The commissioning of the Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Project on Wednesday, April 17 by President Akufo-Addo, is set to address voltage and power quality issues in Kumasi and the northern parts of Ghana by boosting system voltages and thus improving overall system stability, the Volta River Authority (VRA) has said.

The president will be supported at this event at Anwomaso Kumasi, the project site by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and CEO of the VRA, Ing. Emmanuel Antwi Darkwa

In a brief by the Authority, it said the move comes on the back of a grid impact study undertaken by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) recommending that a minimum of 250MW of power generation was required in the Ashanti Region to guarantee reliability and stability in the national grid.

The VRA also believes that the siting of a power plant in Kumasi would ensure that electricity consumers in the middle and the northern parts of the country receive quality and reliable power.

The project according to the VRA also aims at the efficient optimization of the use of a strategic national asset.

It will also ensure the efficient utilisation of gas resources concentrated in the western part of the country and also create job opportunities for people in Kumasi and its immediate environs

The brief also said, aside from the creation of opportunities for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, Kumasi Technical University, and other educational institutions to carry out practical training on thermal power operations for their students, the project is also expected to reduce system transmission losses by an estimated 30MW

Background

The Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Project came into being after the expiration of the BOOT agreement between Ameri Energy Limited and the Government of Ghana on the erstwhile Ameri power plant.

In 2022, the plant was handed over to the GOG and subsequently transferred to the VRA.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Energy together with the VRA took a strategic decision to relocate the plant to Kumasi and since then, the project has been named the Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Project and funded entirely from the VRA’s internally generated funds.

The project is being executed in two phases; the first phase, which is being commissioned on Wednesday, commenced in May 2023 and involved the relocation of the first six (6) TM2500 units with a total generation capacity of 150MW. The second phase will be completed in June 2024, to increase the plant’s capacity from the 150 MW to 250 MW.

The project is being executed by VRA’s in-house team of engineers, with support from some selected service providers.