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Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo officially launched the Ghana Energy Transition and Investment Plan (GETIP) on 21 September at the Global Africa Business Initiative event in New York. 

Produced in partnership with independent consultancy Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), the document maps out the nation’s journey to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060, improving on Ghana’s Energy Transition Framework, which targeted net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

The plan identifies the core decarbonisation technologies needed to facilitate a seamless transition as renewable energy (contributing 26% abatement), low carbon hydrogen (12%), electric vehicles (40%), carbon capture and storage (5%), clean cooking technologies (16%) and technology-driven energy efficiency (2%).

It also sees a role for nuclear power in Ghana's energy mix, with 3GW of capacity installed by 2060.

Most of the renewable energy capacity will come through investment in photovoltaic (PV) solar.

The report estimates that Ghana will need around US$550 billion of capital investment up to 2060 to achieve net zero, with the majority going into the transport (70%) and power (20%) sectors. It adds that delivering this investment will drive new economic activity, potentially supporting 400,000 net new jobs by 2060.

(The high share of capital investment in transport is driven by the costs of private cars and other vehicles, with ownership growing significantly as incomes rise.)

The GETIP expects Ghana's power demand to grow by 7% a year to 2060, reaching 264TWh, driven by an expansion of industry, transportation and the buildings sector.

New capacity will predominantly come through investment in PV solar, which will account for 82% of Ghana's energy mix by 2060.

The report envisages installed PV capacity reaching 26GW by 2040, and 146GW by 2060. 

It also states that nuclear power capacity will be deployed from 2045, with 3GW installed by 2060, accounting for 10% of the energy production. Hydropower will contribute about 8%, with the country's maximum resource estimated at 2.5GW.

Gas-fired generation capacity will rise to around 25GW by 2060, when it will primarily be used for security of supply.

The report estimates that the total financing required for utility-scale renewables projects up to 2035 is US$9.8bn, while between 2035 and 2060 US$55bn will be needed, in addition to US$60bn-worth of battery storage systems. 

Some US$2.7bn of financing will also be required to expand grid infrastructure up to 2035, with a further US$45bn from 2035 to 2060.

Regarding the transport sector, the GETIP predicts passenger car ownership will grow 18-fold between 2020 and 2060 as incomes rise. Electric cars are expected to dominate the fleet by the mid-2050s and fully replace fossil vehicles by 2060. A mix of battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks will be used to decarbonise the road freight sector and sustainable fuels in aviation and shipping will help achieve net-zero transport by 2060.

Other key elements of Ghana's decarbonisation journey include a shift away from biomass towards the electrification of cooking, a reduction of flaring in the oil and gas industry and the introduction of carbon capture and storage technology.

The GETIP states that under a business-as-usual scenario, Ghana’s emissions could rise from 28 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2021 to over 140 million tonnes in 2050, with most of the growth in emissions coming from the transport sector, driven by population growth, higher disposable incomes and vehicle ownership.

The country’s population is forecast to reach 58 million by 2060 from 35 million in 2025, while GDP per capita will increase to US$12,000 by 2060, from US$3,000 in 2025. 

The GETIP report can be found here.

🇬🇭 #Ghana's Energy Transition and Investment Plan marks the country's commitment to fighting #climatechange and fostering economic development in tandem. Congratulations @NAkufoAddo @Ghanagov 👏
Learn more 👉 https://t.co/SCuzBHyLok pic.twitter.com/ISAAWE7psm

— Sustainable Energy for All | #SDG7BeBold (@SEforALLorg) September 22, 2023

Top photo: Ghana's president launches the GETIP (Source: Twitter/X @SEforALLorg)