CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY EMBARKS ON SOLAR LANTERN PROJECT (PAGE 21)

THE Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG) at Fiapre, near Sunyani, has embarked on a solar lantern project with the view to curtailing the frequent disruption of academic and administrative work, owing to the persistent power outages by the Volta River Authority (VRA).
With the support of the Jacob–Christian –Adam Stiftung of Meckenheim in Germany, which agreed to establish and equip an assembling workshop at the university, 100 pieces of solar lanterns have so far been produced and are being used as an experiment before they are produced on commercial basis.
The assembling of the solar lanterns was conceived as a self-sustaining project, and the proceeds from their sale would be used to replenish stocks of the required components to ensure continued production.
At the launch of the project at the St James Seminary Senior High School in Sunyani, Professor Ebo Mensah, the Project Co-ordinator, stated that the massive load-shedding by the VRA and the frequent and prolonged interruptions in the supply of electricity were felt all over the country.
He said there was, therefore, a general slow-down of work in the various sectors of the economy, adding that there was a fall in productivity, all of which combined to produce an adverse effect on the national economy.
According to Prof Mensah, who is also the Dean of Economics and Business Administration of the university, students of the university were currently accommodated in rented private houses in different parts of Sunyani.
Consequently, he said, during periods of power outages between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m, they could not do any meaningful reading or course assignments, either in the university’s library, which is on campus, or even in their respective residences.
Prof Mensah stressed that the idea of producing the solar lanterns constituted the first step in that initiative and offered the university an appropriate solution to one of the problems in its present circumstances.
The Vice-Chancellor of CUCG, Prof. J.H. Ephraim, stressed that energy supply was a key component in development, but said that access to it was becoming a number one problem in the country’s development efforts, saying without energy there was nothing one could do.
He expressed his deepest appreciation and gratitude to the German partners for responding quickly to the request by the university authorities and their willingness to train some local people to take over the project after they had left.