The 350MW Kpone Independent Power Plant, which is being built by Cenpower Generation Company Limited at Kpone near Tema, is 42 percent complete and set to meet its 2017 completion target.
Chairman of Cenpower Samuel Nana Brew-Butler said: “When we came here 15 months ago we said we would complete the project in 33 months, and I am happy to announce that 42 percent has been done”.
He added that the almost US$1billion project has clocked close to 800,000 man hours, and as at yet there has not been a single accident.
The Chairman was speaking at a short ceremony that saw Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur visiting the facility to unveil an ultra-modern Tunnel Boring Machine to facilitate the project.
The technology is the first to be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa, and will be used to construct underground tunnels that transport seawater off the coast to the project site to be used for cooling the plant.
The 350 Megawatt plant will increase Ghana’s power generation capacity by 10 percent when completed. It will also provide approximately 20 percent of available national thermal generation when it finally comes on-stream in 2017.
Mr. Amissah-Arthur lauded Ghanaian partners in the Cenpower Company for working hard to ensure realisation of the project.
He also praised the company for its local content policy, which he said has helped in training and skills transfer as well as providing employment for people in the area.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur also applauded the vision of Cenpower Company in helping to increase and stabilise the country’s energy supply.
He said the increased investment by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the power sector is in line with government’s agenda to add 5,000MW of power generation to the national grid.
He said despite the improvements in current energy supply, the country still needs an about-20 percent reserve margin before the nation can completely be self-sufficient in power supply.
Group Five Power International of South Africa, the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor on the project, said the deployment of this new technology is a very critical stage in the plant’s construction.
“The sea water pipelines for the cooling water system cannot be constructed manually using conventional open-trench techniques. In order to minimise the environmental impact of construction activities, we need specialised equipment, which up to now has not been deployed in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Stephen Trickett, Contracts Director Of Group Five.
Group Five, has therefore sub-contracted underground tunneling experts Coleman Tunneling Africa Ltd., which will deploy the TBM — the likes of which is used to drill underground passages, subways, and tunnels, to construct the sea water intake and outfall.
“Our task is to tunnel four drives starting from two launching shafts constructed on the seashore.
Two of these tunnels will be straight and underneath the seabed (offshore), while the other two tunnels will be curve-shaped and onshore under the natural ground to the power plant, without disturbing the natural environment,” said Noel Kerr, Managing Director of Coleman Microtunneling.
This technology, according to analysts, can be used to construct underground passages and tunnels without destroying top-level surfaces; and can be used to eliminate the construction of open sewage drains, which are prevalent in Ghana and other parts of Africa.
Upon completion, the plant will comprise a 350MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant, a 161Kv power substation, as well as fuel delivery, treatment and storage facilities and working capital funding for fuel.
Source: B&FT Online