In Ghana, the Volta River Authority (VRA) has announced that the construction of Aboano’s coal-fired plant will start in April 2017. “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 (EPA),” said Ben A. Sackey, Manager, Environment and Social Impact-VRA.

The plant will be developed by VRA and Chinese firm Shenzhen Energy Group Co. Ltd. of China. Construction works which have been valued at $1.5 billion will be funded by China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) as a long-term loan.

The infrastructure will comprise two 350 MW units. The capacity of this set of units should later be increased to 1200 MW or 1400 MW. The project includes the construction of a coal port dedicated to conveying coal needed to run the infrastructure. Coal has already been secured from South African firm Glencore Xstrata and Columbian Anglo American who respectively have 30.2 billion tons and 6.2 billion tons of coal reserves.

The development of this plant met complaints from various non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace, which denounced its negative impact on the environment. “Coal burning 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,” the Ngo said.

In response; VRA said that these risks have been taken into account in the plant’s design and technology.

Gwladys Johnson