Cabinet Approves Second Gas Processing Plant to Boost Ghana’s Energy Security—-Energy Minister John Jinapor announced that Cabinet has approved plans to build a second gas processing plant to mitigate the nation’s energy shortages.
The minister further emphasised the need to act quickly, employing swift measures to enhance energy security and stabilize power supply in the country.
He explained that a comprehensive set of actions has been sanctioned by Cabinet to address Ghana‘s energy challenges in the short, medium, and long term.
“Cabinet has approved that in partnership with the Finance Ministry we take immediate steps in constructing a second gas processing plant. This gas processing plant will augment the shortfall and increase supply security,” he stated.
Ghana’s ongoing power supply issues, driven by rising demand and limited gas processing capacity, may be alleviated by this new facility, which is expected to complement existing infrastructure and improve the reliability of natural gas for power generation.
Notably, the country’s energy sector debt has surged past $ 3 billion, rising from the approximately $ 2 billion recorded under the previous administration of President John Dramani Mahama. This was revealed by John Abdulai Jinapor during his vetting.
In response to some Ghanaians calling for load shedding, the minister stressed that there will be no need, saying that, “today let me put on record that we are not shedding load and so the demand by the minority and some people that we publish a load shedding timetable is mute. When you are not shedding load, there will be no need to publish a load shedding timetable.”
He also mentioned that Ghana is exporting about 300 megawatts of power to Burkina, Benin, and to other neighbouring countries. He further admitted to a weak energy sector, describing it as “fragile and very weak,” with work being done to help the situation.
He again added that: “It’s true that Bridge Power, one of the independent power producers, shut their operations because of mounting liabilities that have not been paid over the months. But we’ve been able to negotiate with them and I’m happy to announce to you that they are back online”.
