Clenergen acquires 12,000 acres of land in northern Ghana for biomass energy crops

Multinational Corporation, Clenergen says it has acquired 12,000 acres of land at Bole in the northern region of Ghana to cultivate biomass energy crops.

Clenergen says in a press release issued in Accra, November 1, 2010 that it has entered into a memorandum of agreement to sign a 45-year sub-lease agreement with the Bolewura (traditional ruler of Bole) and the Bole District

Assembly for the cultivation of biomass energy crops, which is projected to generate over 100,000 tonnes of wood chips per annum by 2014, sufficient to support up to 60MW/h of renewable electricity.

Describing the land as marginal land and unsuitable for agriculture, Clenergen says the lease will include water rights from the Black Volta river for irrigating the biomass energy crops, adding that the area is currently unused and de-forested.

The company will start planting in 2011 and full scale production, it says will be in 2014.

It indicated that the installation of a biomass power plant in Ghana will be one of the first in the country’s history and a major step forward in ensuring a sustainable constant supply of electricity to the industrial and commercial sectors, serving to encourage business to move to the northern territory of Ghana.

Clenergen however, did not specify the type of biomass crop it would cultivate on the land.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi