Page 189 - ISES SWC50

Joseph Essandoh-Yeddu
Country: Ghana
Year joined industry: 1989
Company first worked for: Energy Commission
Technology area: All, Renewables and Policy
Still active in the industry: Yes

Dr. Essandoh-Yeddu joined the Ghana’s energy sector in 1989 starting as a schedule officer for solar energy
in then National Energy Board till his last position as Director, Energy Planning and Policy at Ghana Energy
Commission in 1999. He developed and implemented the first major solar power programmes for Ghana
between 1989-1999. He was involved in the design of the Renewable Energy Solar Power Project (RESPRO)
in Northern Ghana, 1998-2002. Installed almost 1,700 Solar Home systems in 90 off-grid communities. He
designed and implemented installation of 50kWp Rooftop Solar PV on the Ministry of Energy office building
in Accra, 1999. First of its kind in Ghana then. He oversaw the Solar for Volta Lake Resettlement Areas,
1997-1998. This involved installation of thousand Solar Home Systems deployed in settlement communities
displaced by the initial flooding of the Volta Dam. He Installed the first Solar Streetlights in four public
universities in Ghana (1996-1997). He participated in developing Solar and Wind maps for Ghana between
2002-2004. He developed initial technical specifications for Off-grid Solar PV systems for Ghana in 1999.
He developed Ghana’s first Strategic National Energy Plan (2006-2020) that set 10% Renewable Energy target by
2020. Solar is now a common sight in Ghana. Joseph first joined ISES in the early 1990s among the first in Sub-
Saharan Africa. He has published number of solar related papers including:
1. Solar Energy as a tool for Social Change: Experiences with Solar Photovoltaic Implementation in Ghana, ISES
Solar World Congress, 6-12 August 2005, Orlando, Florida, USA.
2. Current Solar Energy Utilisation in Ghana, 1997, Renewable Energy, Elsevier Science Vol.10, No.2, pp. 433 – 436
3. PV R&D and Applications in Ghana: Current Status and Future Prospects, 25th IEEE PV Specialist Conference,
Proceedings, 13-17 May 1996, Washington D.C, USA.
4. Performance Study of Solar PV Refrigeration Systems in Ghana, Proceedings, ISES Solar World Congress, 11-18
September 1995, Zimbabwe.

Bill Finney
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1983
Company first worked for: Australian National University (ANUTECH)
Technology area: Solar Thermal
Still active in the industry: No

Bill Finney was the Manager/Operator of the White Cliffs Solar Thermal Power Station, arguably the Worlds
First Commercial Solar Power Station, designed and constructed in 1981 by the ANU. Bill maintained
the operations of the station for 10 years and was instrumental in resolving design faults and improving
the operating efficiencies of the station. The following are his words describing the operation of the
station. “The concept of the White Cliffs Solar Thermal Power Station was to collect the sun’s energy
to boil water to produce steam to operate a steam engine, turning an alternator supplying electricity.
Fourteen 5 metre fiberglass parabolic dishes each with 2000 small mirrors, concentrated the rays to a focal point,
one and a half metres from the base of the dish. At the focal point water pumped though a coil of stainless steel
tubing called a thermal absorber, converting the water to steam at a pressure 1000 pounds per square inch or four
times the pressure of railway steam engines. The high-temperature steam was fed to a steam engine via stainless
steel tubing inside insulated metal ducting. The steam engine powered a single phase alternator that supplied 240v
to the town and a 300v DC Generator that charged a bank of wet cell batteries. The 25 kilowatts per hour output
would supply the town’s eight homes and six businesses by an allocation of two kilowatts per household and four
kilowatts per business. At sunset, the field windings of the DC Generator would be reconfigured as a DC motor and
powered by the batteries, continue to turn the alternator. A clutch would disengage the steam engine. The dishes
tracked the sun’s position, automatically following the sun or where the sun should be even on cloudy days. At the
end of the day’s sunlight the dishes would return to the morning start position.”

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