VALCO to be severed off national grid - Buah

Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) has begun moves to get a dedicated power plant, energy Minister Emmanuel Buah has revealed.

Mr Buah told Journalists at a forum for Editors Friday that: “I know VALCO has begun a step - that I’ve told them we are going to support - to get a dedicated power plant that will produce power for them”.

He said: “If we can do that and get more of their pots to work, then it will be more profitable and we’ll create more jobs and it will lead to more industries”.

The Tema-based alumina smelter, now wholly owned by the Government of Ghana, largely relies on power from the Akosombo Dam for its operations.

Its humongous power needs has been a source of rift between the company and state power producer Volta River Authority.

A recent World Bank report suggested VALCO be shut down because it is draining the country’s energy sector.

VALCO has been shut down a couple of times in the past due to energy supply difficulties.

It was closed down completely in May 2003 due to problems in negotiating electricity supply with the VRA. It reopened in early 2006.

Again, it was shut down between 2007 and 2011 over similar concerns.

The 200,000 metric tonnes-per-year smelter has been operating at about 20 percent since early 2011.

It now produces an estimated 3000 tonnes of ingots per month, mostly for local consumption, with plans to activate a second potline to bring monthly production up to 6000 tonnes.

Valco came about through a joint partnership between Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation (KACC) which owned 90 per cent and minority partner Alcoa, which owned 10 percent.

In 2004 the government purchased most of the company. In June 2008 Alcoa sold its 10% stake to the government of Ghana.

In 1961 Valco invested in the Akosombo Dam Hydroelectric power project to provide energy for its aluminum smelters. The company had negotiated favorable terms for power purchase with the government. The agreement was re-negotiated in 1985, as part of the programme of the Rawlings government, to reflect the increased value of electrical energy.