Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa
A Civil Engineer by profession, Mr. Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, widely known as “Jeff” by his peers, commenced his career with the Volta River Authority (VRA) in 1985 and served in various capacities until the year 2002, when he took up an appointment (secondment) at the Ministry of Energy as Director of Power until 2009. Three years later, he resigned from the services of the Authority and went into private engineering consultancy until his appointment as Chief Executive.
With over thirty years of impressive experience in the energy sector, Mr. Antwi-Darkwa has gained detailed knowledge in functional and infrastructural developments, regulatory influences in Ghana’s energy sector, and the dynamics of international power systems development. He possesses tremendous expertise in strategic planning, policy formulation and evaluation, contract negotiations as well as the management of several multi-disciplinary power projects.
Some of his notable achievements include his role in the planning studies for the implementation of the 330MW TAPCO and the Bui hydroelectric power projects. He brought his strong negotiations acumen to bear on the preparation of project agreements for the development and expansion of the 220MW Takoradi Thermal Power Plant by an additional 110MW. He has also served on several committees including the Technical Committee of the Government Negotiating Team on the VALCO Agreement, and a Lead Member of the Ghana Negotiation Team for the necessary Technical and Financial Agreements with the Chinese Government for the 400MW Bui Power Project.
As Director of Power at the Ministry of Energy, from 2002 to 2009, Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa was responsible for the formulation of policies, their monitoring and evaluation, and the supervision of the operations of the State institutions in the sector, namely, the VRA, GRIDCo. and the ECG. In addition, he served as Project Manager for the Government of Ghana’s National Electrification Programme, as well as a Lead Member for the Government Negotiating team for the technical and coordination of support from multilateral and bilateral institutions such as the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), the African Development Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB). His exposure to the workings and operations of these institutions opened opportunities for him to serve as a liaison for a number of Appraisal/Supervisory Missions of these institutions over the years.
Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa is also well versed with the development and operation of the oil & gas business including the design and evaluation of international oil & gas transactions, as well as an extensive knowledge of the various contractual arrangements in the oil & gas sector including resource sharing arrangements, taxation, and the evaluation of oil & gas infrastructure projects.
Mr. Antwi-Darkwa holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA)in International Oil & Gas Management, University of Dundee, UK. He also holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University, USA, and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) (Civil Engineering) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
He is a member of several professional bodies including the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GHIE), International Hydropower Association (IHA), Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Hydro Review Worldwide, an international professional magazine on hydropower development.