GE Power, Marinus Energy to use flared gas to generate power

GE Power, a subsidiary of General Electric (GE), a technology power solutions company, and Ghanaian-owned power company, Marinus Energy, have announced a US$25- million power plant that will make use of the country’s flared gas that otherwise will go waste.

Announcing the pilot project, GE said the 25 megawatts (MW) power plant, to be stationed at Atuabo in the Western Region, would utilise Isopentane gas as a fuel source and add power that would be equivalent to energy for more than 100,000 Ghanaian homes.

GE also said the Atuabo Waste-to-Power Independent Power Project would be the first TM 2500 power plant in sub-Saharan Africa to use Isopentane gas as a fuel source and would run on GE’s latest TM 2500 gas turbines.

Emissions reduction

Commenting on the project in an interview, the Strategic Advisor of Marinus Energy, Mr Fred Asamany, said: “Not only is the Atuabo wasteto-power plant enabling our company to lead in innovative energy solutions in Ghana but by using a fuel source which would otherwise have been flared as waste, we are further reducing emissions and costs.

“This is good for our business and the climate and eliminates potential environmental hazards facing the local community. GE is offering an innovative solution which gives us the confidence to move from pilot to commercial operations.”

In the first phase, Atuabo is expected convert the Isopentane fuel into up to 25MW of power, generating enough electricity to supply power to more than 100,000 Ghanaian households, and as additional gas is brought onshore, the plant will add on additional gas generating units of up to a capacity of 100MW.

It is envisaged that any additional Isopentane fuel will ultimately be stripped off an offshore gas supply and processed at Atuabo by the Ghana National Gas Company.

The gas turbine will start on lean gas and transfer to the Isopentane mix over time, while the power plant is intended to operate at baseload throughout its life.
Unrivalled speed

According to the CEO of GE Ghana and of GE’s gas power systems in sub-Saharan Africa, Mr Leslie Nelson, “The TM 2500 unit will provide unrivalled speed to deployment and flexibility to support the immediate needs of our customer, Marinus Energy, and then seamlessly transition to deliver capacity over the long term as they expand their operations.”

Saying that the Atuabo project would add another TM2500 gas turbine to the existing fleet of ten units in the country earlier deployed in 2016, he indicated that with more than 300 units deployed and over five million operating hours of experience, GE’s TM2500 had proven flexibility that could help bridge the power gap for short- and long-term energy planning, stabilise the grid or reach and power remote locations.

Outlining the enormous benefits from the TM2500 mobile power plant, Mr Nelson said as it was a trailermounted gas turbine generator with a containerised balance of plant, it could be relocated to other power plants during operation and maintenance outages or to remote areas.

“The TM2500 can also achieve full power approximately within 10 minutes, making it ideal for providing a base-load bridge for permanent power installations or generating back-up power for factories and industries,” he said.

“We intend to have that particular technology on inventory because globally we can use it to move quickly in emergency situations as we’ve done in this country before, we are doing in Angola and we have done in Nigeria.

“Secondly, the efficiency is very high. Thirdly, it is mobile and so you can actually move it from one location to another and the good thing about that technology is that we are building a fleet of those turbines in-country,” he stressed.

Mr Nelson added that the technology’s importance lay in the fact that it allowed GE to start investing in a service capability where it could build a service platform to ensure that it delivered the best availability for its customers.

“We have got a number of units in the marketplace and finally the financial markets are comfortable with it – the banks who lend to these projects and investors who co-invest or co-develop understand the technology, know that it has a track record, it is well-known to the market and as a result it is a fantastic product,” he said in an interview last Monday.

Mr Nelson explained that GE’s part in the project was not as an investor but was offering help with a structured payment scheme that would enable the sponsor to be much more flexible in how to deliver the project.

He said Marinus Energy, a long-time partner, approached GE with an innovative idea and GE deployed a technical team to develop a solution with Marinus, adding that it was a unique opportunity, as it was the first time of using waste gas to turn it into a fuel source for power generation.

ECG privatisation

Mr Nelson shared his belief that in the long run, everybody would benefit from the restructuring of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), as happened in the telecom sector of the country some years ago that resulted in job creation and efficiency.

“We will privatise the ECG as a country and I believe that will result in some efficiencies being generated, maybe through the flexibility of that privatisation process and you are also going to see where it is possible, with industry or captive markets generating their own power and being rin- fenced and through that power being distributed, or specific for a particular purpose or an audience of users,” he said.

Renewable energy

The President and CEO of GE Power, Mr Russell Stokes, who spoke to the issue of renewables, said his company produced invertors and solar equipment, while GE dealt in renewables such as solar and wind power.

On whether GE would venture into renewable energy in Ghana, he said although it was a complex issue, it was the future of energy, adding: “We are working on a renewable project with a potential partner in Ghana and we have held discussions around diversifying the energy mix in the country.

“It is an ambitious and noble goal and we are going to be partners and we are committed to supporting the power mix.”

Writer’s email: edmund.asante@graphic.com.gh