PROGRAM

• K E Y N O T E  S P E A K E R S

• P L E N A R Y  S E S S I O N – D A Y 1 (Wednesday)

Moderator: Vera Asuamuzuah, Program Manager, Anansi International

Panelists:   

• Edwin Aryitey, Senior Properties Manager at Volta River Authority (VRA)
• Elvis Kyere-Gyeabour, GIS & Environmental Expert
• Ebenezer Kwarteng, Aboadze Youth Community Member
• Lindsey Bacon, Founder of Conscious Collaborative, NGO in Aboadze, Ghana

Purpose: The purpose of the panel is to engage various stakeholders on the implications of power production on local communities, areas for improvement, and potential actions companies can take to better fulfill their Corporate Social Responsibility programs.

Structure: Ninety-minute program with four speakers given 10-15 minutes each to speak. Moderator will summarize panel talks for the audience and have two to three planned questions to start the audience discussion. Fifteen to twenty minutes will be provided for questions and answers.

Content: This panel will address the social impacts of power production on local communities; both positive and negative effects of power production at the local level will be discussed. Edwin Aryitey will speak to the VRA’s strategy for mitigating community and environmental impacts. Elvis Kyere-Gyeabour will discuss the environmental and social impacts for communities affected by the development of power projects. Ebenezer Kwarteng a youth community member from Aboadze, the site of Takoradi Thermal Power Plant, will present community perspectives towards the power plant. Lindsey Bacon will speak to the opportunities for companies to engage more deeply with communities to ensure positive impacts and the use of ICT initiatives to enhance their Corporate Social Responsibility programs.

• P L E N A R Y  S E S S I O N – D A Y 2 (Thursday)

Moderator: Dr. Chris Mensah Bonsu, Lead Regional Transmission Engineer California ISO

Panelists:

• Dr. Nii Darko Asante,  Director of Technical Regulation, Energy Commission of Ghana
• Kweku Awotwi, past Chief Executive, Volta River Authority
• Liliane Kissimba, CEO World Growth Projects Inc, Co-founder Mahali Business Platform

Purpose: The purpose of the panel is to bring out viewpoints from new and traditional actors in electrification, as well as development agencies and project developers, to understand the outlook for business models, investment, and needed workforce skills for the practical realization of electrification across rural and urban African contexts.

Structure: Ninety-minute program with three speakers given 10-15 minutes each to speak. Moderator will summarize panel talks for the audience and have two to three planned questions to start the audience discussion. Fifteen to twenty minutes will be provided for questions and answers.

Content: This panel will draw on diverse perspectives to give the audience access to the facets of the problem. Dr Nii Darko Asante will comment on the paradigm of electricity as viewed by investors, economists, providers, businesses, and users in Africa.  Kweku Awotwi will deliver the factors that influence decisions on grid extension by a traditional utility, and give insight into how he sees priorities and pressures on the institution recently placed under his guidance.   Lilliane Kissimba will relate the challenges and opportunities perceived by private project developers and offer a view on how business environments are evolving.  All participants will reflect on the training and hiring prospects from their point of view.

• T U T O R I A L S  – D A Y 3 (Friday)

1. Designing Sustainable Business Models for Energy Access: 8AM-12PM

Instructor: 

Silvia Emili is a researcher completing her Ph.D at Brunel University London. With a background in sustainable Product-Service System and strategic design, her research focuses on the design of sustainable business models for energy access in low-income and developing contexts. She has extensive experience in carrying out workshops and training activities with companies and practitioners in different African countries. She carried out research in Botswana, South Africa, and Kenya, working within the EU-funded LeNSes project and the EPSRC-funded project – Global Challenges Research Fund.

2. Fundamentals of Micro-Grid Operation and Management with Cyber Security Issues: 1PM-5PM

Instructor:

Prof James A. Momoh is a professor and former chair (1990-2000) of the Department of Electrical Engineering as well as the founder and director of the Center for Energy Systems and Controls at Howard University, Washington D.C. Dr. Momoh received the B.S.E.E. degree (1975) with honors from Howard University, Washington, D.C.; the M.S.E.E. degree (1976) in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA; the M.S.E.E. degree (1980) in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and the Ph.D. degree (1983) in electrical engineering from Howard University, Washington, D.C.  Dr. Momoh has authored Electric Power System Applications of Optimization, a best seller book on Optimization and co-authored several others including Smart Grid: Fundamentals and Application, Electric Systems, Dynamics and Stability with Artificial Intelligence Applications (Marcel Dekker, Inc.) etc. He is an associate editor of the journals ‘Power Letters’ and ‘Electric Machines and Power Systems’.  Dr. Momoh is the Founder and Leader of US-Africa collaboration, widely known as International Conference on Power Systems Operation and Planning (ICPSOP), in research between US-Africa professors in energy and power sustainability. He was recently appointed the chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

3. Teaching Critical Engineering Thinking Skills: 8AM-12PM     

  Registration for faculty & instructors from African Universities: 30 USD Sponsored by the IEEE TAB Ad Hoc Committee on Africa

Instructor:

Prof Bruce Krogh is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.  In 2012, he moved to Kigali, Rwanda, as the founding director of Carnegie Mellon University Africa, where full-time resident faculty offer master’s degrees in information technology (MIST) and electrical and computer engineering (MS ECE). He has contributed for over thirty years to the theory and application of embedded control systems in a number of areas, including power systems, robotics, manufacturing systems, automobiles, and aircraft.  Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon University, he was a systems engineer at the Energy Systems Division of Westinghouse Corporation where he developed control software for electric utility energy control centers. He has served on editorial boards of several journals and was founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.  He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Distinguished Member of the IEEE Control Systems Society.  His current research interests include new operating and business strategies for ICT-enabled microgrids in emerging markets.

• T O U R S

*Onsite registrations may be possible up to the capacity of planned tour transportation capacity.

Gomoa Onyeadze Solar Farm

The Gomoa Onyeadze Solar Farm is a private funded solar energy harnessing plant that was constructed by the BXC Ghana limited, a subsidiary of the BXC Beijing China and located in the Central Region of Ghana. The 30 million-dollar solar plant was commenced in 2012 under the Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to add 20 megawatts of power to the national grid to augment the power deficit the country was facing. The Company installed 80,480 pieces of poly crystalline silicon panels with 20 step-up transformers to create the output inverters to 33 kilo volts. The project was solely funded by the BXC Beijing without any government guarantees. Friday, June 30, 2017

Pediatorkope Island 

Pediatorkope is situated in the Eastern Region of Ghana, next to Kpetsupanga. From Big Ada dock, a boat trip heads north & then bends around to Pediatorkope Island, the largest in the chain, where an impressive renewable energy effort can be seen. This island has become a testing ground for projects ranging from solar panels to electricity generating swing sets. Friday, June 30, 2017