Chirano Gold Mines is set to inaugurate a 90 MegaWatt thermal plant at its mining site by the end of next month.

The company engaged Independent Power Producer, Gensar in the construction of the plant. The initiative is expected to support the company’s operations amid the power crisis whilst complementing efforts at addressing the country’s energy challenges. 

The Chief Executive of the Chamber of Mines, Sulemana Koney has been explaining to JOY BUSINESS how the impact would be realized.

“If you have a capacity of about 90, you’ll typically start by ramping up gradually  and therefore the impact may not be immediate. It would provide some relief, not just to the mining company but to the general system. If the plant is running on full throttle, it could take some pressure off the entire system. I understand the company may be in a position to share with other interested parties given the capacity of the plant” he said.

He added “If you have a capacity and you are able to generate far more than you require, the excess should go into the grid if you do not have to share with any consumer. In our country, it is quite novel. It’s something which applies in other jurisdictions. It actually happens in residential applications where individuals have solar panels on their rooftops used to run power in their homes and the excess is sold into the grid, not just for commercial applications but also residential as well”.

The World Bank recently impressed on mining companies in Africa, the need to work more closely with the Independent Power Producers (IPP’s) to meet the growing energy demands of the country’s they operate in rather than supplying their own energy on site.

Mr. Koney in response says, the companies in Ghana are already taking steps in this direction except that they have had to take precaution in this because of the possible negative implications.

“The key challenge is what would happen to our national generator, VRA. The mining companies tend to be the best players and they pay at a premium and they pay on a timely basis. If the companies divert away from VRA, its regular and reliable source of income would dry up. There should be a means of diversifying but not completely.

"We have already stated discussions. The various IPPs have not been able to convince us. Power is quite critical for the mining sector so we cannot just go into agreement with the IPPs. You do that at our own peril especially because they don’t have the reputation and they are not able to deliver as expected” he added.