Ghana: PURC Leadership Visits Twin City Energy And Early Power Plants

The Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Dr. Shafic Suleman, and a team of staff paid a working visit to the Twin City Energy Power Generation Plant (Amandi) at Aboadze in the Western Region. This visit was part of his regional tours to familiarize himself with the operations and create collaborations for effective regulations.

The Twin City Energy power plant, located in Aboadze near Takoradi in the Western Region, is a 200MW combined cycle facility that can run on crude oil and natural gas.

Dr. Shafic Suleman thanked the Amandi team for receiving the PURC team and urged them to quickly resolve the technical challenges to get the plant back online.

He emphasized that it’s unjustifiable for Ghanaians to pay for power services without receiving the generated power.

He also advised Amandi Energy to consider more gas-to-power generation in the future, as this is cheaper and more sustainable for the economy, especially with the government’s intention to construct a second Gas Processing Plant (GPP).

However, he applauded the Amandi team for maintaining and operating such a state-of-the-art facility over the years.

The Operations Manager, Mr. Josjua-Ravi Kumar, and his team gave the PURC team a tour of the plant’s general functionalities and ongoing procedures.

According to him, the plant is currently under shutdown due to planned maintenance, but when in operation, it is usually powered by gas through the Ghana National Gas Corporation (GNGC) gas pipeline from Atuabo. The plant can also operate on Diesel Fuel Oil (DFO) and Light Crude Oil (LCO).

Mr. Kumar explained that the generation facility has a 24-hour manned control room and a total generation capacity of 397 MW (200 MW gas-to-power and 197 MW LCO-to-power), with potential for future expansion.

Due to the integration of Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) technology, power generation efficiency has increased by 49.95%, with a dispatch rate of 99% and an availability of 93%.

Mr. Kumar noted that one of the plant’s challenges is the need for an additional power evacuation (transmission) line, as the current one is inadequate for the plant’s capacity.

Following the visit to Amandi, Dr. Shafic Suleman and the PURC management staff paid a working visit to Early Power at Tema on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, to further strengthen collaborations between the regulator and utility service providers.

Source:https://energynewsafrica.com