This energy project contributes to Cargill’s global strategy to enhancing sustainable food processing and entrenching environmentally friendly, renewable ways of generating power for industrial production.

The project also contributes to Cargill’s sustainability goals; safety and sustainable ways of bringing down energy cost.The fully automated, digital PV solar system designed, supplied and installed by Dutch & Company (Gh) Ltd., will produce 764MWh of electricity annually to augment energy needs at the Tema Factory.

It will also boost Ghana’s vision of achieving 10% contribution of renewable energy in electricity generation mix by 2020. The energy produced at the plant is equivalent to powering nearly 400 homes with electricity for a year, as long as the plant is operational.

The guest of honour at the event, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, speaking on behalf of government said: “the government is committed to increasing the nation’s renewable energy generation capacity to help confront the challenges in the power sector and we are hopeful that others in the Ghanaian cocoa industry will follow Cargill’s lead.”

Commenting on the objective for the installation of the solar plant, Pieter Reichert, Managing Director for Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate in Ghana said the initiative is part of Cargill’s sustainability plan, which seeks to find innovative, environmentally friendly ways of doing business globally.

“We believe it is our responsibility to find ways to continuously decrease the environmental impact of our businesses. Cargill sets ambitious new targets every five years to reduce greenhouse gas intensity, improve energy efficiency and increase renewables as part of our portfolio.

“One of our goals is to increase renewables to 18 per cent of our energy portfolio. Today, 14 per cent of our energy needs are met by renewables, and this solar project will contribute further to the realization of the global goal,” explained Mr. Reichert.

“We were honoured the President commissioned this project. It speaks volumes of the government’s commitment to support the private sector and especially those of us in the cocoa industry. The project represents our (both government and private sector) collective effort at enhancing industrial production in the cocoa sector through sustainable, energy-efficient means” Mr. Reichert concluded.

The Deputy Director for Clean Energy at the Ministry of Energy, Dr. Robert Sogbabji, speaking on behalf of his Ministry, congratulated Cargill and expressed his delight at Cargill’s initiatives in renewable energy, which he says aligns with his Ministry’s plan on Clean Energy.

On his part, the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson added that, the move to solar generated energy is commendable since it forms part of the global strategy to reduce carbon emission and make the environment safe.

He called for both local and international partnerships within the renewable energy sub-sector in order to raise Ghana’s installed generational capacity. In attendance at the event were representatives from the Enclave Power Company (EPC), the Ghana Free Zones Authority, VRA, Solidaridad, and EPA among others.