Karpower gas project will save Ghana over GHC1bn in 10 years – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo says Ghana stands to save over 1 billion cedis in the next 10 years through the relocation of the Karpowership.

Speaking at the official turning on of gas from the Ghana Gas Company Limited to the Karpowership in Sekondi, the President said the move by his government to relocate the powership to Takoradi was most critical.

“We ‘ve been able since we came into office, to really find a way to work with the company for us to get the mutual benefits…most critical decision was relocating the facility from Tema to the Western Region. This is where the gas of our country originates so we are talking about a facility where the gas is right next door and can feed the facility easily and there several savings that come out as a result now that we are going to use gas as a primary fuel or primary source of power generation in the country. We are talking significant sums of money over the course of the next 10 years. We looking at something in excess of a billion dollars worth of savings in generation of power via gas,” the President emphasised.

The President said this will also be a secure source of energy for the nation and powering the economy industrially.

“It helps bring down the cost of electricity, saves our country and makes it possible for us now to look at a secure source of powering the transformation of our country’s economy and for the industrial development of Ghana. That is our maim goal, it has to be the main goal of our country that we are going now to move away from being exporters and producers of raw materials to being an industrial economy, and for that, we need secure power, this is the beginning of the installation of such secure power..” President Akufo Addo emphasised.

The President also urged Ghanaians to ensure to use energy saving bulbs in a bid to conserve energy. The President hinted that some energy efficiency bulbs have been imported.

” While the lights are on , we should still find a way to conserve energy and save as much as possible our expenses in the energy area …on advise , I authorised the Ministry of Energy to purchase 12 million light efficiency bulbs which are now in and which we want to distribute across the country…and we are beginning as always in the West..the significance of these bulbs is that properly administered, efficiently used at the end of the distribution of the 12 million bulbs, we can save anything up.to a 120 Megawatt of power in the use of these bulbs,” the President emphasised as he ceremonially presented some of the bulbs to the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah.

The Energy Minister John Peter Amewu lauded the efforts of the Ghanaian engineers for the relocation of the Powership without any power outages in the national grid.

“Today most of the chief executives will no longer be stopped from travelling outside. I remember the number of occasions we had to stop them from travelling outside because the President insists that we must consume our domestic gas.. I want to say a very big thanks to our chief executive, GridCo, ECG, Ghana Gas , GNPC who through their own effort have made it possible that we relocate the Karpowership from Tema to Takoradi. The relocation from Tema to Takoradi , Mr President was done with high level of energy management . Gone were the days when we were told that the pipeline from Nigeria to Ghana was broken as a result of a ship activity; what Ghana saw during that period was 3 years in darkness. Mr President, i am happy to state that under your leadership, 450 Megawatts of Karpowership was relocated from Tema to Takoradi without a single notice in the energy transmission system. This is as a result of good energy management system put in place by the various sector agencies,” the Energy Minister said.

The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah underscored the fact that the region is open to accommodate industries.