Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Energy, says the Ministry will soon roll out “smart” street lightening system to address the shortfall in the country’s street lightening infrastructure.

He said a pilot exercise was ongoing in Kumasi and assured that all street lights would be changed when the pilot was completed.

“Hopefully, we will have smart street lights and all (old) street lights will be changed…,” he said at the 2021 Ghana Energy Awards in Accra.

Dr Prempeh said the Energy Ministry had fully embraced the Government’s digitalization agenda and would continuously collaborate with stakeholders to implement systems that would champion the country’s industrialization agenda.

He said for instance, the local content E-portal system, launched by the Ministry, had allowed companies operating in the upstream industry to submit their local content plans and report in real time.

That, he said, enabled the regulator to track local content compliance with companies according the law.

He said the Ministry had also introduced a meter management system for the Electricity Company of Ghana, which had provided a platform for the integration of all ECG Smart prepaid meters for effective monitoring and management.

“We are collaborating with the Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURC) for tariff rationalization, and we hope that the PURC will relook and re-examine their tariff structure to provide the better regulatory service to the energy sector,” he said.

The 5th Energy Awards celebrated individuals and institutions that have contributed immensely to the growth of the energy sector over the period.

Organized by the Energy Media Group in partnership with GP Business Consulting, this year’s event was on the theme: “Digitalized energy sector: The key for a resilient economic future.”

A total of 29 personalities and institutions were honoured at the event.

The organizers of the programme conferred Lifetime Achievement Awards on former President John Agyekum Kufour, and the late former President Jerry John Rawlings, for their contributions and investments towards the development of the energy sector.

Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, the Chief Executive of the Volta River Authority, was adjudged the Male Energy Personality of the Year whiles Madam Cynthia Lumor, Deputy Managing Director of Tullow Ghana, picked the Female Energy Personality of the Year Award.

Former President Kufour expressed profound gratitude to the organizers for the honour, stressing “We need to celebrate our heroes when they are alive and not when they are dead.”

He said the energy sector was a major priority of his Government because it recognized the sector as the foundation to the country’s industrial revolution and economic development.

“Energy is so important to me, energy is life, so whatever I did whiles I had the opportunity, I did because I knew that any organism without energy would be dead,” he said.

Mr Henry Teinor, the Director of the Awards, said the scheme would in subsequent years hold a special forum for all winners and nominees to discuss pertinent issues toward the sector’s advancement.