Ghana’s largest independent power producer, Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited, has outlined plans to make huge investment in the renewable energy sector to add to the country’s energy capacity.
The leading IPP in the West African nation has been operating 560MW combined cycle power plant in Kpone near Tema in the Greater Accra Region. It now wants to venture into RE to contribute to the government’s plan of achieving 10 percent of RE penetration into the country’s energy mix.
Making a presentation at a media encounter Friday, Assistant Manager in charge of Commerce at Asogli, Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor mentioned that Sunon Asogli is determined to power Ghana through RE in the area of wind, solar and waste –to- energy.
According to him, the company has completed feasibility study in the area of wind energy and wants to make an investment of US$127 million in that regard.
He added that the power entity is also currently conducting feasibility study to build 100MW solar farm at Dawa in the Ada District in the Greater Accra Region.
Apart from the above RE proposed projects, Asogli also wants to establish 35MW waste -to- energy power plant to take care of the country.
Elikplim Apetorgbor indicated that Shenzhen Energy Company, which is the parent company of Sunon Asogli, currently manages world’s largest waste to energy power plants in China and manages about 38,820 tonnes per day of waste and would, therefore, employ the best technology to ensure that Ghana’s waste would not only be recycled but also put into good use by generating electricity.
According to the 2020 World Bank report, Ghana generates three million tonnes of solid waste and spends GHS 6.7 million (EUR 1.15 million) annually managing it.
Elikplim Apetorgbor, said the World Bank report has projected that there would be growth in municipal waste and this is the reason why Asogli wants to come in to help Ghana to deal with it.
“We want to take care of the waste by putting it to good use by generating electricity,” he stressed.
The waste to energy plant which would be situated on a 25-acre land is expected to process about 1500 tonnes of waste per day.
Moratorium
The Government of Ghana has placed moratorium on the signing of new Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) since 2018.
This is because the country currently has a total installed generation capacity of about 5,300MW while peak demand is hovering around 3,200MW.
The Government of Ghana pays around $500 million annually for excess power or power the country does not consume.
Mr Elikplim Apetorbor stated that Asogli would not require any of Government of Ghana’s guarantee for its proposed RE projects and, therefore, urged the government to lift the moratorium on signing new power purchase agreement to enable them execute the proposed projects which would contribute immensely to the economy in terms of power generation and job creation.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com