Karpowership to berth in Ghana November

One of the two long-awaited Karpowerships from Turkey which is expected to boost the country’s power supply will be in the country by third week of November.

The first electron from the powership is anticipated to hit the national grid by early December.

It will add a total of 225 megawatts to the national grid and will help in ending the country’s erratic power supply (“Dumsor”) which has bedeviled the country for the past three years.

Ghana’s power purchasing agreement with Karpowership is expected to save the country between 100 to 120 million dollars annually.

This is because the facility has the flexibility of using the lowest cost heavy fuel and natural gas, unlike light crude which is mostly used in Ghana.

Ghana could save cost with the use of the Powership by eliminating the high cost of power production, positive cash flow effect for the national economy and immediate savings on import fuel cost.

The Head of Public Relations of the Ghana National Grid Company (GRIDCo), Albert Quainoo, at a workshop organized by the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) for selected journalist at Ada on Saturday stated that currently, GRIDCo is making all the necessary infrastructural arrangements including constructing transmission lines right from their station to the Tema Harbour where the powership will berth.

“Preparatory works in wait of the powership is far advanced; the ship itself is ready to sail to Ghana. Its engines have been fired and they are working perfectly. Arrangement for its coming has been fast-tracked; ECOBANK is also giving guarantee for the ship. A vessel to fuel it will be cited beside the powership. GNPC and Tranfigura will be doing the fueling”.

Messrs Karadeniz Power Group and Karpowerhip of Turkey, a renowned global power ship manufacturing company in June 2014 signed a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement with the Electricity Company of Ghana for the provision of 450MW directly to the country’s national grid via two Powerships.

The project dubbed: “Power of Friendship for Ghana” is the first powership project in Africa and seeks to meet the electricity demands of Ghana.

The project is expected to account for 22 percent of Ghana’s total energy generation.

Powerships are ship mounted floating power plants, delivering the most reliable power supply solution with an optimum cost. It provides available power with proven medium speed diesel engine, and natural gas technology which is very suitable for peak or base load supply.