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Karpowership in discussions with ECG to provide interim power at no cost as first powerships arrive

ECG in June 2014 signed a power purchase agreement with Karpowership, a Turkish company,  to supply 450 MW (megawatts) of electricity to Ghana's grid every year  for 10 years through two  225 capacity powerships.

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The first of two powerships the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) contracted Karpowership of Turkey to supply  as part of the long-term measures to address the current power generation deficit is 70 per cent completed.It will produce and deliver 225 MW of power yearly  to the national grid for 10 years, beginning in September 2015.ECG in June 2014 signed a power purchase agreement with Karpowership, a Turkish company,  to supply 450 MW (megawatts) of electricity to Ghana's grid every year  for 10 years through two  225 capacity powerships.The powerships  are floating power stations connected to national grids after berthing. They run on fuel oil but can use natural gas as an alternative.During a visit to Karpowership’s yard in Instabul last Wednesday, it was observed that the first of the two barges expected to add 225MW each year to the national grid for the next 10 years was under contruction.Addressing journalists  from Ghana during the visit, the Chief Executive Officer of Karpowership, Mr Orhan Remzi Karadeniz , said the second powership would also be delivered in 365 days after all contractual financial closures .He was, however,  tightlipped on when financial agreements for the second 225MW of powership would be closed, adding that the process  was still going on.The Sales Director of Karpowership, Mr Patrick O' Driscoll, said the power produced by all the powerships would be fed into Ghana's grid network to be sold to ECG under the control of GRIDCo.He said preparation was going on in Tema to facilitate the berthing of the powerships for subsequent transfer of the power to the national grid.Mr O'Driscoll said the company was currently in discussion with the ECG to enable it to provide Ghana with an interim 120-capacity powership to serve as a stop gap in August 2015 at no additional cost.According to him,  if the ECG agreed to the proposal, the interim powership would be delivered to Ghana by the close of May 2015 to serve as an emergency power supply solution prior to the delivery of the two powerships to mitigate the power outages in the short term .However, the interim powership will produce power in August because it technically requires a 120 -day period to be able to produce power.When the two barges have finally been delivered the interim barge will be returned to the shipyard.Building a power ship costs around 1.5 million euros ($2 million).Similar projects had been delivered by Karpowership in Lebanon and Iraq among other countries. - via Daily Graphic

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