Seabased schedules powwow with Ghana national power distributor

Swedish wave energy developer Seabased has confirmed it will send an engineering team to Ghana in mid-April for talks with the country’s national power distributor GRIDco.

Aside from talks with GRIDco officials, Seabased’s engineers will also perform technical studies, according to Goldstreet Business.

TC’s Energy and Seabased have recently signed a contract for 100MW wave energy park near Ada, offshore Ghana, that will, according to Seabased’s CEO, Øivind Magnussen, be developed in phases to lower the risk and secure timely deliveries.

Anthony Opoku, CEO of TC’s Energy, said that first 5MW of the project will be constructed this year as the infrastructure to accommodate the export of 20MW already exists, while new infrastructure to enable the export of the full 100MW is expected to be built within the next two years, Goldstreet Business has reported.

According to the information on Electricity Company of Ghana, GRIDCo owns and operates the transmission grid mainly at 161kV with a total length of about 5,100 km.

The other transmission voltages are 69kV, 225kV, and 330kV. These lines carry power from various generating stations to over 54 substations owned by GridCo.

At these substations, the power is stepped down to lower voltages including 34.5 kV and 11kV for the major bulk customers which include the distribution companies namely; Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and Enclave Power Company (EPC).

Seabased wave parks produce electricity using wave energy converters, which consist of buoys connected to linear generators. The buoys move with the waves, and this motion generates power. A switchgear makes the electricity suitable for grid use.