Sunon-Asogli to export power to Nigeria

By Richard Attenkah
The management of the Chinese power producer, Sunon-Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited, has indicated that it is waiting to be given the go-ahead by the government to commence work on the second phase of its expansion programme to supply power in the country.

It, however, pointed out that after the second phase has been completed, the power producer would export part of its production to Nigeria, from where it is currently obtaining gas to operate.

This came to light when officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), led by its Managing Director (MD), Mr. William Hutton Mensah, held a meeting with the management of the Sunon-Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited. after which they toured the facility.

The Chinese power producer is jointly owned by Shenzhen Energy Corporation and China-African Development Fund (CADFUND). Shenzhen Energy has 60 percent shares and CADFUND 40 percent.

Sunon-Asogli is currently producing 200MW of power in the first phase. It is expected that at the end of the second phase it will produce an additional 360MW and later, supplementary power of 440 MW at the end of the third phase, to bring the total power generation to 1,000MW.

The total estimated cost of the first phase of the project, which is currently being run on gas from Nigeria, was US$200 million.

Speaking at the meeting, the ECG boss hinted that the decision to meet their Asogli counterparts was to cement the relationship that has existed between the two companies since the latter started operations in the country.

According to him, Asogli has been of a tremendous source of support to the ECG, hoping that they would continue to supply ECG with more power, and went on to thank the Chinese power producer for its support.

Togbe Afede XVI, a director of the company, assured the management of the ECG that Sunon-Asogli would continue to do business with its Ghanaian counterpart.

'We need your support to enable us move to the next phase of our project, which is the second phase, and possibly, to the third phase in the near future,' he noted.

On his part, the Chairman of Sunon-Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited, Li Xiao Hai (Shaw), said the programme for the second phase was ready and waiting for the ECG and the government of Ghana's support to take-off.

'We have the requisite experience with this kind of project, and as soon as we get the go ahead, we will roll out our plans for the next phase of our project,' Chairman Shaw stressed.