Sumitomo joins Ghana’s combined cycle power plant

Sumitomo Corporation will participate in the 340 MW Kpone combined cycle power plant, located about 25 kilometers from Accra, Ghana.

The Sumitomo Corporation Group has announced that it has acquired 28% of the project company’s shares on 24 September 2014. The others shareholders are Cenpower Holdings Limited (21%), the Africa Finance Corporation (31.5%) and others.

Construction works are scheduled to start in Autumn 2014. The project is expected to be operational by summer 2017.

The power will be sold to Ghana’s public electricity distribution company over a period of 20 years from the start of commercial operation.

The total project costs will be about Y90 billion (US$ 823.4 million), the majority of which will be procured through project finance. The project will be the first one which covered by the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Sumitomo Corporation Group will utilize its know-how in constructing, operating the power plant and its maintenance, and will take a leading role in ensuring steady progress in construction and reliable plant operation by its dispatch a chief technical officer and a chief financial officer to the project company.

Installed capacity in Ghana is about 2,800 MW and nearly half of the electric power generation is produced by Hydro Power Plants. However, they don’t produce enough electric power generation, especially in the dry season, and planned outage is regularly in place because of the power shortages. Ghana’s electric power demand is growing about 7% per year as its population increase.

Electric power needs in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to increase sixfold by 2040, and the Sumitomo Corporation Group hopes to build on the project to actively contribute to regional development through electric power plant projects.