The plant which will be based in Beyin, in Jomoro district forms part of the first phase of a 300MW Power Purchase Agreement to supply energy to the Ghanaian Grid. Mr. Deepak Khilnani, Chairman of Cummins Cogeneration Limited (CCL), in a remark at signing of the agreement said CCL was elated to be taking steps towards meeting Ghana's energy needs, adding that "since the discovery of Ghana's natural gas reserves, it has been expected that gas would play a prominent role in the country's energy sector."

 

He said the plant would be fueled by gas from the Gas Processing Plant at Atuabo through a 4km pipeline. Mr. Khilnani assured that the company had made substantial arrangements in the local content policy. "We want to utilize the energy and talent of local Ghanaians to make this project a social benefit, as well as an economic success. We firmly believe it will have a positive impact on both short and long term local employment", he said.

 

He said the project would be environmentally friendly and would meet all standards required from regulators, adding that there would be no pollution and noise from the plant. He stressed that the project would utilise Organic Ranking Cycle (ORC) which captures waste heat from the plant to generate additional energy. He entreated all stakeholders to cooperate in the execution of the project to ensure its timely completion.

 

Mr. David Brigidi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WUTA Energy Ghana, hinted that the project would offer a major improvement to the Ghanaian energy sector, provide employment and training to Ghanaians in various aspect of the power generation business. "The Beyin Power Plant Project will not only increase the total energy base the country requires, but it will also jump start economic activities especially in the catchment communities which will enhance the living standard of the people," he said.

 

He disclosed that the project was divided into two phases, with Phase one providing 140MW of power and scheduled to be completed in August 2016. He said Wuta Energy have secured site, a gas sales agreement and power purchase agreement from the various regulators in the oil and gas sector for the construction of the project . He expressed appreciation to the chiefs and people of the Nzema area for releasing the land for the project and allowing feasibility studies to commence.

 

Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister of Petroleum, commended Wuta and CCL for the project implementation and projected that by 2019, the country would be producing about 500 cubits of gas to help Ghana's efforts at making the power crisis a thing of the past. He emphasised that government was doing everything to ensure that more gas was produced to support power generation in the country. He announced that more than 100 million cubits of gas is currently being produced by the Ghana Gas Processing plant, while additional gas would be produced from the TEN project to boost power generation in the country.

Source : allafrica.com