Editorial: Can Atuabo gas become the game changer?

Construction of the Atuabo gas plant began in April 2012 and completed in August 2014 at a cost of $1 billion from the China Development Bank loan.

The full operation of the plant is expected to ease the power crisis in the country because it will process raw gas into liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the country's major thermal plants.

Since its commissioning, however, the plant has mostly run just one-third of its capacity,  with the lack of continuous flow of gas from the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Kwame Nkrumah vessel located on the Jubilee oil field, off the coast of Takoradi, due to a breakdown it experienced.

The $1-billion project undertaken by the Chinese company, Sinopec, can generate about 140MMscf of natural gas a day and has been processing and supplying gas to the VRA to run the thermal plants in Sekondi-Takoradi to generate electricity.

On his last visit to the construction site, President John Mahama said the plant would be a game changer and empower Ghana's quest to be a power exporter in the sub-region.

The tag game changer was put on the project because the plant will provide cheap natural gas for energy generation, as well as provide numerous other opportunities that usually come with such industrial facilities.

We earnestly hope that with the commencement of full operation of the plant and its inauguration yesterday by President Mahama, the tag of game changer will be given true meaning. While we laud the government for ensuring that the plant really starts producing gas for power generation by the end of November, we re-echo the desire of every Ghanaian for an end to the very difficult power rationing which has become known as dumsor.

Many businesses have collapsed,  workers have lost their jobs, while people have died because of the power instability that has gripped the country over the past several years. The loss of livelihoods has also resulted in many social disruptions — broken marriages, stalled projects, increase in crime, reduction in productivity, among other challenges.

It is certainly good news that the gas plant, which has the capacity to generate about 140MMscf of natural gas a day, will save the country more than $500 million annually when the crude oil is substituted with gas in the generation of power.

Meanwhile, the country is targeting 5,000MW of power by 2016, while most of the new thermal plants are expected to use about 70 to 80 per cent gas for power generation.

We only urge managers of the Atuabo gas plant to ensure that they do not only get off to a very good start but also put in all the necessary measures for uninterrupted supply of gas that will inure to the benefit of all Ghanaians.

If the plant makes dumsor a thing of the past, all human endeavours that have suffered setbacks will bounce back.