Karpowership Ghana Company Limited has announced that its 470MW Karadeniz Powership Osman Khan will be off the national grid from tomorrow [Tuesday] as it finally recolates the powership to the Western Region.
The builder and operator of the floating power plant has been supplying power to the national grid since it began operations in 2015.
In a statement, it indicated the planned relocation is going to last not more than 17 days and thus the plant’s 470MW power will be unavailable on the national grid.
“The Powership will depart from the Tema Fishing Harbor on Thursday, August 15 and would berth at its new location within the Sekondi Naval Base on Friday, August 16,” the release said.
“In light of the relocation, the Powership would be off the national grid for a maximum period of 17 days to enable us to carry out various pre-commissioning works to successfully connect to the 330kV transmission lines in Sekondi”, portions of the statement added.
The relocation is in line with government strategic policy for the Powership to utilize Natural Gas from the Western Enclave.
Meanwhile, the 470-megawatt capacity Karpowership, which was berthed and operating from Tema at 450 megawatts, was to augment the country’s energy supply.
The new vessel, replaced a 225 megawatts barge which was delivered in November 2015.
The arrival of the vessel was part of the Power Purchase Agreement signed with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), requiring Karpowership Ghana Company Limited to provide a total of 450MW capacity, and directly feed it into the national grid for ten years.
To ensure Karpowership reaches its maximum capacity, the government is at a final preparation stage to relocate the plant to Aboadze, near Takoradi.
This is in line with the government’s plan to ensure full utilization of gas resources from the Western enclave of the country.
It is also to ensure constant gas supply to the facility to enable it to produce uninterrupted power.