00:00all right let's talk renewable energy now and let's talk about the sunrise spectrum initiative
00:05which is to provide clean energy and improve cook stove to underserved communities in northern
00:11ghana and we have the green chair green for change ghana in partnership with tangelic doing
00:18implementing this project and joining us for a conversation on this is justin williams of
00:24tangelic and john balanco sumbo of green for change ghana i guess this is justin williams
00:33and this is balanco sumbo right yes good morning good morning and thanks for joining me thank you
00:40now let me start with you uh jackson yeah it's justin yes what is this uh sunrise spectrum initiative
00:48about yes well first and foremost thank you for having me this morning as you mentioned my name
00:52is justin williams and i serve as the executive director of tangelic and tangelic is a u.s based
00:57uh ngo that uh specializes in uh clean energy climate finance as well as community-led development so
01:07when we talk about our sunrise spectrum initiative is a clean energy system that combines clean cook
01:13stoves home solar systems as well as uh community microgrids and the big piece of that as well would
01:20be to uh empower the community so everything we do within sunrise spectrum uh has a huge emphasis
01:26on gender uh equity or equality i should say so so i spectrum is the project's name that is correct
01:33okay yes that is correct yes and we have partnered with john his organization green change for ghana he
01:39is our on the ground partner and uh we are um set to deploy we are fully activated and set to deploy
01:45uh february of next year 2026 so then the um tangelic is you what role do you play what role does uh green
01:57for ghana also also play well um as i mentioned um green change for ghana they are on the ground partner so
02:04they have been um in the tamale area so correct john for for many years now so with that said they
02:10have deep ties to the community and tangelic we are the full design team so we have spent the last
02:15year um engineering our sunrise spectrum and putting things in motion to deploy uh next year so why is
02:23this so important for ghana now yes so um so my name is jambalako sumbo as we've already mentioned and
02:30director for green for change in ghana we are based in tamale and then we operate largely in the
02:37five regions of northern ghana um trying to support farmers to adapt to climate change mitigation
02:43practices so they can still have some good years amidst changing climate um so if you observe um
02:50northern ghana in particular if you go most households rely on um traditional cooking methods
02:57in open fire and then they rely heavily on fuel wood or biomass to to cook and this exposes them to
03:07indoor um pollution besides that the women who are engaged in this spend long hours looking for fuel
03:18woods which means that valuable time that the club used to engage in adventures that women income is
03:26spend looking for forwards so under this project we'll be providing clean cook stove that will
03:34require minimal amount of forward for them to prepare their traditional meals and we'll also be
03:40providing them with solar electrification because the committee we are targeting are communities that are
03:46under safe and are not on the national grid okay you know so how facilities in these communities don't have
03:54you know electricity for their health you know services provision you know students in these communities
04:03mean that the night while their colleagues are studying yes maybe in sleeping for instance you know so we're
04:10targeting all these facilities to provide them with um solar electrification and then we'll provide um
04:18households as well with um solar you know i mean clean clean clean clean energy so for the first phase uh we'll be targeting some 95
04:27households in northern ghana and starting in february next year
04:34then once this is done we'll now do the upscaling to cover some 20 000 households across northern ghana oh okay
04:41so so so with the first phase what would actually be what would you be doing so currently uh we're in
04:47a crowd to do some um high level stakeholder engagement to see how we can um align the interventions
04:53to um government priority areas so we're meeting the ministry of energy and green transition we're meeting
05:01epa the ministry of um climate change and then sustainability and other you know government institutions
05:07including um energy commission then once we are done with that we will now do the community entry and
05:14sensitization the target communities will be engaging and try to meet the the chiefs and then the
05:20traditional leaders or opinion leaders to introduce intervention to them and get their cooperation and
05:26support in the implementation process you know and then also be um registering the house who will be
05:32interested interested in enrolling or subscribing to the intervention and they will not do procurement
05:38and then installation of the uh the solar you know panels and then systems including the distribution of
05:44this of the of the clinical stove to the uh communities but the idea is i want to uh you know
05:50distribute cookstook that um will meet the the needs of the households so that they can still prepare
05:57their traditional meals with the same efficiency compared to the traditional system or
06:02model but if you get a cook stove that will that take maybe a longer period to prepare the meals that
