Sunday, 11 June 2017

Only Renewable Power Will Provide The Affordable Electricity Needed To Make Ghana Truly Competitive

Media reports from the UK on Wednesday, 7th June, 2017, indicated that that day, for the first time, renewable energy sources supplied more than half of the total power generated  to meet demand for electricity in Britain.

If our nation's leaders want Ghana to be truly competitive, they need to focus on making Ghana a global superpower in renewable power generation.

What, for example, stops us from aimimg to build the world's biggest offshore wind energy farm leveraging giant wind turbines to generate 10,000MW of truly affordable electricity, I ask?

To become a prosperous society, we must have leaders who are committed and determined to provide Ghana with a low-carbon electricity system producing affordable power from renewable sources.

That is just the sort of imaginative leadership we need - of the kind provided by the leaders of the United Arab Emirates: particularly the innovation-driven visionary leadership  provided by Dubai's amazing leaders.

To inspire those who now lead our country, and our nation's dynamic and hardworking younger generations, we have culled and posted the aforementioned  BBC News report by Roger  Harrabin below.

Please read on:

"Renewable sources of energy have generated more electricity than coal and gas in Great Britain for the first time.

 By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst

    8 June 2017

    From the section Business

National Grid reported that, on Wednesday lunchtime, power from wind, solar, hydro and wood pellet burning supplied 50.7% of UK energy.

Add in nuclear, and by 2pm low carbon sources were producing 72.1% of electricity in Great Britain.

Wednesday lunchtime was perfect for renewables being both sunny and windy.

Records for wind power are being set across Northern Europe.

National Grid, the body that owns and manages the power supply around the UK, said in a tweet: "For the first time ever this lunchtime wind, nuclear and solar were all generating more than both gas and coal combined."

On Tuesday, a tenth of the UK's power was coming from offshore wind farms - a newcomer on the energy scene whose costs have plummeted far faster than expected.

So much power was being generated by wind turbines, in fact, that prices fell to a tenth of their normal level.

Environmentalists will salute this new record as a milestone towards the low carbon economy.

Critics of renewable energy sources will point to the disruption renewables cause to the established energy system.

At the time of Wednesday's record, 1% of demand was met by storage; this will have to increase hugely as Great Britain moves towards a low-carbon electricity system.

Follow Roger on Twitter: @rharrabin

Copyright © BBC 2017."

End of  culled BBC News report by Roger Harrabin.

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