Veep inspects work on Kpone Independent Power Plant

Work on the construction of the 350 megawatts Kpone Independent Power Plant (KIPP) in the Greater Accra Region is progressing steadily.

So far 42 per cent of the work has been completed.

The plant, which comprises a combined cycle gas turbine, a 161-kilovolt power substation, treatment and storage deliveries and a three-kilometre pipeline to bring gas from the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited, is expected to be completed in September 2017.

It is expected on completion to add approximately 20 per cent of power to the country’s total thermal generation.

Inspection

The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, inspected work on the plant at Kpone yesterday.

He witnessed the deployment of a unique tunnel boring machine (TBM), which is used to construct the sea water intake for use as a cooling system for the combined cycle gas turbine power plant.

Since the sea water pipelines for the cooling water system cannot be constructed manually using conventional techniques and for the environmental impact of construction activities to be minimised, a special equipment such as the TBM had to be used.

Mr Amissah-Arthur was conducted round the project site by the Board Chairman of Cenpower Generation Company Limited, Nana Brew Butler, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Theo Sackey, and the Contracts Director of Group Five Construction Limited, contractors for the project, Mr Stephen Trickett.

Capacity 

The Vice-President, in January last year, cut the sod for work to begin on the construction of the KIPP at a cost of $900 million and with  the capacity to provide at current consumption levels, power for the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and parts of the Central regions.

It is expected to increase the country’s dependable installed generation capacity to about 13 per cent and provide about 600 jobs during the peak of the construction.  It would run on light crude oil and gas with a storage capacity of 18,000 cubic metres.

The project is being provided by a consortium of South African commercial banks, under an export credit cover, together with a number of leading development financial institutions.

Satisfaction

Mr Amissah-Arthur expressed satisfaction with the progress of work after inspecting the project.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to develop an energy sector to guarantee jobs for the citizenry, adding that it was the government’s plan to make energy more accessible to the production areas of the economy and households.

The Vice-President expressed optimism that the 5,000 megawatts of power the government had set itself to achieve with the participation of independent power producers was on course.

He described the current power situation as fragile, explaining that the country needed to achieve a 20 per cent reserve margin in energy production in order to place itself in a comfortable position and reiterated the government’s consistent pledge to work towards achieving that target.

Mr Amissah-Arthur commended the contractors on the project for engaging the residents of Kpone, which he said was in line with the local content policy of the government.

Writer’s email: sebastian.syme@graphic.com,gh