Vehicle Rental 

Vehicles for rent are available in the country. An organization can reasonably expect to meet their initial needs through renting.  

Electricity and Power  

The Volta River Authority (VRA) was established on April 26, 1961 with the mandate to generate, transmit and distribute electricity under the Volta River Development Act, Act 46 of the Republic of Ghana. 

However, following the promulgation of a major amendment to the Act within the context of the Ghana Government Power Sector Reforms in 2005, the VRA's mandate has now been largely restricted to generation of electricity. This amendment has created an enabling environment to attract Independent Power Producers (IPPs) into the Ghana Energy market. 

The amendment also hived-off the VRA's transmission function into a separate entity designated the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), while the distribution agency, the Northern Electricity Department (NED), established in April 1987, also evolved into the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), a wholly owned standalone subsidiary of the VRA. 

The VRA has diversified its power generation portfolio to take advantage of available and sustainable sources of energy, mainly hydro, and natural gas and renewables. The Authority owns and operates a total installed electricity generation capacity of 2,532MW. The two main hydro plants, Akosombo and Kpong Generating Stations both located on the Volta River have 1,020MW and 160MW respectively. These are complemented by a 2.5MW Solar PV Plant at Navrongo in the Upper East Region, a 6.54MW Solar PV Plant at Lawra and a 13MW Solar PV Plant at Kaleo, both in the Upper West Region. 

The VRA also owns several thermal plants located in Aboadze near Takoradi, and the Tema enclave. The Authority’s thermal facilities include the 330MW Takoradi Thermal (T1) Power Station, a 340MW Takoradi International Company Thermal (T2) Power Plant, which is a joint venture (JV) between VRA and TAQA from Abu Dhabi; a 110MW Tema Thermal 1 Power Plant (TT1PP) now designated Station 2, an 80MW Tema Thermal 2 Power Plant (TT2PP) designated as Station 3, a 220MW Kpone Thermal Power Station (KTPS) and a 250MW Ameri Power Plant which the Government of Ghana handed over to VRA in January 2022 to manage as part of its portfolio. The Ameri Plant will be relocated from Aboadze to Kumasi to improve electric power reliability in the middle and northern belts of the country. 

As part of the Authority's expansion programme, VRA is exploring the re-powering of the 132MW T3 Plant at Takoradi and converting the existing 220MW Kpone Thermal Power Plant (KTPP) into a combined cycle power plant. 

To diversify the Authority’s generation portfolio and assist in achieving the Government’s Renewable Energy (RE) Policy objective, VRA formulated a Renewable Energy (RE) Policy to develop and operate RE plants in an efficient, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner. The second phase of the programme was set from 2016 to 2020 with about 100MW of Solar PV and 200MW of Wind Energy.  

Seeking to increase the Authority’s renewable footprint, a Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic and a Solar Car Park Installation with a capacity of 148kWp has been installed at the Head Office, Electro- Volta House. The installation is estimated to reduce electricity consumption by at least 23% while ensuring that some cost-saving is made on electricity use at the Head-office. Plans are underway to implement similar installations in the various VRA operational locations. 

The VRA is currently working to develop about 150MW of Wind Power at identified sites in the southern parts of the country. Feasibility Studies, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Grid Impact studies have been concluded for the first 75MW Wind Power project at Anloga, Srogbe and Anyanui in the Volta Region, for the project to kick-off in 2022. 

In order to ensure reliable plant operations and grid stability, the Government of Ghana and the Authority commenced processes in April 2021, to relocate the Ameri Power Plant from Aboadze to Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region. 

As part of the Authority's expansion programme, VRA is exploring the re-powering of the 132MW T3 Plant at Takoradi and converting the existing 220MW Kpone Thermal Power Plant (KTPP) into a combined cycle power plant. 

The power plants can be listed into four different categories: 

Hydro generation:  

• Akosombo hydro plant 

• Kpong hydro plant 

• Thermal generation: 

• Takoradi thermal power station 

• Tema thermal power station 

• Takoradi 3 (T3) thermal plant 

• Kpone therma power station 

• Renewables: 

• Navrongo solar power plant 

• Lawra solar power plant 

• Kaleo solar power plant 

• Wind energy 

E.g. Hydroelectric power, Thermal power… 

Waste Management and Disposal Providers 

The Ghanaian government is managing the waste management and disposal through its Ministry of Local Government Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGRD). There are two modes of waste collection in Ghana: The House to House (HH) Collection Mode and the Communal Container Collection (CCC). The waste management service provider Zoomlion Ltd is very present in the country. 

Zoomlion Ghana Limited is specialized in delivering comprehensive waste management solutions. The services encompass the entire waste management process, starting from waste collection, composting & recycling, and landfill management, through haulage, transfer, sorting, recycling, and disposal, with over 5 million customers. 

Urban areas in Ghana produce a variety of waste. The predominant wastes being domestic solid waste, industrial waste and construction waste. These wastes are sent to a few dumpsites, but majority end up in drains, streams and open places. 

In Ghana, about 12,710 tons of solid waste are generated every day, with only 10 percent collected and disposed of properly. Plastic waste constitutes a large proportion of urban waste. 

The results indicate that Plastics/bags/bottles, food waste, paper/carton, tins/cans, and glasses are the major types of solid wastes in the study area. 

Ghana currently has only five engineered landfills; however, most of them are dysfunctional. Accra, for example, has no landfill site; therefore, most of the waste collected from the city is taken to Kpone in Tema, a city 24 km from Accra. 

Waste Disposal - Non-Hazardous 

Open dump and open burning are a common practice to dispose of waste in Ghana; Oblojo is the waste dumpsite in Accra and the Dompoase is a landfill in Kumasi.  

Waste Disposal – Hazardous 

Agbogbloshie is a former wetland, which is now home to one of the world's largest electronic waste dumps. Here people slash and burn electronic devices to salvage the metals inside them. 

Hundreds of thousands of tons of used electronics—mainly from Western Europe and the United States—are delivered in huge containers. 

The procedures and processes for disposing of Hazardous Waste are often unclear. There is a weak follow-up and control on the disposal of used motor oil, fuel, electronics / computers. Agbogbloshie is an informal E-waste recycling site in Ghana.  

The total amount of grey and black wastewater produced in urban Ghana is estimated to be approximately 280 million m3. This quantity of wastewater is mainly from domestic sources since most wastewater from industry is channelled into the ocean, streams or wetland and only about 10% of the urban wastewater emanating from the domestic and municipal sources is disposed off through sewage networks connected to treatment plants.