The Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has disclosed that the government has signed two new power purchase agreements (PPAs) to add approximately 720 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the country’s power generation capacity.
The two agreements, 370MW AKSA in Tema and 350MW AKSA in Kumasi, were signed under the new PPA policy replacing the previous “Take or Pay” policy agreement.
The new PPA policy will not only ensure judicious addition of power generation to existing power plants but will also increase the efficiency of power generation and distribution in the country.
Dr Prempeh, who attended the weekly ministerial briefing organized by the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday, said it is not true that this government is not adding megawatts of electricity to the existing government.
He said that although many PPAs were signed under this government to add electricity generation capacity to the country, the new agreement was done within the framework of efficiency unlike previous agreements.
The minister said the government had also taken a number of steps within the power sector to improve efficiency.
He said these measures include the conversion of the 200MW KTPP and 220MW CENIT/TTIPP plants from open cycle thermal power plants to combined cycle, as well as the refurbishment of the 132MW T3 plant.
Dr. Opoku Prempeh said the government was doing a lot of work in the power sector, with some focus on power distribution.
He said Ghana was increasing the share of renewable energy in the country’s electricity generation mix.
The minister explained that the share of solar power generation has increased to 3.2% of the electricity generation share target by 2030.
He further added that there are utility-scale solar projects currently underway, with 100MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) under construction at Buoy, while 4MW of floating solar PV at Buoy Reservoir has been completed and He said the total solar power generation would be 5 megawatts. While Kaleo’s 15MW solar power phase II has been completed, it became the largest in Africa.
Dr Opoku Prempeh explained that the challenges facing the electricity transmission sector such as congested networks, aging infrastructure and land encroachments are all being resolved.
He said a number of violations have been completed, including the rehabilitation of the 161 kilovolt (KV) Volta-Achimota-Malang transmission line, as well as the Kumasi-Kintampo section of the 330 Kumasi-Bolgatanga transmission line project.
He said a feasibility study had been completed for static var compensation for Kumasi’s third Bulk Supply Point (BSP), Dankwa 330KV substation and Akhodwo substation.
The Minister said that as part of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) reforms, the company had introduced a number of measures to improve efficiency in revenue mobilization.
He said ECG has started conducting boundary metering and distribution transformer metering.
Boundary meters for nine operational areas and nine districts have already been completed, and 88 districts are at various stages of completion, it said, adding that around 16,000 distribution transformers have been surveyed and metering will begin next year. , he emphasized.
Touching on the downstream petroleum sector, he explained that rising global prices and excessive foreign exchange demand for petroleum product imports had led to higher pump prices.
He said the Bank of Ghana (BoG), through careful negotiations, had led to the introduction of a foreign exchange auction window for BIDEC and the establishment of a credit reference bureau for all dealers.
The Minister explained that with the introduction of the government’s “gold for oil” policy, currency exposure in BOST and BIDEC has been significantly reduced.