250 megawatts (MW) of power is expected to come on stream by the end of July this year, the acting Director of Thermal Energy Generation of the Volta River Authority (VRA) at Aboadze, Mr Oppong Mensah, has said.
Mr Oppong Mensah made this known when the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, toured facilities at the VRA Power Enclave in the Shama District in the Western Region yesterday.
Currently, the country’s total power deficit is estimated at 300 MW.
Mr Mensah explained that two units of the thermal plant at Aboadze would produce 100 megawatts each, while the steam turbine of the plant would generate additional 50 megawatts between June 23 and July 1, 2014.
Re-installation of parts
The Managing Director (MD) of TICO, Nana Osafo Adjei Kantanka, said currently, some of the disassembled buckets were being reinstalled.
Engineers disassembled parts of one of the two units of the thermal plant during a recent routine maintenance exercise.
Nana Agyei said, “all things being equal, by July 1, 2014, the unit will be completed and synchronised onto the national grid with additional 100MW.”
He said completion of the work on the unit would bring TICO’s installed capacity to 220MW, while work would continue to gradually increase output to 330MW by the end of the year.
Maintenance
The MD explained that TICO had a long-term service agreement with the Wood Group of the United Kingdom for the maintenance of its plant, and denied media reports that Wood Group carried out shoddy works on the plant which resulted in its inability to generate the required capacity.
Mr Armah-Kofi Buah urged the company’s engineers to work meticulously to ensure that there was reliable power supply to consumers.
Credit: Daily Graphic