President Akufo-Addo will on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 commission Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Plant to address the energy crisis.
The commissioning of the Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Project will improve power supply in Kumasi and the Northern parts of Ghana by boosting voltage system and thus improving overall system stability, according to Volta River Authority (VRA).
The President will be supported by Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and CEO of the VRA, Ing. Emmanuel Antwi Darkwa at this event to be held at Anwomaso Kumasi, the project site.
In a brief by the Authority, the move comes on the back of a grid impact study undertaken by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and recommending that a minimum of 250MW of power generation is required in the Ashanti Region to guarantee reliability and stability in the national grid.
The VRA expounded that the siting of a power plant in Kumasi would ensure that electricity consumers in the middle and the northern parts of the country receive quality and reliable power.
The project, according to the VRA, also aims at efficient use of the national asset.
It will also ensure the utilization of gas resources in the Western part of the country and further create job opportunities in Kumasi and its environs.
The Authority added that aside from the opportunities this creates especially for KNUST, Kumasi Technical University and other technical Universities to carry out practical training for their students on thermal power operations, the project is also expected to reduce system transmission losses by an estimated 30MW.
Background
The Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Project came into being after the expiration of the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement between Ameri Energy Limited and the Government of Ghana.
In 2022, the plant was handed over to the government and subsequently transferred to the VRA.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Energy together with the VRA took a strategic decision to relocate the plant to Kumasi and since then, the project has been named the "Kumasi 1 Thermal Power" project and funded entirely from the VRA’s IGF.
The project is executed in two phases; the first phase which is being commissioned on Wednesday commenced in May 2023 and involved the relocation of the first six (6) TM2500 units with a total generation capacity of 150MW.
The second phase will be completed in June 2024 to increase the plant’s capacity from the 150MW to 250MW.
The project is executed by VRA’s in-house team of engineers with support from some selected service providers.
This is a testament of Ghanaian ingenuity and the belief of the NPP government in Ghanaian capacity.