VRA to construct $1.5b coal plant

The first phase of the coal power plant project of the Volta River Authority (VRA) is estimated to cost $1.5 billion.

The project, which is expected to commerce in April 2017, will produce 700 megawatts of power when completed in three and half years.

The second phase would hit 1,300 megawatts, moving to the 2,000 megawatts mark at the peak.

The first phase of the project will see the construction of a coal handling bay, networks, turbines, offices and administration block while the second phase will see the construction of additional turbines and additional coal handling terminal.

The coal plant, which would be sited at Ekumfi Aboano in the Ekumfi District of the Central Region, is being undertaken by VRA and China’s Shenzhen Energy Corporation and funded by the China African Development Fund.

A total of about two million tonnes of coal would be imported from Colombia and South Africa for the first phase.

Jacob Brown Yawson, Manager of Technical Services, VRA at Aboadze, in an interview with the press at a workshop in Accra, said the country has one of the highest demands for electricity, saying GRIDCO has an annual rate of seven percent with other countries less than the percentage.

Mr. Brown Yawson said the key risk in the energy sector is fuel supply and that there is the need to diversify the energy sources since the country cannot rely on one traditional source.

Tackling pollution

Ben A Sackey, Manager Environment and Social Impact, said measures had been put in place to address pollution concerns.

“We have three levels of coal production, the sub critical, the supercritical and the ultra supercritical. The key issue on coal production in terms of emission and air quality production was on the sub-critical production.

“But this new technology we are going to deploy is looking at the clean coal technology associated with the supercritical usage of the technology. This will ensure that the pollution problem is mitigated,” he said.