Gas Plant Could Offer Solution to Ghana’s Power Woes

Ghanaians are struggling with crippling 12-hour power cuts across the country. Authorities are hoping a nearly-completed gas processing plant could be the key to alleviating the country’s energy woes.

Ghanaians have been dealing with persistent power outages both in the capital Accra and in the countryside for months. The Electricity Company of Ghana recently warned it may have to resort to 24-hour power cuts.

The situation has since improved, but Ghana still has a power deficit of 400 megawatts.

The government is hopeful that a long-delayed natural gas processing plant in the village of Atuabo, in Ghana’s west, will provide needed energy to the main utility Volta River Authority, or VRA, and help the cash strapped-country save money.

Ghana spends $3 million every day on crude oil imports for its plants. That’s cash it doesn’t have.

President John Dramani Mahama’s administration is seeking money from the International Monetary Fund to put the economy back on course after the cedi currency tumbled earlier this year, losing as much as 60 percent of its value against the dollar.