President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, yesterday inaugurated two key energy projects in the Ashanti Region to enhance energy supply to the middle and northern belts.
The projects are the 110- kilometre natural gas pipelines constructed by Genser Energy in the Ejisu Municipality and the 250 megawatts (MW) Africa and Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI) Thermal Power Plant, now christened Kumasi 1Thermal Power Plant (K1TPP).
The pipelines, made up of 12,000 steel pipes, will drive the full exploitation of local gas resources to connect the Ejisu Plant Metering Station to serve the 250 megawatts thermal plant.
It is expected to generate a minimum of 250MW of power required in the Ashanti Region to guarantee reliability and stability in the national grid.
It would also ensure that electricity consumers in the middle and northern parts of the country receive quality and reliable power.
The erstwhile AMERI plant was commissioned in 2016, and in 2022 it was handed over to the government of Ghana and subsequently transferred to the Volta River Authority (VRA) following the expiration of the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement.
A grid impact study undertaken by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) in 2021 recommended that a minimum of 250 megawatts (MW) of power generation was required in the Ashanti Region to guarantee reliability and stability in the national grid.
It further added that the siting of a power plant in Kumasi would ensure that electricity consumers in the middle and northern parts of the country receive quality and reliable power.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Energy together with the VRA took a strategic decision to relocate the AMERI power plant to Awomaso in the Ejisu Municipality of Ashanti.
Now, a fully operational power station with the capacity to generate 150 MW of electricity, it would produce additional 100 MW, totalling 250MW when the second phase of the project is completed.
Inaugurating, the president said the project represented a significant step forward in the quest to provide sustainable electricity for the nation, particularly for the inhabitants of the Ashanti Region.
He noted the Ashanti Region was renowned for the development of small and medium scale commercial and industrial enterprises and that “it is my expectation that when we enhance electricity supply these enterprises will expand and offer further employment opportunities to the youth”.
In the last seven years, government has had the opportunity to translate promises and assurances in result-orientated policies.
“One such commitment is the delivery of affordable and reliable electricity to drive our nation’s industrialisation agenda and position Ghana to become a net exporter of electricity in the ECOWAS REGION.
Our national electrification rate of 88.8 per cent is one of the highest on the continent and the goal is to have full electricity access by the end this year,” he intoned.
Inaugurating the gas pipeline, the Asantehene called on the government to focus more on the private sector, saying, “It is about time government should be content with policies and private sectors should be involved in setting up industries. It would work that way and therefore attract more investments into the country.”
He did not understand why some government’s establishment were not pulling their weight but still hung on them and asked “why are we holding on to those industries that we cannot maintain and run…it is about time we faced realities and decided what government should do and what private sector should do”.
The Board Chair of the Genser Energy, Otwasuom Osae Nyampong, urged the government to shun any form of inertia and rather facilitate the use of private capital to develop the country.
On his part, the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, praised his predecessors at the ministry whose yeoman’s work had resulted in the commissioning of the plant, adding that all that he did was to bring in a private partner (Genser Energy) to make sure electricity was in abundance in the country.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI
