In Ghana, the Renewable Energy Act, of 2011 provides for the development, utilization, sustainability, and adequate supply of renewable energy for the generation of heat and power and other related matters.

The parliament of Ghana, in 2020, passed the Renewable Energy (Amendment) Act to amend the Renewable Energy Act, of 2011.

This act creates a competitive procurement scheme that consists of a tender and private auction process to attract competitive market rates for electricity generated from renewable sources.

Also, the 2010 Ghana National Energy Policy encompasses cross-cutting plans to manage the major challenge of fast-growing energy needs for the national development agenda. The policy contains three chapters (4, 5, 6) dealing with renewable energy deployment, waste-to-energy management, and energy efficiency.

Despite significant promotion and commitment from various governments, renewable energy accounts for a modest percentage of total energy generation. This is because of the numerous barriers that control the deployment of alternate energy.

This paper seeks to discuss and identify those barriers, highlight them, especially the regulatory barriers, and then discuss the appropriate enablers.

For this discussion, let us classify these barriers to the deployment of alternate energy sources, non-economic barriers, and economic barriers and their appropriate enablers.

NON-ECONOMIC BARRIERS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED ENABLERS.

1. Administrative and Bureaucratic Complexities: Obstacles arising in the deployment of renewable energy projects are manifold, including administrative hurdles such as planning delays and restrictions. Lack of coordination between different authorities and long lead times in obtaining authorization unnecessarily increase the timeline for the development phase of the project.

Higher costs are also associated with obtaining permission due to lobbying. All these factors prolong the project start-up period and reduce the motivation required to invest in renewable energy.

Ghana, Renewable Energy Act provides for Renewable Energy Authority to promote Renewable Energy but the same is yet to be done, presently the Renewable Energy Directorate under the Energy Ministry is tasked with that), lack of clear responsibilities, complicated, slow or non-transparent permitting procedure.

Bureaucratic procedures in the deployment of renewable energy are considered the biggest hindrance, and this demotivates investors and entrepreneurs from entering and investing in renewable energy. Government policies are not aligned at the national and state level, thus failing to attract energy sector investment.

Countries with excessively complicated administrative procedures have less penetration of renewable energy compared to countries with simple and straightforward procedures.

2. Ineffective Policies by Government: Strong regulatory policies within the energy industry are not only required for a nation’s sustainable development but also resolve the inconsistency between renewable and non-renewable energy. The lack of effective policies creates confusion among various departments over the implementation of the subsidies.

Energy is the backbone of the socioeconomic development of any country. By utilizing more renewable energy resources, nations can help fulfil energy deficiencies without damaging nature. The repercussions of this change would be the creation of more jobs in the designing, building, operation, and maintenance of renewable energy project infrastructures.

Higher levels of deployment will help to achieve economies of scale, and that will bring down the costs and thus the price for the end user. This will improve investors’ confidence and will trigger increased investments in renewable energy projects. Higher benefits can be reaped from the availability of green energy as there will not be severe environmental implications, and that can help in maintaining the earth’s ecosystem.

3. Technological Barriers:

Renewable Projects are confronted by technical and infrastructure barriers and challenges. There is limited availability of advanced technologies required for renewable energy, especially in Ghana, which acts as a factor preventing the penetration of renewable energy. Even if this technology is available, the cost of procuring it is very high.

Since renewable energy power plants are mostly placed in remote locations, they require additional transmission lines to connect to the main grid. Since most of the existing grids are not designed to integrate with renewable energy, these existing grids need to be upgraded or modified. Grid integration is among the biggest problems affecting the development of renewable energy projects

The effectiveness of renewable energy systems can be increased by continued research and development by helping to overcome technological obstacles. The Ghana Energy Development and Access Project (GEDAP) is a project that the Ghanaian government and the World Bank are working on together.

Through the promotion of renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, it seeks to enhance access to electricity in rural areas. For example, Energiewende, which simply means Energy turnaround in Germany, is a national program of Germany to invest in the expansion of grid infrastructure to support the country's transition to renewable energy.

ECONOMIC BARRIERS

1. High Initial Capital Cost: High cost has been cited as one of the essential barriers to switching from traditional energy sources to renewable energy sources. Renewable energy projects require a high investment; many aspects contribute to their high cost. Starting from the technology used to cost, hiring experts and specialists for project development, to the cost of the studies themselves and ensuring the feasibility of the project and resources needed

Renewable energy's biggest challenge is competition from low-cost fossil fuels. Renewable energy projects require huge land areas to produce the energy that a conventional plant can produce in a small area.

Prohibitive costs are involved in establishing and running renewable energy projects, mainly due to the huge financial capital required to acquire a suitable piece of land, the costs associated with lobbying, and power losses due to inefficient energy storage capabilities.

Government subsidies, tax incentives, and financing options can help to reduce the capital costs of renewable energy projects. For example, the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) System as provided under Section 25-29, which looks at the FIT scheme, the Renewable Energy (RE) purchase obligation, and the tariff rates, is a regulatory mechanism that provides financial incentives to renewable energy developers.

2. Tough Competition from Fossil Fuels: Fossil fuels will remain a dominant player in supplying energy in the future. A report by EIA’s International Energy Outlook (2016) suggests that fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) are expected to supply 78 percent of the global energy used in 2040. Coal is still a dominant fuel source in most counties because of its abundance, which makes it cheap and accessible

To level the playing field between fossil fuels and renewable energy, governments might establish policies such as carbon pricing or renewable energy requirements. California's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) requires that 60% of the power produced in the state originate from renewable sources by 2030.

By 2030, it is desired that California's electricity will be generated from renewable sources to the tune of 60%.

The RPS is designed to encourage the development of renewable energy sources and lessen the state's reliance on fossil fuels. Setting this benchmark makes it possible for renewable energy sources to compete on an equal footing with conventional fossil fuels.

4. Intermittency and Variability of Renewable Energy: Wind and solar energy are intermittent and variable, which means they do not produce electricity on a constant basis.

Technological advancement to effectively generate, store, and distribute renewable energy at lower costs is crucial. Governments can invest in energy storage facilities such as batteries or pumped hydro storage to store extra renewable energy and use it when renewable energy production is low.

Grid integration and modern control systems can also help to regulate the fluctuation of renewable energy sources and provide a dependable electricity supply.

In conclusion, the impact of various barriers on the deployment of alternate energy has been stated above as well as their associated enablers. 

Overcoming these barriers will help to achieve economies of scale and will bring down operation and maintenance costs, especially with respect to initial costs.

By supporting further innovative technological advancements, more efficient plants will be developed which may require smaller portions of land. Modern technologies will also make offshore wind/solar farms economically feasible.