Aboadze T3 Thermal Plant Goes Full Steam Next Month

The Aboadze Thermal Plant Three (T-3) is to start full operations in a week's time to generate 132 megawatts of power to feed the national grid. The $256-million T-3, which began commissioning (generating power) three weeks ago, is currently generating 87 megawatts of power which is fed into the national grid. Meanwhile, the damaged pipelines of the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) have been repaired, while the removal of debris, fish and leftover gas from the pipes is expected to be completed by the end of April 2013. The managers of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and WAPCo made this known separately when President John Dramani Mahama inspected the facilities at Aboadze Monday . The visit was to afford him the chance to assess the readiness of the VRA to start full operations within the stipulated period and also encourage the workers to speed up work. The T-3 combined cycle plant, funded by the Canadian government and managed by the VRA, uses both light crude oil and gas for power generation. In the operations room, President Mahama pressed the button to officially signal commissioning of the generation of 87 megawatts of power. The Director of Thermal Energy Generation at the VRA, Mr Stephen Badger, said everything was intact with the plant and stressed that the commissioning was going on smoothly. He said in a week�s time, the commissioning would be completed and the plant would start operating at full capacity (132 megawatts). The T-1 and T-2 of the Aboadze Thermal Station of the VRA are currently generating 340 megawatts of power. For his part, the General Manager in charge of Operations at WAPCo, Mr Dele Adonbede, said the company had repaired the damaged pipes, while the cleaning of pipes would be completed by the end of April 2013. He explained that following the damage to the pipelines, some debris and fish entered the pipes, while there was leftover gas in them. Mr Adonbede said soon after the removal of the impurities, WAPCo would start supplying gas to Ghana. The President said the disruption of gas supply from WAPCo to the VRA and Asogli Power resulted in the low power generation in the country. That, he said, had resulted in the recent load-shedding exercise and the consequent disruption of businesses. President Mahama said the load shedding was giving sleepless nights and indicated that the government was working to generate more power to address the situation. He expressed joy that the T-3 had started generating power and feeding it into the national grid. The President said the expected resumption of gas supply from WAPCo by the end of April would go a long way to reduce the load shedding. He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to bear with the government, as the country "will soon be out of the unfortunate situation". In another development, President Mahama paid a working visit to the Daboase Water Treatment Plant.