<<Print>>

The Bui Power Authority (BPA) has announced its intention to build a 600-kilowatt wind turbine by the end of first quarter next year to augment its energy generation to the country.

Chief Executive of BPA, Fred Oware hinted that the turbine will be positioned at the University of Ghana when completed.

He noted that the turbine will be imported, but currently various technical studies are underway to aid the decision on which country it would be imported from.

Oware made these known to The Finder on the sidelines of BPA’s first media encounter.

The meeting with the media was to afford BPA the opportunity to interact with news editors and reporters, as well as brief them on BPA’s mandate and vision.

Oware further announced that the authority has finished the testing and commissioning of 250MW switchyard facilities purposely built to evacuate solar power, and adequate funds have been allocated for solar parks to support the programme.

He added the BPA is currently in contractual talks with Sinohydro to ensure that for the next five to 10 years, they will assist BPA carry out major maintenance and procure spare parts for the various components of the Bui generating system.

He noted that this year Bui expanded its focus to renewable energy, which was in line with the Ministry of Energy’s vision of increasing the renewable energy to about 10% of the country’s energy mix.

“This means we should be looking at adding at least 500MW of renewable energy to the country’s energy generation. In this regard, BPA has expanded its switchyard at the Bui generating station to accommodate 250MW of solar-generated power,” he mentioned.

He pledged that BPA will be the first hybrid generation company by the end of 2018, combining hydro and solar power generation, adding that the authority intends to train more of its engineers and other staff in pursuing and accomplishing that important task of meeting the Ministry of Energy’s target for renewable energy generation.

Further to that vision, he said the BPA is prospecting six possible sites for solar power generation in the three northern regions, as well as commencing a 30KV generation from the Tsatsadu Falls in Volta Region.

He reiterated that as part of BPA’s mandate to provide renewable energy for the National Interconnected Transmission Systems (NITS), it has charged management to develop a firm foundation to meet the government’s objective of achieving at least 10% of the national electricity load of Photovoltaics energy by 2020.