Construction work on the 220 mega watts Kpone Thermal Power Pant (KTPP) project began on Tuesday. The project, expected to be commissioned in 2015, forms part of efforts by the government and the Volta River Authority (VR) to address the perennial power crises in the country.

According to Francis Agbenyo, the Project Manager, the casting of concrete marked a major milestone since preliminary work started on the Simple Cycle Thermal Power Plant late last year.

The two Alstom Gas Turbines of 110MW capacities each are expected to be fired by direct gas supply from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) on completion and would provide urgent, reliable and efficient thermal power to the local power market.

A combined team of staff of the VRA and Zakhem International Construction Limited undertaking the project disregarded a heavy downpour that hit parts of Accra and the Tema metropolis at about 2: am on Tuesday night to cast the first concrete.

Work on the casting of the turbine floor concrete which was slated to begin at 12 midnight was delayed for about 30 minutes due to the rainstorm, but that did not stop work as planned; rather it extended the proposed three-hour completion time from 12: 30am to 6: 30am.

Mr Agbenyo, indicated that the eagerness to work in the midst of the rainstorm to the discomfort of the workers, was to demonstrate the government and VRA’s commitment in their joint efforts to meet the power needs of the country.

He noted that approximately a 200-metre-cube of concrete was cast and a similar work was expected to be executed on the second turbine floor in a fortnight to ensure the timely completion of the project.

He said the idea behind the execution of the project in the night was to get a suitable atmospheric temperature and free movement of traffic for the 17 concrete mixing trucks that cart masses of concrete to the construction site from Tema GHACEM.

Mr Agbenyo assured that the gas turbines and the accompanying generator equipments would be installed on the foundation by the third quarter of the year and that will be followed by major works on the electromechanical component of the power plant.

He said plans were far-fetched to include “a steam turbine that would maximize the simple cycle face, and there are still plans to bring in open and combine cycle phases in the near future”, due to the vastness of the enclave.

“The nation will have to build more power and thermal plants and the VRA has plans to build more power generating facilities –especially thermal ones to ensure the availability of power for the economy,” he stressed.

He noted further that, another thermal power project was in the developing stage at Domunli in the Western Region to harness gas from Ghana’s Jubilee Oil field for power generation.

Rabih Abi-Saab, Project Manager for Zakhem International Construction, expressed satisfaction about the smooth take-off of the project and reaffirmed that the gas turbines and generator equipment would be installed by July, this year to help address the electricity problems facing the country.

The Ghanaian Times