Ghana’s quest to join the nuclear power producing countries in the world is on course, energynewsafrica.com can report.
The West African nation is hoping to generate about one gigawatt of power from nuclear to add to the country’s energy mix.
The project is expected to commence in 2024 and completed in 2030. The country has, so far, successfully completed the first phase of the three phases required by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before the development of a national infrastructure for nuclear power.
Ghana has been given the greenlight to move to the second phase after having successfully completed the first phase.
The second phase involves developing the institutions, building expertise/capabilities, liaising with stakeholders, developing regulatory framework, electrical grid studies/upgrade as well as procurement site preparation and contracting.
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To this end, officials of the sector ministry, last Friday, held a meeting with the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as other stakeholders to discuss the second phase of the project.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with energynewsafrica.com, Coordinator of the Ghana Nuclear Power Programme (NPP), Dr Robert B. M. Sogbadji said the government had already identified four sites for the project but declined to disclose their exact locations.
“When IAEA gives us the nod for the phase two, like they had given us in the phase one, then, we go to phase three, where we construct the power plant. We are expecting that this phase three will also end by 2030 when we will connect the nuclear power plant to the grids to integrate into our energy to diversify our energy mix.”
According to him, this purpose is to diversify the country’s fuel supply mix so that it would enhance the amount of renewable energy resources Ghana needs as a clean base load to be able use variable energy resources as well.
Touching on the cost of the project, Dr Sogbadji explained that for a 1,000MW to 1,200 MW installed capacity of nuclear, the price ranges from $4 billion to $6 billion, however, they are having quotations from 700 MW, which was around $2 billion from the other countries, so they would take best decision to procure the one that would be more economically benefit to Ghana.
He was of the view that, though nuclear programme is involving, once Ghana reaches the end of phase three, it would become a beacon of Africa and “it is going to improve on our industry in diverse ways, in our construction of robotics, healthcare and even water supply.”
Click on the video below to listen to Dr Robert Sogbadji: