Ghana, dumsor and the Morocco option

Like a recurring nightmare, Ghana’s power crisis refuses to go away.

Barely two months after President John Mahama assured parliament and Ghanaians that the power crisis, also known as dumsor, was over, the president recently ate his own words and reminded Ghanaians that the country was not yet out of the woods in her quest for sustainable energy.

Dumsor, pronounced ‘doom-sore’ is a popular Ghanaian term meaning, ‘off and on’, and is used to describe persistent, irregular and unpredictable electric power outages.

The term is derived from two separate words from the Asante Twi, the Akuapem Twi or Fante dialects of the Akan language : dum (to turn off or quench) and sor (to turn on or to make light).

Mahama during his last State of the Nation address had said although there were some challenges in the supply of electricity, his government had enough measures in place to solve the power challenges.

But since the presidential assurance, Ghanaian businesses and households continue to experience regular power outages, triggering suggestions that Ghana consider the Morocco option in permanently solving its energy challenges.

Morocco, Ghana’s north African friend, was similarly plagued by debilitating power crises but now enjoys stable power supply.

By law no. 2-94-503, Morocco in 1994 opened its electricity market as a result which, power plants with capacities up to 10 MW could be built and operated by private enterprises; while plants above 50 MW could operate on condition that the project was subject to open tendering and all power produced was sold to ONEE.

ONEE (Office National de l'Electricité et de l'Eau Potable) is Morocco’s public law company answering to the Ministry of Energy, Mining, Water and Environment (MEMEE) and is responsible for the generation and transmission of electricity in Morocco since 1963.

In a policy decision in 2001, it was determined that this objective was to be achieved through the opening of the Moroccan electricity market with respect to electricity generation, distribution and sale in several stages, but little effort has been made to realise this decision. One measure in 2008 was to allow IPPs to operate power plants of up to 50 MW installed capacity instead of the previous threshold of 10 MW.

In 2009 Law 13-09 has passed which specially authorizes private generation of power from renewable source of energy. According to RCREEE, currently the total capacity of IPPs producing renewable energy constitutes 124 MW while the total generation capacity of conventional electricity is 1, 704 MW.

Government’s opening up of the Moroccan electricity market divided the sector into two parts, an open market segment and a regulated one. Customers were split into eligible and non-eligible customers, depending on a threshold based on annual consumption.. Eligible clients are able to choose whether to purchase electricity from the open or from the regulated market, and clients are able to switch. Those not belonging to the category of eligible customers shall continue to purchase their electricity from the regulated market at officially determined prices in order to secure the supply of power to private households with a low voltage connection at prices set by the state.

Several funding mechanisms are also available. In 2008 an energy investment company for developing renewable energy (SIE) was created by law 40-08. SIE intends to support RE development and contains a capital of 1 million DH. While 71per cent are endorsed by the state, the Hassan II Fund for Economic and Social Development account for 29 per cent.

Moreover in 2010, the Energy Development Fund (FDE) was established, and contains a capital of 1 billion USD. The Hassen II fund contributes with 200 million, 300 millions are endorsed by UAE and 500 million by Saudi-Arabia.

Indeed, recently, King Mohammed VI of Morocco ceremonially switched on the Noor I concentrated solar plant (CSP), which aims to turn his country into a renewable energy powerhouse over the next ten years.

Built by Saudi-owned ACWA Power, construction on the Noor I plant began in 2013 and cost about $1billion. Its 500,000 mirrors cover thousands of acres and generate up to 160 megawatts, making this one of the world's biggest solar thermal power plants.

This first phase should bring energy to about 500,000 people.

But soon there will be several hundred thousand more mirrors covering the desert floor: that's because when the King commissioned Noor I, he also launched the construction of Noor II and Noor III.

When the next two phases are finished, the 580 megawatt plant will be the single largest in the world. While supplying power to over 1,000,000 people, it will also reduce CO₂ emissions by 760,000 tons a year and 17.5 million tons over 25 years.

The system's 39-foot-tall parabolic mirrors focus energy onto fluid-filled pipelines. The fluid's intense heat turns water into steam that powers a turbine. But this solar plant doesn't stop delivering energy at sundown. Any excess heat is stored in a tank of molten salts.

Storage for Noor l will generate electricity for three hours after nightfall, and the completed complex will produce power 20 hours a day.

Morocco’s environment minister, Hakima el-Haite, believes that solar energy could have the same impact on the region this century that oil production had in the last.

Morocco’s goal is to make solar energy along with wind and hydro half of its energy supply by 2020. One day this could also power water desalination, in a country that is increasingly being punished by drought as the climate warms.

Ghana for the past years has been experiencing erratic power supply which has led to the collapse of businesses.

Government in a move to alleviate the effects of the crisis, imported two power ships to augment the country’s current power supply.

It also imported some plants from Ameri Power in that regard. Ghanaians were also made to pay more for power.

Speaking on the energy situation, President Mahama also explained that Ghana is still facing some energy challenges because of lack of gas.

“Our energy challenges are not over but at least for now, we have been able to fix the problem, we are able to match demand and supply, even though we are living dangerously because our redundancy is small, not because we don’t have the generating capacity but because several of our generating assets are gas-based. We are not able to get enough gas to feed them.”

“For instance if you take the eastern generating area which is Tema, we have almost 600MW of gas-based generation but are not getting gas through the West African Gas pipeline to be able to run them. One reason is because Nigeria’s demand for gas is increasing and there is regular destruction of the gas infrastructure and so we get a certain volume today, tomorrow it drops so you cannot predict how you are running those assets,” he added.

The frequent Ghanaian blackouts are caused by a power supply shortage. Ghanaian generating capacity is currently 400-600 megawatts less than Ghana needs. Ghanaian electricity distributors regularly shed load with rolling blackouts.

At the beginning of 2015, the dumsor schedule went from 24 hours with light and 12 without to 12 hours with light and 24 without. The long blackouts contrast with the practice in other countries, where blackouts roll rapidly so that no residential area is without power for more than one hour at a time.

Ghana's power supply became erratic in early 2001. There was reduced generation capacity, due to a significant drop in water levels at the Akosombo Dam (Ghana's main hydro-electric dam). Water levels rose and the power crisis was temporarily resolved in late 2008.

The term (Dumsor) gain prominence in August 2012, when the President Mahama led government told Ghanaians that a ship's anchor cut the West African GasPipeline (WAGP), forcing gas turbines to shut down for lack of fuel. Since 2012, load shedding has become a regular experience, and the country has plunged into a major power crisis.

Many Ghanaian companies are collapsing due to the irregularity of the power supply. The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), in a recent report, stated that Ghana lost about 1 million dollars in 2014 alone because of dumsor.

Electronic equipment has been avoidably damaged, and refrigerated food regularly spoiled. Health and safety have also been harmed, with hospitals having no light, and a lack of electricity to run fans, increasing malaria risk.

Last December, the Karpower barge (Karadeniz Powership Aysegul Sultan), the first Powership in Ghana with an installed capacity of 235 MW, started commercial operations after having been connected to the national grid.

A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed between state-owned utility distributor, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and Karpowership Ghana Company Limited for the barge.

As per the PPA, two powerships will generate a total of 450 MW, which will directly supply power into Ghana’s electrical grid for 10 years.

The agreement, according to Karpower “will be a significant contribution to Ghana’s electricity supply and industry.

But, unfortunately, right now that ‘significant contribution’ is not making much impact in ending Ghana’s power crisis, the dumsor, further affirming the urgency in Ghana’s joining Morocco in exploring the concentrated solar plant (CSP) option as a permanent way out .

Moreso as CSP is such a promising technology that the International Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that 11 percent of the world’s electricity generation in 2050 could come from CSP.

High costs tend to deter many utilities from using the technology, especially in emerging markets.

But CSP remains one of the technologies with greatest potential for cost reductions, according to IRENA.

For instance, the Moroccan project was funded by the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank and private stakeholders. Its first phase cost an estimated $894 million, and the total price tag will be $9 billion, according to Moroccan officials.

The German government also provided an $800 million loan for Noor II and III, which will have a combined capacity of 350 MW.

That too should be Ghana’s permanent way out of its debilitating dumsor!

By Martin-Luther C. King

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