Government to institutionalise competitive procurement of power – Boakye Agyarko

Ghana will lose 680 million dollars annually if it sticks to the over 43 power purchase agreements signed with power producers, Energy Minister, Mr. Boakye Agyarko has said.

This amount, according to him, will accrue from the surplus unused power that the nation will have.

He said so far all the agreements guarantee the country some 10800 megawatts of power with actual energy requirement standing at 5000 megawatts.

He adds:’this means that the remaining 5800 megawatts is surplus that the nation doesn’t need.’

Speaking at the ongoing National Policy Summit in Accra, Mr. Boakye Agyarko described the past agreements as deal driven and not strategy driven.

He argues that most of the agreements with Independent Power Producers failed to fully address the energy needs of the country.

He said the government will therefore institutionalize competitive procurement of power, both for renewable and conventional power using standardized procedures.

He pledged to employ some strategic policies to guarantee efficient distribution of power in the country.

“We are developing the power sector master plan that will make sure that all the issues of the power sector are properly aligned. The policy goal is to attain and maintain adequate generation reserves and margins.”