Construction
of Volta River Authority's proposed 700megawatt coal plant is expected to
commence in April 2017, the Authority's tentative project timeline has shown.
The
coal plant, to be sited in the coastal town of Aboano in the Ekumfi district of
the Central Region, is expected to augment current generation and help the
largest power producer diversify its power generation portfolio to meet the
growing energy demand.
Ben
A. Sackey, Manager, Environment and Social Impact-VRA said: "Based on the
project timelines, we expect to start construction on April 17, 2017. But that
is also dependant on getting a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency.
We are working closely with EPA to ensure that all the stringent environmental
requirements are met."
The coastal town of Aboano was selected as the ideal
location after initial consideration of sites in Domunli, Akwidaa and Komenda purely
on technical and economic bases, Mr. Sackey noted.
The coal power project is to be undertaken by the
Volta River Authority (VRA) and its Chinese partner, Shenzhen Energy Group Co.
Ltd. of China (SEC).
The China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) is to
provide an about-US$1.5billion long-term loan for the construction of two 350MW coal-fired plants to meet future power demand.
This represents the first phase of developing coal
plants by the largest power producer, as it seeks to strengthen the country’s base load and forestall any future shortage of power
when existing plants are due for mandatory maintenance.
The plant is to be further expanded either by 4×350MW
(or 2×600MW) supercritical coal-fired generating units in
the future, as demand is expected to continue increasing. The
project includes the construction of a coal port solely dedicated to taking
delivery of imported coal.
VRA and SEC, after a successful pre-feasibility study and design of the plant, have since served scoping notice to
allow individuals, groups and organisations with special interest, concerns and
expert knowledge on environmental impacts to furnish the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), VRA and SEC with it.
Why
coal
Current electricity demand for
the country currently stands at about 2,225MW. This is growing
by 10 percent per annum and is expected to hit 7,000MW by 2030.
However,
constraints on fuel sources for power generation -- crude oil, gas and water
for hydro power generation -- have necessitated the need for exploring
cost-effective, reliable, and clean power sources.
Given
the current gas demand of about 450Mscf per day, indigenous gas and limited
supply from the West Africa Gas Pipeline are unable to meet demand. Available
indigenous gas is also expected to run out by 2036.
Coal,
on the other hand, is available at a cheaper cost around the world.
Advancements in coal power technology have also made it possible to generate
clean power from coal.
Coal
supply has also been secured from Glencore Xstrata of South
Africa, which has about 30.2billion tonnes of reserves. The second coal
supplier is Anglo America from Columbia, which has about 6.2billion tonnes of
coal reserves.
There have however been
calls by various civil society organisations such as the Ghana Youth
Environmental Movement (GYEM) against the establishment of a coal plant due to
environmental impacts of coal recorded in other parts of the world. They
contend that coal plants have negative effects on the environment.
Green Peace International
contends that: “Coal burning power stations continue to speed up global warming
by filling the atmosphere with vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Coal burning
leads to acid rain and smog, and emits more than 60 different hazardous air
pollutants such as a variety of toxic metals, organic compounds, acid gases,
sulphur, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and particulate matter”.
Mitigation
measures
These concerns, VRA
contends, are well addressed in the design and technology of the proposed coal
plant. The VRA is proposing to use the latest clean-coal
technology -- super critical -- in its first coal-plant.
“Domestic
sewage water, coal waste water and oil wastewater will be treated separately,
and then reused. Only circulating cooling sea water will be drained out of the
plant. A thermal plume dispersion modelling
is being undertaken to predict the permissible size of the mixing zone and the
effect on sea. Effluent levels are to be monitored as part of the project
monitoring plan,” Mr. Sackey said.
“We
will conduct reasonable overall planning for the plant area; arrange high-noise
equipment far from the area which is sensitive to noise; and reduce noise level
by green-belt planting – that is planting arbor and shrubs on roadsides around
the main powerhouse and nearby other sound sources as required, so as to reduce
noise through the noise-reduction function of plants.
“The
proposed power-plant sites are far away from the nearby villages; it is
predicted that the contribution value of power-plant noise to the residential
areas will be low, so power plant noise won’t disturb the local residents,” he
added. source:B&FT
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