Energy Efficiency Strategy and Action Plan for Public Municipal Buildings

Since 2012, Ghana had been experiencing the worst energy crisis in the country’s history. The capital Accra was hit hardest because of a large concentration of energy users. Due to the strategic relevance of energy efficiency to ensure sustainable development and enhance urban resilience, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) requested that EUEI-PDF provide technical and financial assistance for the development of an energy efficiency strategy for municipal public buildings in Accra. The project was designed in coordination with the Cities Alliance Project through the Future Cities Africa Programme in Ghana, as well as the 100 Resilient Cities Initiative. These organizations identified energy efficiency as a rapid way of improving urban and climate resilience.   The main expected outcome of this mandate was to enable AMA to implement an energy efficiency strategy and plan in two municipal buildings in the Greater Accra region.

The assignment of Econoler included the following tasks:

• Carried out two in-depth level-3 energy audits in two buildings belonging to AMA. The audits helped to determine necessary energy metering, identify wastages or overconsumption and evaluate the costs of remedial measures. Two categories of measures were, zero/low-cost measures and more expensive investments;
• Designed an EE strategy and action plan delineating a clear energy efficiency strategy with short, medium, and long-term objectives and milestones;
• Designed an investment financing scheme to enable the implementation of the measures suggested in the action plan and in both audit reports;
• Implemented the zero/low-cost measures identified in the audits. Soft measures such as raising the awareness of energy managers and technical staff were partly addressed through a workshop and training session. Hard measures such as installing low-cost energy efficiency equipment were implemented under the supervision of Econoler;
• Organized a training on walkthrough audits and appropriate energy efficiency measures for buildings;
• Organized a workshop to raise awareness on the importance of energy efficiency among youth and foster the interest of young women in technical careers;
• Organized a workshop to widely disseminate project outcomes and increase overall awareness on energy efficiency issues in the municipalities of the Greater Accra Region, which was attended by a wide range of stakeholders.

  The project contributed to achieving the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) which consisted of doubling energy efficiency through the implementation of an energy efficiency strategy and action plan in municipal buildings. The project also helped to decrease the energy constraints that had been hampering the economic development of the country since 2012.