President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the switch of the Karpowership to natural gas would save electricity consumers US$170.5 million per year by way of reduced electricity charges.
The amount, he said, is projected to reach $1.2 billion over the remaining term of the contract.
According to him, the conversion of the Karpowership is in alignment with the promotion of gas as the primary fuel for power generation in the country.
President Akufo-Addo disclosed this on Saturday when he commissioned the facility for the use of natural gas from the country’s gas fields, instead of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), on the 450-megawatt Karpowership.
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This follows the relocation of the Karpowership from its original location in Tema to the Sekondi Naval Base, in the Western Region, and the subsequent conversion of 90% of its engines from being initially dependent on HFO to natural gas.
With Karpowership taking approximately 50% of the volume of the take-or-pay Sankofa gas for power generation over the remaining period of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), the country will save monthly take-or-pay cost of $40million and annual savings of $480million.
The conversion, he said, is to ensure the maximum utilisation of indigenous gas (OCTP gas) in the Western Region to reduce to the barest minimum or to eliminate the financial consequences under the take-or-pay obligation.
“Gas is right next door and it can feed the facility easily. There are several savings that come out as a result, now that we are going to use gas as the primary source of power generation in the country.”
“We are talking significant sums of money over the course of the next 10 years. We are looking at something in excess of $1 billion worth of savings in the generation of power via gas,” the President stated.
He explained that the use of natural gas will help bring down the cost of electricity, save the country, and make it possible to look at a secure source of powering the transformation of the country’s economy and for the industrial development of Ghana.
