Ghana is set to be home to Africa’s largest photovoltaic power plant after a UK-based firm announced plans for its construction.
The $400 million 155 MW Nzema project will be handled by the Blue Energy company, and is set to provide electricity to more than 100,000 homes upon completion in October 2015. It will create 200 permanent jobs and 500 construction jobs, while boosting Ghana’s electricity capacity by six percent.
Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of next year; 630,000 PV modules will be installed in western Ghana, near the village of Aiwiaso.
A conceptual rendering of the Nzema power plant. Credit: SolarLove.org
“It is the biggest single project that’s going ahead at the moment,” said Ash Sharma, industry analyst at IMS Research.
“It is not the biggest in the world, but if it goes ahead it will be the biggest in Africa.”
The solar power plant is the fourth largest in the world at the time of planning, and it would be the first major initiative in to claim payments from the country’s 2011 feed-in tariff scheme. Ghana plans to increase its renewable energy capacity from its current 1 percent to 10 percent by 2020.
“The project has land, it has planning consent, it has a generating license, and it has received a feed-in tariff,” said Douglas Coleman, project director from Mere Power Nzema, Ltd.
“It is the right plant in the right place at the right time.”
Coleman adds that the location was chosen for three reasons: stable irradiation levels, which are ideal in the region, the stability of the power network near the project, and its close proximity to the deep water port of Takoradi, which makes it logistically sound since majority of the components will be imported.
