Karpower ship adds 215.22 MW to national grid
The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has transmitted 215.22 megawatts (MW) of power from the Karpower ship, Karadeniz Aysegul Sultan onto the national grid, thereby boosting power supplies nationwide.
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Consequently, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has reduced the quantum of power shedding to about 250 MW nationwide.
The Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Mr William Amuna, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Tema said the transmission began at midnight on
Friday, December 18, 2015 after hours of test runs by Karpower.
“As at 21:21 p.m. last Saturday, we were offtaking 215 MW onto the national grid,” Mr Amuna said.
The coming on stream of the plant, he said, had seen improvement in the power rationing, and as such consumers would enjoy longer hours of power from Sunday.
“There is an ease in the load shedding, and we are doing less than 300 MW and it is our hope that there would be enough power available for the Christmas festivities,” Mr Amuna added.
The 235 MW powership which arrived in the country on November 28, 2015, seven months after the scheduled delivery date of April 2015, is expected to be commissioned soon by President John Mahama.
A second facility with the same megawatts capacity is expected to be delivered soon to Ghana, in line with a power purchase agreement (PPA) Karpower Ghana signed with the ECG.
Per the agreements, the two powerships would generate 450MW for a period of 10 years.
The coming on stream of Karpower, as well as a host of other plants at the Tema power enclave and Aboadze in the Western Region, are expected to marginally reduce the electricity supply challenge that has plagued the country over the last three years.
AMERI
Mr Amuna disclosed also that inter-connection works on the AMERI plant at Aboadze were feverishly underway.
He hinted that work on the switchyard was almost complete, while installation of the gantry to pave the way for the facility to be hooked onto the national grid was also underway.
The Daily Graphic has also gathered that the managers of AMERI were hoping to add about 100 MW of power to the national grid ahead of the commencement of commercial operations in January 2016.
Karpower
In a related development, Karadeniz Holdings, operators of the Karpower ship have announced the commencement of commercial operations.
A statement signed and issued in Accra by the Communications Specialist, Ms Sandra Amarquaye, indicated that the ship would significantly ameliorate the power supply challenges in the country.
The powership, which presently runs on heavy fuel oil (HFO), according to the statement, would generate high voltage electrical energy at one of the lowest prices for thermal power generation.
“The operation of the powership is estimated to deliver savings to Ghana in the range of $120 million annually and further create jobs,” the statement added.
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