Ghana powers up

What are the biggest business areas in Ghana?
Power generation is a primary focus because energy comes first. Once you have power, all the other sectors follow. It’s a big part of Siemens’ business and manufacturing. We have factories that make gas turbines and steam turbines, so gas to power is a major focus for us and it goes all the way upstream from the oilfields to power generation on the FPSO. Siemens has the technology and the equipment that can satisfy the needs of all the gen sets on the FPSO.

Is the Jubilee field responsible for most of Ghana’s power?
Jubilee is responsible for providing gas in the Takoradi area. Gas is also coming from the TEN fields. Jubilee is providing more gas than TEN, but maybe 80 mcf [2.27 mcm] per day of gas is from Jubilee and perhaps another 50 mcf [1.42 mcm] from the TEN field. This gas powers the plants in the Takoradi area.
The Sankofa field is expected to come on stream sometime this year; they are expecting between 170 mcf-200 mcf [4.81 mcm-5.66 mcm] per day of gas from the field. By the time the Sankofa field is at full capacity, which is expected to be an additional 200 mcf [5.66 mcm] by 2020, there will be an abundance of gas in the area.

Will the gas be exported outside the region?
Power may be exported to neighbouring countries. The initiatives have already begun with the West Africa Power Pool. Even now, transmission lines are being constructed to link the ECOWAS countries, so the infrastructure is being built. The transmission lines were laid west to east and go all the way to Benin. One is going to Burkina Faso, and we already have a link to Ivory Coast. If we connect to Ivory Coast, their internal system can carry the power elsewhere to the neighbouring countries.
The West African pipeline infrastructure is already there for fuel supply. Regarding generation, Ghana today is far ahead with independent power producers [IPP]. IPPs operate in the country with support from international financial institutions and other international investors. If you have the infrastructure ready and if you have the will of these IPPs to generate power and sell the power to other countries in the region, then in my view, the conditions are favourable for Ghana to become an exporter of energy to the region.
We should also be cognizant of another factor. The Ghana grid system is robust. The grid operators are very knowledgeable of the system. If Gridco is playing a role in the transmission of power to the neighbouring countries, they will be able to manage it efficiently. All the ingredients are in place to make Ghana a hub as a net exporter of energy in the region.

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