Fred Oware
A committee established by government to consider the merger of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Bui Power Authority (BPA) is expected to meet today in Accra.
The move is to consolidate efforts in the country’s hydro power generation sector.
Fred Oware, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bui Power Authority (BPA), who disclosed this at a media engagement yesterday in Accra, said “It is a government decision and the government will be advised by the committee as to how to go about it.”
Mr Oware said since the inauguration of Bui Generating Station (Bui GS) in December 19, 2013, 220MW of power had been generated daily.
“The Bui GS has three generating units, with each having a capacity to generate 133MW of power and a mini plant of 4MW, totaling 400 MW. The commissioning of the 400MW Bui GS thus added about 20% of installed hydro capacity to Ghana’s energy production,” he said.
Mr. Oware answered questions at the first media engagement yesterday in Accra on BPA’s mandate and mission.
He said although his outfit was doing very well, there were misconceptions about its operations.
He noted that the setting up of the authority was laudable and had generated electrical power for general industrial and domestic use.
Hybrid Power
Touching on renewable energy, Mr Oware said BPA had expanded its operations in line with the ministry of energy’s vision of increasing renewable energy to about 10 percent of the country’s energy mix.
In that regard, he said the BPA had expanded its Switchyard at the Bui GS to accommodate 250 MW of solar-generated power.
“BPA will be the first hybrid generation plant by the end of 2018, combining hydro and solar power generation,” he said.
“We have finished the testing and commissioning of 250MW switch yard facilities purposely built to evacuate solar power, adequate lands have been demarcated and compensation to farmers have been settled….We are certain that construction works will start in the first quarter of next year in modules of 50MW pv solar park per project,” he added.
Loan repayment
Answering a question on the loan facility for the Bui project, which was initially $622 million but was later raised to $790 million after parliamentary approval, Mr Oware said government was paying the concession loan while the Authority has been paying the buyers credit part.
“We have started repaying the loan. We are on course with the repayment schedule and we have not defaulted,” he said.
However Mr Oware failed to give the exact amount paid to the creditors so far.
He said that “from 2010 when the Authority started generation till now, we have made enough income to pay for the original buyers’ loan and that is very significant. It has been a very profitable investment. “We don’t have issues with the dam in terms of maintenance or operation or output whatsoever,” he added.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri