TAQA Gets $355m To Grow In Ghana

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA), a state-owned oil explorer and power supplier, secured a $355 million project financing and government approval to expand its power plant in Ghana, it said on Monday.

TAQA, which is 75 per cent owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, will expand the Takoradi 2 (T2) power plant’s capacity from 220 megawatts to 330 megawatts, the firm said in a statement.

Japan’s Mitsui & Co and Korea’s Kepco will start construction of the plant this month, the statement added.

The TAQA-operated T2 power plant currently represents 15 per cent of Ghana’s installed power production capacity. The expansion is expected to be commissioned in 2015.

The $355 million project financing will come from World Bank unit International Finance Corp (IFC) and a consortium of financial institutions that include FMO, the majority Dutch government-owned development bank, the African Development Bank, Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) and Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG).

The T2 power plant is owned by Takoradi International Co LLC (TICO), a joint venture between TAQA, who owns 90 per cent of the plant and Volta River Authority, the main generator and supplier of electricity in Ghana which owns remaining 10 per cent stake.

TAQA is the operator of the facility through its wholly owned subsidiary TAQA Generation International Operating.

Earlier this year, Tanzania’s president invited investors from the UAE to join the rush for oil and gas in the east African nation, after recent gas discoveries along its coastline.

Together with oil finds in neighbouring Kenya and Uganda, significant gas finds in southern Tanzania have raised the profile of the region in the global energy industry.

British gas producer BG Group and explorer Ophir Energy said in May they had found gas off the coast. Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil also announced in February it had found natural gas offshore.