The Volta River Authority (VRA) has disclosed that although it has been receiving gas from Atuabo since November 2014, it is still waiting for the completion of the Takoradi International Company (TICO) thermal plant to augment electricity production.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”TVEozluWkKPoKg624R5sRXtUB6SpTpsS”]The VRA\u2019s Public Relations Officer, Sam Fletcher, on Eyewitness News<\/strong> said: \u201cGas in itself does not produce electricity. Gas has to go through some machine to give us electricity and at this moment, that machine [TICO] is not available.\u201d<\/p>\n The Atuabo Gas Plant has begun commercial production of gas<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>and is currently supplying the VRA with 80 million standard cubic feet (mscf) of gas.<\/p>\n In August last year, the VRA told\u00a0Government Assurances Committee (GAC) of Parliament that\u00a0gas from Atuabo will not end power rationing<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n The Authority said that\u00a0gas is serving as a substitute to the crude oil used in power generation and therefore does not necessarily increase the amount of power to be generated.<\/p>\n Fletcher explained that his outfit is expected to receive an additional 40 million standard cubic feet from Atuabo which will be used on the gas turbine – TICO machine.<\/p>\n \u201cSo technically, we are waiting for the TICO machine that they are working on to come and make use of that gas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He discounted the perception in the public domain that Ghana Gas is producing gas at a commercial quantity but the VRA is unable to use it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is not true! VRA has a gas-filled agreement with Ghana Gas. TICO; which is an independent power producer, does not have that agreement with Ghana Gas so VRA takes the gas and gives it to TICO to run their machine so what we have to do now is to wait!\u201d<\/p>\n Every megawatt counts<\/strong><\/p>\n Sam Fletcher however acknowledged that since Atuabo started gas production, it has been very helpful to the operations of the VRA.<\/p>\n He remarked that \u201cthe gas coming from Ghana Gas has been very helpful and because these machines have been running, that is why we are where we are today. If these machines were not doing well, our situation would have been worse than this.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed out that with the current energy situation, \u201cevery megawatt counts for this country so since the production of gas from Ghana Gas, our machines have been running very, very well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery increase in the capacity of power we have makes a big difference with the number of hours people would have to stay either in light or in darkness. Every bump in the volumes of gas that we receive will make a difference because that difference will also come and help generate additional power,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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