Shutdown of Atuabo gas will not cause ‘dumsor’ – Power producers

The planned shutdown of the Atuabo Gas processing plant for maintenance work will not affect power generation and supply in the country, the Volta River Authority(VRA), GRIDCo and the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG) have assured in a joint statement.

The planned shutdown of the plant between February 3 and 20, 2017 is to enable work on the interconnection between the TEN and Jubilee fields for gas exportation from the FPSO Atta Mills through the 58-km offshore Ghana Gas pipeline to the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.

The interconnection when done will also enable evacuation and export of additional natural gas from the TEN fields through the 58-km offshore pipeline of the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) to its onshore Atuabo Gas Processing Plant.

The shutdown will result in the immediate halt of production and export of natural gas from the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to Atuabo.
It will further lead to the curtailment of lean gas from Atuabo to the Aboadze Thermal Enclave, which at the moment relies on gas from Ghana Gas to generate power.
But in a joint statement, the power producers noted that the anticipated shortfall of 230 megawatts would not affect the production and supply of power.
“We wish to assure the public that we have put in adequate measures to mitigate the impact of the shortfall. We plan to generate additional power from the Akosombo and Kpong hydroelectric plants, and also from the Tema and Kpone thermal plants which operate on light crude oil (LCO) and diesel respectively, while imports from Cote d’Ivoire will be purchased to make up for the supply deficit,” it said.

“Additionally, some of the thermal units at Aboadze that have been shut down for planned maintenance would be returned into service during this period”.
“We take this opportunity to assure electricity consumers and the general public that the power situation will be managed in the most efficient manner during this period to address the anticipated challenges in power supply,“ the statement concluded.