06:10would take maybe a lesser period of time definitely um it will affect you know the adoption of the
06:16system we are introducing so we are trying to um do it to align with the um the context local context
06:24to ensure that um adoption is is is improved and also we'll be training um local technicians or artisans
06:32so that when these um cook stoves or i mean solar system break down they can't fix them or repair
06:38them sort of calling green for change or tangelic to come in to do the maintenance for them and all
06:44this that is to ensure sustainability of the usage of these uh systems we are provided okay justin who
06:49will be financing this project well um we have a climate finance piece with tangelic therefore
06:57um that involves blended finance which is uh loans as well as grants and carbon carbon monetization as
07:04well you know so using those blend finance uh mechanisms will ensure that the um sunrise spectrum
07:12initiative is sustainable for years to come and just to touch on what john just mentioned it's very
07:17important for us to have community-led development you know we're talking about training and creating jobs
07:23uplifting the people of the community that's that's what we do that is very important for us to also
07:28have uh women involved because we believe that women are definitely the pillars of communities that we
07:33serve and without the women being involved we don't feel that it would be successful or as successful
07:39as it should be so that is very important to us and we envision that sunrise spectrum will be nationwide in
07:48ghana you know we envision a uh cluster of sunrise sunrise villages obviously starting in the northern
07:54region and then spreading throughout we have a goal a target goal of about 20 000 households by 2028
08:01and then 32 000 households by 2032 so those households will pay nothing well paygo system they will do that
08:09so there will be a small fee that they will have to pay for their solar home systems a very small fee
08:14but remember they will be generating money from jobs that are being produced uh through sunrise spectrum
08:22so your you use a climate financing to ensure the long-term sustainability of this project
08:28yes that is correct okay none other avenue no that that is the only avenue that's necessary so we're
08:34talking about uh you know loans consolation loans as well as grants and uh money will grow and then we
08:41have the investor side as well where investors will invest in our projects uh where they will earn carbon
08:48credits okay and so we'll funnel through the carbon credits etc to produce um even more uh home solar
08:56systems and clean consoles for the communities that we serve so so these loans they are not what you'll be
09:01giving to the uh the beneficiaries loans to you the implementing partners you mean yeah loans that go
09:07directly to supporting sunrise spectrum okay yeah so it's massive you're going to give loans to the
09:13beneficiaries right that that is correct no loans to the fish beneficiaries but rather um and loans is
09:19a smaller part our our main focus would be the carbon monetization where the carbon credits come in
09:24to fund to fund the projects that is correct okay all right um it's somewhere if that's simple now what
09:33what message do you have for ghanaans development partners and donor partners by sunrise spectrum i mean
09:39i mean it's it's a it's a it's a game um changer you know initiative and they they you know beneficial
09:46communities we are engaging currently um the interest is very high um for this intervention when we did
09:52initial you know scoping and then full visit they were um very enthusiastic and interested in you know seeing
10:00the the the the the the rollout so and the message is that um um it's good we see how we can reduce
10:06emission um by adopting you know clean um i mean energy or systems because um the more we transition to
10:21the use of clean you know system we are cutting down on emission and and black carbon emission in
10:27particular and it will contribute to climate change mitigation and make our environment more um beautiful
10:35to stay in or more conducive to live in and we we we we um invite development partners and donor agencies
10:45to um support this initiative so that we can reduce energy i mean energy poverty poverty and also um save
10:54time for women in particular and then young girls that spend hours looking for full goods for their daily
11:01household needs okay um justin i didn't ask you are there any criteria that potential beneficiaries have
11:09to fulfill before who who is the beneficiary the beneficiaries would be the people of the communities
11:16that we serve am i understanding your correction yes but are there no criteria that those members have to
11:23fulfill oh no no not at all no criteria you know i was here last year and met with john and went into
11:29the communities in in northern ghana uh beautiful people and uh had a great conversations with them
11:36and there are absolutely no criterias uh essentially that they have to fulfill um in those communities that
11:42we will serve i believe it's about roughly 45 of the communities are without power so we identified a need
11:49and we are here to provide a solution for them okay all right thank you very much thank you so uh justin
11:55williams is uh the ceo of tangelic right executive director executive yes angelic and john ballanko
12:03sumbo is with green for change ghana guys thank you very much thank you
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