The Minister of Energy, Mr John Peter Amewu, has inspected the Tsatsadu micro-hydro power station at Alavanyo-Abehenease in the Hohoe municipality of the Volta Region.
The 45-Kilowatts (KW) generation station which was constructed on the Tsatsadu river by the Bui Power Authority (BPA), is expected to augment electricity supply in the Alavanyo area.
The generation station is currently undergoing testing ahead of its inauguration by President Akufo-Addo next week when he tours the Volta Region.
The USD400,000 project had funding from UNIDO/UNDP through the China-Ghana South-South Co-operation on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer Project.
The Design Manager of the project, Mr Alex Okai Agyeapon, while briefing the minister and his delegates, disclosed that there was an arrangement for the addition of more turbines to add 60KW more of generation power to the current 45KW.
He explained thats due to the effects of climate change, the plant would only generate power within seven to eight months in a year, and “the rest of the months will be used for maintenance works.”
The Minister, for his part, said the development of the Tsatsadu hydro station was part of the government’s overall renewable energy agenda geared toward the provision of sufficient power to drive socio-economic development.
The Minister also hinted at plans by the ministry to replicate the micro hydro-power project across the various water bodies in the country to take pressure off the national grid.
“Our water bodies cannot only attract tourism, but also have potentials in renewable energy, which we would want to develop across the country.”
“Even when Akosombo [dam] is off, at least, we can have some power supply in Alavanyo-Abehenease. So, what we are trying to do is that the streetlights in the community will be directly powered with electricity from here.”
John Amewu, who was excited about the use of Ghanaians engineers for the project, said the facility would also serve as a research center for institutions of higher learning within the West African sub-region.
The implementation of these mini dams will inevitably make Ghana, a Power hub in the West African sub region as Ghana has begun exporting electricity to neighbouring Burkina Faso.
Already, other neighbouring countries such as Togo and Benin are importing power from Ghana.
