Is Ghana Ready to Attain Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number 7?—A Comprehensive Assessment of Its Renewable Energy Potential and Pitfalls

Michael Acheampong, Qiuyan Yu, Funda Cansu Ertem, Lucy Deba Enomah Ebude, Shakhawat Tanim, Michael Eduful, Mehrdad Vaziri and Erick Ananga
Additional contact information
Michael Acheampong: Department of Geography, Oklahoma State University, 360 Murray Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
Qiuyan Yu: College of Arts and Sciences, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, NES 107 Tampa, FL 33620-5550, USA
Funda Cansu Ertem: Department of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, Ackerstr. 76, ACK24, 13355 Berlin, Germany
Lucy Deba Enomah Ebude: College of Arts and Sciences, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, NES 107 Tampa, FL 33620-5550, USA
Shakhawat Tanim: College of Arts and Sciences, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, NES 107 Tampa, FL 33620-5550, USA
Michael Eduful: College of Arts and Sciences, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, NES 107 Tampa, FL 33620-5550, USA
Mehrdad Vaziri: College of Arts and Sciences, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, NES 107 Tampa, FL 33620-5550, USA
Erick Ananga: Department of Political Science and Legal Studies, East Central University, 1100 E. 14th St, Ada, OK 74820, USA

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-40

Abstract: Ghana has declared support for the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number seven which most importantly target ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services. This target presents a formidable challenge to Ghana because the country still relies mainly on traditional biomass as its primary source of energy coupled with a chronically fragile hydropower sector. In this study, we assess Ghana’s potential in achieving sustainable goal number seven. Specifically, we comprehensively review the breakthroughs and impediments Ghana has experienced in its efforts towards improving its renewable energy potential. We note that while Ghana has made significant stride toward attaining energy efficiency, its effort at large-scale biofuel development hit a snag due to issues of “land grabbing” emanating both from local and foreign entities. In another breadth, several pilot studies and research initiatives have demonstrated the possibility of diversifying the energy sector with other renewable energy options including solar, wind, and small hydro. In spite of challenges encountered with the development of biofuels, our review concludes that Ghana retains vast reserves of renewable energy potential, which can be harnessed with the constantly improving technological advancements as it pursues SDG number seven.

Keywords: renewable energy; Ghana; sustainable development goals; biofuel; solar energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/3/408/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/3/408/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:3:p:408-:d:201396

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().