According to Mr. Samuel Kofi Dzamesi, the Chief Executive Officer, the Electricity Company of Ghana owes the Bui Power Authority (BPA), the owners of the Bui Generating Station, more than US$612 million.
He expressed displeasure that the ECG was unable to pay the authority because the only issue still affecting the operation of the 404 megawatt (MW) dam in the Banda District of the Bono Region was the power generated and supplied to the company.
During a visit by Bono Regional Minister Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene to the dam’s plant site at Bui, Mr. Dzamesi spoke with the media and said that about 99 percent of the power generated was sold to the ECG.
The Regional Minister visited the location to become familiar with the authority’s hydropower generating and other operations. She was accompanied by a few members of the Bono Regional Security Council as well as the district and municipal chief executives.
“I can promise you that since the BPA’s creation, the ECG has never, ever been able to pay more than 30% of what we generate,” Mr. Dzamesi stated. What I mean is that the ECG pays out 30 units for every 100 units of power produced.
In fact, he said, “I think by this time we could accomplish considerably more than what we are doing on the solar, assuming the ECG is able to pay all the money.”
He claimed that in 2022, the Authority earned a profit of US$74 million, the biggest so far since the dam began to really produce water. Nevertheless, he stressed that the sum was inclusive of the ECG’s debt.
“With the grace of God, we obtained rainfall last year that was able to fill the dam to its maximum capacity of 183, and we received only a small amount of rain above the 183-capacity level.” Thus, Mr. Dzamesi said, “We were able to produce 1,554 gigawatt hours last year.”
The Chief Executive Officer said that BPA has the largest solar plant in the West Africa subregion and that a 250 MW solar facility is planned to be built to increase electricity production at the Bui Generating Station.
Before the end of the year, Mr. Dzamesi expressed hope that “we would obtain contractors who will establish very serious hydro power plants either on the Rivers Pra, Ankobra, or Tano.” He went on to add that the authority was already doing feasibility studies on the Western Rivers.
In actuality, the BPA was the first business to combine hydropower with solar power. When I use the term hybridization, I refer to a seamless changeover from hydro to solar, solar to hydro, or the two moving together, he explained.
Mr. Dzamesi thanked the administration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for helping the company obtain the authority needed to complete its 250 MW solar project.
Indicating that “under his leadership we have added 50 MW of solar and before the end of the year we are adding another 40 MW on-land here, 50 MW in Yendi, and 5 MW on the dam’s reservoir here,” he claimed that the BPA was actively expanding its solar project.