To tackle gas shortages and double generating capacity, the Ghanaian government aims to have at least one FSRU in place before the end of this year. Pointing at Ghana’s two main power hubs - one in the west, one in the east - energy minister John Abdulai Jinapor said ”nothing prevents us from putting in two LNG facilities [adjacent to both centres of power generation.]”
These gas power plants, notably the 126 MW Tema open-cycle gas power unit, were meant to be supplied with fuel through the West Africa Gas Pipeline but Ghanaian operators cannot get enough supply through that line. A lack of fuel means that the Tema plant is left idle most of the time, causing shortages of power supply in the eastern region of Ghana.
Ghana has been attempting to diversify its reliance on hydropower – notably the Akosombo Hydro facility – from at least the mid-1990s when the Takoradi Power Project was inaugurated by President Jerry Rawlings. However, gas supply through the West Africa Gas Pipeline was not forthcoming in sufficient quantities to keep the plant operational at full capacity.
LNG to fill supply gap until Jubilee Field comes onstream
An aggressive exploration campaign in Ghana has delivered associated gas from the Jubilee Field and will deliver non-associated gas in significant quantities from Sankofa. However, water levels at Akosomobo are low and take years to replenish, and lead times to bring on board more indigenous gas have caused the Government and GNPC to focus on the import of LNG for power generations in the short term.
The national gas operator, Ghana Gas, anticipates that domestic gas will ramp up over the next three years. The Sankofa-Gye Nyame (SGN) project is expected to support generation of about 1,000 MW of power thanks to delivery of 180 million scf of gas per day. First gas from the project is due in early 2018. A further 60 million scf is expected from the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) project.
In an effort to bring about more coordination, GNPC was appointed as Ghana’s gas aggregator. GNPC is currently negotiating the TEMA LNG project both as a short term answer to gas supply/electricity demand but also as an integral part of a wider infrastructure portfolio going forward. The project is envisaged to utilize an FSRU located offshore with ship to ship transfer of LNG in an open ocean environment.
Ghana 1000 to start generation in 2017
The Ghana 1000 is one a number of projects expected to benefit from the boost in gas imports. The 1,000 MW power project is under development in Ghana backed by GE, Endeavor Energy and Finagestion. Alongside construction of a new power plant the Ghana 1000 project will also feature a dedicated floating storage and regasification unit (FRSU) to receive, store and regas imported LNG.
The project will be constructed in phases with the first phase involving construction of a 360 MW simple cycle unit, expected to be operational by early 2017. Following this the unit will be converted to combined cycle mode by early 2018 when it will produce 540 MW.