Ghanaian officials welcome Karadeniz Powership

Accra, Nov 29, GNA - Ghanaian officials have welcomed the arrival of Karadeniz Powership Aysegul Sultan, from Turkey, which would be connected to the national grid in the coming weeks.

The Powership with a capacity of 235 megawatts is expected to be hooked to the Ghana Grid Company's station at Tema to be followed by a test run before the commencement of actual production.

Traditional rulers poured libation at the Tema Fishing Harbour, where the vessel docked on Saturday.

President John Dramani Mahama is expected to perform the official commissioning in the coming weeks once the technical works are completed.

Electricity Company of Ghana and Karpowership Ghana Company signed a 10-year power purchase agreement for the supply of two Powerships to generate 450 MW to the national grid.

A second Powership with the same megawatts capacity is expected to be delivered soon.

Mr John Abu Jinapor, Deputy Minister of Power, said the Powership is one of the many measures being undertaken by government to address the power challenges and to ensure sustainable electricity supply.

Mr Orhan Karadeniz, the Chief Executive Officer of Karpower Ghana, said the Powership is one of the quickest power barges produced at a very lower cost by the company.

According to him, Karpower had invested a total of $30 million on mobilisation, site preparation, marine infrastructure works along with fuel supply, storage management and grid interconnection.

He said there was an arrangement with an independent supplier for the supply of Low Sulphur Heavy Fuel Oil to be used to power the barge to ensure an uninterrupted production at the facility.

He explained that officials have also put instituted a dedicated shuttle vessel for the purposes of supplying fuel from the onshore storage facility to the on-board storage tanks of the power ship.

GNA