Ghana Gas completes tie-in work, resumes gas supply to VRA

Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) says it has completed the tie-in of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant and the Volta River Authority (VRA) Thermal Plant at Aboadze, in the Shama District of the Western Region, to shore up the country’s power generation mix.

With this feat, Ghana Gas can now supply to VRA, 110 million cubic feet of gas for generation of about 600 megawatts of power daily.

The Head of Communication at Ghana Gas, Mr Ernest Owusu-Bempah revealed this to journalists yesterday at Aboadze after a tour of Ghana Gas Regulating and Metering Station, VRA installations at Aboadze and that of the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO).

“The tie-in is about 95 per cent complete and we now have the supplied 110 million cubic feet of gas to the VRA plant at Aboadze,” he added, saying “we have done this work less than the 12-day schedule for the shut-down maintenance work.”

He indicated that, in addition to the VRA stock at Aboadze, Nigeria was also supplying about 500 megawatts of power to the WAPCO, assuring that tie-in would now secure the reverse flow with the VRA-WAPCO systems, which was ready to operate in cases of any shortfall of gas from Nigeria.

Mr Owusu-Bempah said Akosombo hydro system would also generate 900 megawatts of power to feed into the national pool.

“We have enough of gas to power the VRA system at Aboadze and as you can see gas flowing from our end at Atuabo to Aboadze. That is significant to help us stabilise our power supply. Nigeria is also giving 90 million cubic feet of gas about 500 megawatts to the WAPCO pipelines. And with the tie-in and reverse flow, we are on course and power outages will be no more.”

Mr Owusu-Bempah mentioned that in the last quarter, the project would generate another 60 million cubic feet of gas translating into 400 megawatts of power in addition to the 900 megawatts available, stressing that ” there is more gas to ensure there is no more power outages.”

He told journalists that Ghana Gas has completed the ENI-Sankofa tie-in at the Sanzule enclave and that would mean abundant gas of 350 cubic feet for transmission to the Eastern enclave whenever there was shortage of gas from Nigeria, adding “ we have installed capacity of about 95 per cent.”

The Pipelines and Stations Manager, Emmanuel Ackon, explained that Atuabo had the full production capacity of 405 million cubic feet of gas, but, currently, “we are pushing 110 million cubic feet of gas per day.”

On Saturday, March 30, Ghana Gas began the interconnection programme to enable the country transport surplus natural gas from Takoradi enclave in the Western Region to Tema over a 12 -day period.

PIC1,2, Shows the Head of Communications at Ghana Gas Mr Ernest Owusu-Bempah flanked by the Pipelines and Stations Manager, Emmanuel Ackon, in an interview with journalists.

PIC 3&5 Shows pipelines connecting the Regulating Station connecting the VRA Thermal Plant and WAPCO systems at Aboadze.