Overview
The Battery Ambassadors programme (Batteries for Emerging Economies) is part of the Faraday Institution’s work under the Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage (ACES), which is funded by the UK Government’s Ayrton Fund. ACES aims to widen energy access, cut emissions and support energy transitions in emerging economies by developing lower-cost energy storage for off-grid and weak-grid power and for e-mobility.
Twelve Battery Ambassadors from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Indo-Pacific work with the UK battery research community and build battery networks in their own countries. They cover Bangladesh, Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Dr. Gifty Serwaa Mensah, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at RCEES, UENR, is Ghana’s Battery Ambassador. Her research looks at sustainable battery (waste) management. She co-leads the ambassadors’ Building Global South battery networks initiative, which runs webinars to connect battery work that is currently fragmented across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Objectives
- Represent Ghana in the Faraday Institution’s Battery Ambassador network and link it with UK battery researchers
- Map Ghana’s battery ecosystem, covering research, materials, manufacturing, industry, start-ups and policy
- Build a connected battery community across the Global South through webinars and masterclasses
- Find skills and knowledge gaps and guide capacity-building in battery technologies
- Promote sustainable battery (waste) management and circular-economy approaches
Charging Ahead report (March 2026)
Charging Ahead: Battery Ecosystems, Energy Transitions and Electrification in Emerging Economies is a joint Faraday Institution report by the 12 Battery Ambassadors. It gives a snapshot of the battery landscape in each country: research areas, material sourcing and local manufacturing, institutions and partnerships, industry and start-ups, and policy and funding. Dr. Mensah wrote the Ghana chapter.