Ghanaian wave energy project kicks off

The trial phase for the proposed wave energy plant at Ada Estuary, Ghana, is scheduled to begin next month.

The first phase of wave energy generation trials will begin with the construction of 8MW power plant and the production is expected to increase up to 1,000MW by the end of 2015.

Installation works on the six wave energy converters at the Ada Estuary in Greater Accra Region are about 85 percent complete, according to Graphic, a newspaper publisher in Ghana.

During the trial phase, the plant is expected to produce 14.400 kW/h of electricity per day.

“This is the first time we are using this technology and hope that it will resolve the power crisis in the country,” the Chief Director of the Ministry of Power, Stephen Doku, was quoted as saying by Graphic.

TC’s Energy Limited in association with Seabased Wave Energy has signed Power Purchase Agreement with the Electricity Company of Ghana to provide 1,000MW of power to augment the Country’s energy sufficiency.

TC’s Energy Limited, a company undertaking the project, is a wholly owned Ghanaian company working to progress renewables generation in Ghana.

Seabased is a Swedish wave developer company whose wave energy technology is based on WECs with linear generators, deployed on the sea bed. The generating unit placed on the sea bed is connected to a buoy on the surface via a line, which captures the energy in the motion of the waves, enabling the WEC to generate electricity. The WECs are connected to marine substations, from where an alternating current can be transmitted directly to the onshore grid.

This is the first wave power plant to be built in Ghana, with the second plant being planned by WERPO, which has recently signed a partnership agreement with ACEP to develop wave energy plant off the coast of Ghana.

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Image: Seabased/Illustration