The Bui Power Authority has commissioned 26 megawatts of solar photo voltait resources to augment its 404MW hydroelectric generating station.
The coming on stream of the 26MW floating solar PV is the beginning of the Bui hydro-solar hybrid production.
It is the country’s first ever hybrid plant which utilizes both solar and hydro resources to generate and supply power to the national grid.
The 26MV solar PV is part of the first phase of the 50MW component of the 250MW project. When completed, the totality of the BPA solar PV project would be 250MW. The 48-million-dollar project is a collaborative initiative of the Bui Power Authority and Meinergy of China.
This is in line with government’s effort to increase the contribution of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix to 10 percent by 2030 as well as the national Determined Contribution towards the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Construction works on the phase one-made up 50MW solar PV farm, a control room, and transmission system at the Bui Generating Station started in October 2019. This was preceded by the expansion of the Bui Switchyard in 2017 by the BPA to accommodate the evacuation of the expected 250MW of power.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Marfo said the Bui Solar project shows the country’s resolve to diversify its energy generation mix by growing the renewable energy component.
He said with the Bui Power Authority’s significant addition of 250MW, VRA’s 100MW and the other small solar and hydro projects, Ghana will attain the 10% Renewable Energy target by 2030. The project will provide electricity to about 59,230 households.
