World Bank projects power export from Ghana in four years

Ghana would be in the position to export power to its neighboring countries within the next four years, World Bank Country Director, Henry Kerali projected here late Friday.

According to him, the investments made by the country in the energy sector have resulted in the situation where there is bound to be the over-supply of power in the country to necessitate the exportation of part of the power to neighboring countries.

Kerali was addressing the media here on the outcomes of discussions held between the new government of Ghana and the World Bank Group during the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, in America last month.

"The past government had too many Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) signed; this is more than needed to satisfy the demands in the country. There will be at least 1.5 Giga Watts (GW) of excess electricity available, more than can be consumed in the country," Kerali projected.

The World Bank official therefore urged the country to enter into discussions with the neighboring countries early so the excess power would take advantage of the power needs in the sub-region to make Ghana a net exporter of power.

The World Bank official however expressed worry that some of the PPAs were negotiated with very high cost which could make Ghana's energy tariffs uncompetitive in the sub-region.

He therefore called for a re-negotiation of some of the PPAs in order to drive down the cost component which would help make Ghana's energy tariffs competitive in the sub-region. Endit