Shutdown of FPSO Kwame Nkrumah: Ministry takes steps to mitigate impact of power shortage
The Ministry of Power has assured the public that measures have been put in place to mitigate the impact on power supply during the shutdown of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.
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As part of the measures, it said, arrangements had been made to purchase light crude oil to power some of the thermal plants within the Aboadze power enclave in the Western Region.
The light crude oil was expected to arrive in the country yesterday and managers of the power sector would meet this week to consider simulation and scenario analysis of the situation.
Generation loss
Power generation is expected to go down by 250 megawatts (MW) for a period of two weeks, beginning March 20, when the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah is shut down for inspection and maintenance works.
This is because the AMERI plant, which generates 250MW and runs solely on gas, will not be working until the completion of the maintenance works, a situation that may result in power disruptions.
The shortfall
The Deputy Minister of Power, Mr John Jinapor, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said information from the Jubilee partners, indicated that scheduled inspection and maintenance works were needed to be undertaken on the ship.
He said the exercise, which was to ensure the reliability and integrity of the FPSO, would last two weeks, beginning March 20, 2016.
As a result of the shutdown, he said, there would not be oil or gas production from the Jubilee field during the period.
In view of that, he said, the Volta River Authority (VRA) plants which ran on gas from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant would have to run on light crude.
The deputy minister further indicated that some thermal plants, such as the Takoradi International Company (TICO) and Takoradi Thermal Power, which had the capacity to provide about 600MW at a combined cycle mode would run on light crude oil.
“Bear with us”
Currently, the Atuabo gas plant produces about 83 million standard cubic feet of gas for the Aboadze power enclave, which has a total generation capacity of about 850MW.
The last major shutdown of the FPSO for maintenance was in September 2013.
Although the time for the scheduled works was not due, Mr Jinapor said the public needed to brace themselves up for the inconvenience that would arise from it.
He urged the public to bear with the situation and remain calm as the authorities were in control of the situation.
