The testing and commissioning phase of the Ghana Gas and West African Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) Interconnection Project is almost complete.
This follows the successful completion of the engineering and construction work on gas pipelines from Sanzule through to the Takoradi Regulatoring and Metering System (TRMS) of the Volta River Authority at Aboadze, Ghana Gas has said.
Head of Communication at the Ghana National Gas Company Limited, Mr Ernest Owusu Bempah, during an inspection visit of the project site on Monday, 20 May 2019, said the exercise involves some protocols that need to be adhered to, so as to ensure the safety and efficiency of the pipeline system.
“They need to check the pressure, understand how the flow is going to be like, detect any possible leakages technically, to make sure that everything is fine before they start pushing gas,” Mr Bempah stated.
Mr Bempah disclosed that the company is currently producing about 37 million metric cubic feet of gas to the Volta River Authority for the testing and commissioning phase of the pipelines, the success of which, he noted, would enable them to roll out fully, the production and supply of gas through the TRMS to the eastern enclave to power thermal plants.
“At the moment, we’re doing about 37 million cubic feet on the pressure within the testing and commissioning from there; it can take about 60 million cubic feet of gas, which is very significant as it can do about 300 megawatts of electricity”, he added.
Mr Bempah was highly optimistic that the recurring gas shortage, which, in the past hit power-producing plants in the country, will be a thing of the past.
“There’s not going to be any problem when WAPCo tells us there’s not enough gas available. There will be more gas flowing… we’ll be doing about 30 to 60 million cubic feet of gas to help us generate electricity.”
The Officer-in-charge of Pipeline and Station at the TRMS, Mr Emmanuel Ackon, clarified that the testing and commissioning phase of the project began on Thursday, 16 May 2019, and should all go as planned, that exercise would be completed in the next couple of days. He noted that the exercise has been, by far, excellent.
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