Tema power plants to receive gas supply from ENI

The government is making arrangements to transfer about 80 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) of gas from ENI Ghana in Takoradi to support Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited and other power plants in the Tema Power Enclave by the end of this year.

The move is to boost the production of power for the plants which are currently producing below capacity because of the irregular supply of gas from Nigeria.

For instance, Sunon Asogli needs 120mmscf of gas from Nigeria for the production of power but currently it receives 58mmscf.

The Minister of Energy, Mr John Peter Amewu, stated this when he toured some power producing entities at the Tema Enclave yesterday as part of a series of familiarisation visits to power producing entities, especially independent power producers (IPPs), to chart a way forward to address the challenges confronting them.

Tour

The minister's entourage included a Deputy Minister of Energy, Mr William Owuraku Aidoo; the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas), Dr Ben K.D. Asante, and some members of staff of the ministry.

The team visited the Sunon Asogli Power Company, the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) and CenPower, as well as the Volta River Authority (VRA) Natural Gas Interconnection facility in Tema.

Mr Amewu interacted with the management of those entities.

Action

He explained that a team had been constituted to facilitate engagement with the stakeholders, including ENI Ghana and the other independent power producers, for about 175mmscf of stranded gas in Takoradi to be moved to Tema and other parts of the country.

"We want to have a reverse flow of the gas from ENI because we want to ensure that sooner than later there will be sufficient gas from WAPCo.
“This will help reduce pressure on the power producers because they will be migrated from the reliance on crude oil to firm gas which will be continuous and uninterrupted," he said.

Mr Amewu said the government was committed to putting in place the needed infrastructure and structures that would boost energy supply to meet the increasing demand.

He urged the management of the companies he visited to stick to the local content law by employing more local people.

Good move

The Chairman of the Sunon Asogli Power Company, Mr Li Xiaohai, told the minister that the delay in and irregular supply of gas from Nigeria was a major challenge to the operations of the company.

He also said the pricing regime for gas was not favourable for the efficient running of the company.

He said the company was putting in place measures to take advantage of the gas that would be brought from ENI Ghana.

The CEO of CenPower, Mr Theo Sackey, for his part, lauded Mr Amewu’s initiative of interacting with the IPPs, saying it was a good move towards tackling challenges in the power sector.