Abu Dhabi's TAQA Drives Ghana's First Independent Power Project

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Ghana's Volta River Authority (VRA), the country's main generator and supplier of electric power, and partner Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) have completed the $330 million in financing for the expansion of the Takoradi 2 power plant.

This is Ghana's first independent power project and represents about 15% of the country's installed capacity and is the first to use project financing, according to TAQA. The TAQA International Company is a joint venture between TAQA (90%) and VRA (10%).

The Takoradi 2 expansion project will convert the exiting gas-fired plant into a combined-cycle unit, increasing output from 220 megawatts (MW) to about 330 MW without requiring additional fuel. It also represents a 50% capacity addition without increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The extra power will be sold to VRA under a revised, 25-year power purchase agreement.

The plant was recently converted from a primarily oil-fired plant to a natural gas feed, as part of the power industry's move toward cleaner-burning fuel.

The $330 million in project financing is being provided by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation and a consortium of international development finance institutions led by FMO, a development bank for which the Dutch government is the majority owner. The bank supports sustainable private-sector growth in emerging markets.

The engineering, procurement construction contract worth $260 million was awarded to a consortium of Mitsui & Company (JSE:8031) (Tokyo) and KEPCO (Seoul, South Korea) in 2011, and construction began in 2012.

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