VRA to construct $1.5b Coal Plant

The Volta River Authority (VRA) has revealed that the 1.5 billion dollars coal power plant scheduled to be built at Ekumfi Aboano in the Ekumfi District of the Central region would commence in April 2017. The three and halve year power plant project which is being funded by the China African Development Fund would be undertaken by the VRA and China’s Shenzhen Energy Corporation. A total of about two million tonnes of coal would be imported from Colombia and South Africa every year; more than the 25-year lifespan of the project and the construction of the plant would also include a new coal port to receive the coal. Mr Jacob Brown Yawson, Manager of Technical Services, VRA at Aboadze, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said the country has one of the highest demands for electricity, saying GRIDCO has an annual rate of seven per cent with other countries less than the percentage. He said in December 2015, VRA and Shenzhen released a pre-feasibility environmental and social impact assessment for phase I: 2x350MW supercritical coal plant, including an affiliated coal handling terminal, while Phase II would be a 4X350MW or 2X600MW supercritical coal plant. Mr Yawson said the phase one of the project would target 700 megawatts of coal power, while the second phase would hit 1,400 megawatts, moving to the 2,000 megawatts mark at the peak. He said the project is geared towards sustainable development because it was important to meet the energy requirements for future generation.

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