Ghana GOALs - Generation, Operation, and Access to Energy, at Lowest carbon and cost solutions

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£2,773,280

March 31, 2023

March 31, 2025

The Ghana GOALs project will create self-sustaining smart energy communities with access to clean renewable energy and innovative cooking technology, resulting in improved air quality and better working conditions, especially for women and girls.

Ghana GOALs will test a new concept for modern cooking, reducing the reliance on foraged firewood and kerosene. This will be combined with the creation of electrical microgrids, using solar photovoltaic panels (PV) and storing energy overnight in batteries. These will be trialled at selected secondary high schools and in an off-grid community to evaluate different business models for replication.

For the cooking trials, two schools will be selected from a potential pool already identified: an all-girls school and a mixed school. Gender equality and diversity will be a key factor, and educational materials created will help change preconceptions related to cooking. Whilst some practical testing of the innovative cooking pots is currently in progress by one of the partners, KNUST, this has not been deployed at scale or the business models investigated.

Using modern cooking techniques will also free up time spent in collecting firewood and managing the stove. Since 70-80% of cooking is wood or kerosene fired in Ghana, reductions in carbon and smoke emissions will also be significant with environmental and health benefits.

To help ensure financial viability, the project will test automated fraud detection and pre-payment for electricity, as part of the transition to 'smart grids' needs to monitor and meter energy consumption.

Ghana GOALs' key objectives are to develop:

1. Fraud-resistant net metering solutions with the Electricity Company Ghana for microgrids.
2. The business concept of communal cooking in both a schools' programme and a local community. Two large cooking facilities can feed up to 550 pupils/people.
3. Smart microgrids to optimise use of renewable energy and enable a decision tree analysis to evaluate how the grid is used.

The Ghanaian partners KNUST and EEK have already deployed a PV and battery microgrid at one site (Yeboahkrom). However, this does not yet include modern cooking or net metering, and related business models have not been designed or evaluated. The solution also has the potential for roll-out across sub-Saharan Africa.