Karpower gas project opened

President Akufo-Addo has commissioned the Indigenous Gas for the multi-million dollar Karpowership in Sekondi.

This follows the relocation of the Karpowership from its original location in Tema to the Sekondi Naval Base, in the Western Region, and the subsequent conversion of 90% of its engines from being initially dependent on HFO to natural gas currently.

With Karpowership taking approximately 50% of the volume of the take-or-pay Sankofa gas for power generation over the remaining period of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Ghana, according to the Ministry of Energy, will save a whopping monthly take-or-pay cost of $40million and projected annual savings of $480million.

Specifically, the switch of the Karpowership to natural gas would save electricity users an amount of $170.5 million per year, and a projected amount of $1.2 billion over the remaining term of the contract, by way of reduced electricity charges to consumers.

Commissioning the facility, President Akufo-Addo called on Ghanaians to conserve energy despite the continuous supply of power in the country.

The president indicated that the government has made huge investments in the energy sector and has recently procured 12 million energy efficient bulbs for free distribution, but Ghanaians must make an effort to ensure that energy is not wasted.

“While the lights are on, we should still find a way to conserve energy and save as much as possible on our expenses in the energy area,” President Akufo-Addo said.

He added that, “Sometime ago, I authorized the energy ministry to purchase 12 million energy efficient bulbs which are now in, which we want to start distributing across the country.”

“The significance of this bulb is that, If properly administered, at the end of the distribution of the 12 million, we can save anything up to a 120 megawatts of power in its use.”

The Energy Minister John Peter Amewu lauded the efforts of the Ghanaian engineers for the relocation of the Powership without any power outages in the national grid.

“Today most of the chief executives will no longer be stopped from travelling outside. I remember the number of occasions we had to stop them from travelling outside because the President insists that we must consume our domestic gas.. I want to say a very big thanks to our chief executive, GridCo, ECG, Ghana Gas , GNPC who through their own effort have made it possible that we relocate the Karpowership from Tema to Takoradi. The relocation from Tema to Takoradi , Mr President was done with high level of energy management .

”Gone were the days when we were told that the pipeline from Nigeria to Ghana was broken as a result of a ship activity; what Ghana saw during that period was 3 years in darkness. Mr President, i am happy to state that under your leadership, 450 Megawatts of Karpowership was relocated from Tema to Takoradi without a single notice in the energy transmission system. This is as a result of good energy management system put in place by the various sector agencies,” the Energy Minister said.

The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah underscored the fact that the region is open to accommodate industries.