocks because most of them have no experience in upstream work; they don’t have money,” said Dr. Adam.

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has stated that the award of new petroleum contracts to eight foreign companies in 2014 was negotiated within the existing legal and regulatory framework of Ghana.

But the ACEP Executive Director says attracting big oil players in Ghana’s upstream sector will demand the disclosure of beneficiary ownership information in signing agreements, whilst providing “transparency and predictability” in the process.

“If you are not connected you cannot get an oil block and this is why we say government must adopt an open and competitive bidding process so that the companies that can give us higher value for our oil wealth, for our deposits, we give the contracts to them,” Dr. Amin Adam said.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh