The African Center for Energy policy (ACEP) is hopeful the arrival of the 450 megawatts Karpowership will help improve power supply in the country.
The new power generating vessel replaces an earlier once with a lower capacity of 225 megawatts at Tema.
Citi Business News understands that the ship has arrived in Ghana’s territorial waters to directly feed into the national grid for 10 years.
Mr. Benjamin Boakye explains that the coming on board of the anticipated volume of power should suffice for Ghana’s power needs.
“The 250 Megawatts was a short term measure to ensure that while we were awaiting the 450 megawatts, we still had something to rely on. So they had to replace that with the contractual value that we signed up to and that is what they have actually done,” he stated.
The government of Ghana through the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) signed an agreement with Karpowership Ghana Company Limited for the provision of the 450MW capacity to augment the power supply.
Meanwhile the Executive Director of ACEP, Benjamin Boakye has reiterated the need for Ghana to reduce the high cost of power for businesses.
His call follows concerns by some industry players that Ghana’s high cost of power measures high compared to others within the sub-region.
Mr. Boakye believes that failing to bring down the cost of power may eventually repel investments into the country.
“I think that is something that we all understand and the sector also knows that electricity tariffs are expensive in Ghana and that affects our competitiveness as a country.”
“Today some other factors may go in for us; we are more stable and therefore investors have confidence in investing in a stable economy. But the question we need to ask ourselves is that should the other countries gain that stability and credibility that we have, will Ghana still continue to attract investments?” Mr. Boakye queried.
–
By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
