Ghana’s southern power distribution company, ECG, has signed a power purchase agreement with Aksa Energy Compay Ghana, a Turkish power firm for the construction of 350 MW combined cycle gas turbine plant in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
Details of the project regarding cost and duration for construction are sketchy but this portal can confirm that the agreement was signed on Thursday April 6, 2023, at the Ministry of Energy.
In 2021, Government announced plans to relocate the Ameri power to Anwomaso in the Ashanti Region to stabilise power supply to Ashanti Region and northern part of Ghana.
In January 2022, Government of Ghana fully took charge of the power plant.
However, after almost a year of taking over the plant from the Ameri Group, the plant is still at its current location in the Aboadze enclave in the Western Region.
The Akufo-Addo administration has claimed that the country has excess capacity.
That means the West African nation does not require any additional power plant for now.
The signing of the new PPA will surprise industry players especially Civil Society Groups in the energy sector who have been critical about certain decisions in the power sector.
In a Facebook post on the new PPA by the Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh sighted by energynewsafrica.com, he said “earlier this morning, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and AKSA Energy Company Limited (AECL) signed a power purchase agreement in furtherance of our quest for grid stability and reliability, especially in the middle belts of our country.
“In my remarks, I reminded the two parties of the essence of this morning’s exercise and thus, charged the ECG to ensure the full operationalization of the agreement in the interest of Ghanaians.
“The Ministry of Energy envisages an energy sector that will be robust enough to support our national economy and therefore we will continue on the path of these important partnerships which will result in the constant availability of power for industrial and residential consumption,” his post concluded.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com