On the ground: an update from Ghana on the Africa Energy Parks project
Africa Energy Parks project update
Since Ener-G-Africa (EGA) first announced that we would be one of 12 dedicated partners of the four-year Africa Energy Parks research project in Ghana, co-funded by the European Union, we have made great progress.
Louise Williamson, our Projects and Implementation Manager, has just returned from Jang, a rural area bordering the Mole National Park in northern Ghana, where the Renewable Energy Park (REEP) initiative aims to enhance energy access and climate resilience in alignment with the EU’s Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus.
This approach highlights how water, energy and food are closely linked and encourages managing these resources together to support sustainable development. The goal is to use resources more efficiently, avoid conflicts between sectors and create stronger connections between them.
Louise explains that the project entails setting up a microgrid to provide much-needed electricity, water and agro-processing facilities to the rural communities in the region. The aims are to provide clean and reliable energy access to an off-grid community, to promote the productive use of energy, to promote cleaner cooking through using improved cookstoves and to build a system that can be scaled up to become commercially viable.
This includes setting up an agro-processing plant for shea nuts and a biomass plant for generating electricity and water. EGA’s part in the project relates to clean cooking.
“This is an exciting opportunity for EGA because not only do we have a chance to really test our products to see which ones the community prefers and why but also having the opportunity to work in an international programme, collaborating with global partners affiliated with the European Commission’s Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem Nexus project cluster. We have been asked to sit on the sub-cluster that represents clean cooking, and that positions us to be a significant voice and to develop a portfolio of credibility,” she says.
Trial phase
EGA conducted baseline surveys to gather essential data on current cooking practices in northwestern Ghana, providing a crucial foundation for understanding community needs and shaping effective interventions. Our cookstove trials have also now started within the community. A final report detailing the findings is set for release later this month.
Trials have begun with 15 families. Each family is given the opportunity to cook with each EGA stove for a month to assess which best meets their individual needs. The stoves we are trialling are the TLC Rocket Stove, the MAFECS and the eCOForge. The aim is to deploy around 2,000 stoves in the region.
These stoves not only reduce harmful emissions but also improve energy efficiency, health outcomes, and environmental sustainability.
“We have employed local teams that are using mobile data capture tools to run our feedback survey. Each household completes the survey after every testing period before moving on to the next stove. We are currently halfway through with these surveys, so by the end of June we will have really good data on stove preference.”
Louise states that the data captured includes information regarding time spent collecting firewood each day, how much time they spend cooking, their health (respiratory ailments, back pain, etc.) and which EGA stove/s work best for them and why.
“The impact is immediate when they start using an improved cookstove”, she says. “It takes half the time, or less, to collect firewood and to cook, which frees women up to do other things, as well as improving their health. In fact, this project talks to about six of the sustainability development goals that you target immediately by doing this; access to affordable and clean energy, gender equality, mitigating climate change, responsible consumption and production, sustainable communities and life on land.”
These trials will help identify the most suitable cooking solutions with the final stove selection expected to be confirmed by July 2025.
In preparation, EGA and our partners convened a general assembly meeting with local stakeholders, where we aligned on key priorities for the project’s future. The launch event in Jang Village was marked by traditional festivities, highlighting the deep cultural significance of this collaboration.
In a critical step toward community engagement, the project team also formally presented the African Energy Parks initiative to regional chiefs and the Queen Mother. Their endorsement and support have provided a strong foundation for moving forward with implementation.
Community engagement
As Louise notes, this community engagement is one of the things that differentiates our implementation approach at EGA. “One of my favourite experiences has been cooking together with the women in the community”, she says. “We had the traditional three-stone fire, the charcoal stove the women generally use every day, and then our EGA stoves and we all cooked the same meal on them and invited the whole community to the meal, so they could see the products in use, firsthand. I absolutely loved seeing the faces of the women as they cook with the new technology and see what it can do. It’s a joy to see positive behaviour change that will also equate to environmental change.”
Louise says that the lesson for her has been not to make assumptions about which stove should be best for a community but to be prepared to listen and learn. “I’ve also learnt that women have the same problems, no matter their geography or context”, she says. “People are people.”
She adds that it is enormously gratifying to work alongside the women of the community to understand their needs and work on a sustainable solution together. “I’ve spent over 25 years in the environmental space, particularly in rural communities, and so often environmental initiatives impart technologies into communities without the proper research to see if it is fit for purpose. At EGA, we believe in finding the right stove for the right context, taking the time to do that, and to ask the right questions,” she says. “And we focus on doing that in a way that also helps us work towards emissions reduction targets that we are pursuing.”
Next steps
Once the trials have been completed, EGA will move to the next phase of the project, installing around 2,000 clean cookstoves to promote cleaner, more efficient cooking methods and educating communities on the benefits of improved cookstoves to encourage widespread adoption.
Ultimately, the project aims to build capacity in the community by training local youths in stove installation and maintenance, fostering employment opportunities, and establishing a sustainable supply chain.
“That’s the ultimate goal – that there will be business opportunities for people,” says Louise.
Timelines
As the project moves forward, EGA is preparing for the next critical phases:
- March–June 2025: Finalising baseline reports and stove trial outcomes
- July 2025: Confirming community-preferred stove models
- August–November 2025: Manufacturing and delivering improved cookstoves across Northern Ghana
- Policy Advocacy: Using collected data to influence energy-access policies and attract further funding
Watch this space for more project updates soon.
