Mr Simon Bawakyillenuo, a Research Fellow at ISSER, told the Ghana News Agency, in Marrakech, on the sidelines of the Africa Day, of the Conference, that the exhibition was meant to showcase some scientific findings on the theme: “Accelerating Investment on Renewable Energy.”

Mr Bawakyillenuo said the exhibition highlighted the fact that though Ghana had abundant renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind, biomass and tidal waves, investments in them were very low from both the public and private sectors.

He attributed this to the ‘off taker’ risk, saying the Electricity Company of Ghana was not in the position to take supply from renewable energy sources because of challenges with  credit worthiness.

Another reason, he said, was regulatory challenges, which included the lack of enforcement on the provisions of Renewable Energy Laws, plus the lack of access to finance.On these bases, he said, it had been realised that the renewable energy in the energy supply mix was less than one per cent, though the country had a target of 10 per cent by the year 2020.

Mr Bawakyillenuo said in order to meet the target Ghana needed 450 megawatts of renewable energy supply. However, he said, he was doubtful Ghana could meet this target unless the investments from both the private and public sectors were accelerated.Dr Felix Ankomah Asante, the Director ISSER, said it was important to investigate the fundamental factors that were limiting investment in renewable energy technologies in Ghana.

He said Africa received a 10 billion dollar boost in 2015 and the UN and Partners launched  a five billion dollar renewable energy initiative with the aim to expand renewable capacity by 2020.  Dr Ankomah said Ghana required a strong share of renewable energy to meet its emission targets.

COP 22, which ended on Friday, was also the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and the first  Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement. It was convened by the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI.

The activities included the first African Action Summit of African Heads States on Climate Change, during which they issued a declaration committing to Climate Change Resilience programmes in Africa. There were also meetings and conferences of the parties and states to the Paris Agreement on various thematic areas such as Gender, Water, Health, Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Zero Fossil Fuel, Low Carbon Emissions.