The Energy Commission in collaboration with Ghana education Service (GES) holds second edition of SHS Renewable Energy Challenge in the Upper West Region.
This year’s edition in the Upper West Region gave six competing schools the opportunity to showcase their creativity in a bid to promote application of scientific concepts in the renewable energy sector as this will also serve as a tool for policy formulation and implementation within the sector.
The one day program was hosted by Wa Senior High Technical School at Wa. The visiting schools included same sex St Francis Girls Senior High and Nandom Boys Senior High schools. The rest of the competing schools were Wa Senior High School, Lawra Senior High School and Queen of Peace Senior High School.
In his address, Mr Julius Nkansah-Nyarko, the Chief Program Officer in charge of Bio-Energy at the Energy Commission, said the program was organized to help achieve one of the responsibilities of the commission under the Renewal Energy Act, 2011 (Act 132), which is to promote the efficient use of electricity and the development of renewable energy resources through public education, training and regulation of entrepreneurs in the sector, and facilitating the mainstreaming of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology issues into the curriculum of educational and training institutions including secondary, technical and tertiary level institutions.
Jirapa Saint Francis Girls Senior High School emerged winners in this year’s annual Energy Commission SHS Renewable Energy Challenge in the Upper West Region.
The all girls school (Assisi) went into the contest with four mixed schools and one all boys school and defied all odds to lift the ultimate in the keenly contested programme organized by the Energy Commission of Ghana.
The contest was opened by Wa Senior High School (WASEC) with a unique wind turbine and its application to solving the current crises in the energy sector.
The presentation was followed by similar projects from Lawra SHS (LAWSEC), Nandom SHS (NANSEC), Queen Of Peace (QUEENSEC), St Francis Girls (ASSISI) and host Wa Secondary Technical School (WA SEC/TECH).
The winning program, demonstrated in front of the watching crowd, saw alcohol being used as the source of fuel in a well-crafted local stove.
The judges on the day filtered the schools based on the veracity, genuineness and uniqueness of the packages on parade.
After the presentation of the projects by various schools, St. Francis Girls Senior School emerged victorious after amassing an average of 82.7 points, Lawra Senior High School came second with 79 points. Nandom Senior High School was third with 78 points.
The fourth position went to Wa Senior High School with 71 points. Wa Senior High Technical and Queen of Peace Senior High Schools came fifth and sixth with 67.7 and 63.3 points respectively.
This gave St Francis Girls Senior High school a slot to represent the region at the zonal edition slated for Tamale in the northern region.
Various awards and souvenirs were presented. Each student, lead teacher and contesting school was certified by the organizers alongside cash prizes.