...Power Activities

........ Hydro Generation
.........Akosombo Hydro Plant
........... ...Retrofit Project
.........Kpong Hydro Plant
...... .Takoradi Thermal Plant
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Takoradi Thermal Power Station

The Takoradi Thermal Power Station (TTPS) is located at Aboadze, 17 kilometres east of Sekondi Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana. The Power Station which started operation in 1997 was initiated by the Volta River Authority to compliment the existing Hydro Plant at Akosombo and Kpong. TTPS is therefore a facility of strategic importance for meeting Ghana 's energy needs.

The current installed capacity of the Takoradi Power Plant is 550MW and is to be upgraded to 660MW by the CMS/VRA joint Venture. The wholly –owned VRA portion of 330MW combined cycle Plant with a 2x2x1 configuration meaning two (2) 110MW GE Frame 9E combustion gas turbines, with two (2) HRSGs feeding one (1) 110MW Steam Turbine Generator. The voltage output of the Generators which is 13.8kV is stepped up by Power Transformers to the national grid system voltage of 161kV.

With the objective of being an electrical supplier of choice for customers in Ghana and West Africa , the Plant operates on two modes, namely Simple Cycle and Combined Cycle . The primary fuel used for power generation is Light Crude Oil (LCO) which is normally received from ocean tankers via a Single Point Mooring (SPM), connected to the plant by approximately 4.5km undersea pipeline and stored in four (4) 29,500m 3 capacity storage tanks. The secondary fuel on site - Distillate Fuel Oil (DFO) is normally used for start-up and shutdown as it is less volatile. On the average, a Gas Turbine at base load (110MW) can generate 2.5GW of electricity using about 890m 3 of LCO a day.

The Plant has dual firing capacity and is being converted to run on natural gas. In the Simple Cycle mode, the exhausts from the Gas Turbines are directly discharged into the

 
atmosphere at temperature of about 560 degrees C through exhaust stacks. In the Combined Cycle mode, the exhaust gases from the Gas Turbine are used to generate super heated steam at a rate of 160t/hr at 520ºc and a pressure of 54bar through the Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) to turn a Steam Turbine.

To ensure that the fuel meets the right specification the fuel treatment plant treats the fuel (LCO & DFO) at a rate of 108m 3 /hr to ensure the removal of sediments, water and Trace Metals. This treatment Plant is basically made up of six centrifuges.

In the combined cycle, condenser cooling is done by sea water which is further cooled by the Cooling Tower . The Cooling Tower is therefore a heat exchanger for the Circulating Water System. It consists of eight cells with seven in service and one on standby during operation and employs a counter flow system in the cooling process. It is made up of a framework and wall panels, basin, fill (cooling medium), dispersion system, drift eliminators, eight axial flow induced draft fans, eight right angle double reaction gear drives, eight electric motors and eight shafts.

Water for use is obtained either from Ghana Water Company Ltd or the Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant and stored in a re servoir with a storage capacity of 9000m 3 , 50% of which is reserved for fire fighting. The Reverse Osmosis (RO) system produces freshwater from seawater. It produces 1,135m 3 of freshwater a day. It is used to supplement water supply from Ghana Water Company Ltd.

For steam generation water is obtained form the Water Treatment Plant (Demin Plant).

 



This is a two stream demineralization plant that produces dematerialized (ultra pure) water at a rate of 70m 3 /h which is then stored in two storage tanks of capacity 840m 3 each. This ultra pure water produced is also used for control of the emission of nitrogen oxides (NO X ) in the CTGs. Waste water from various parts of the plant is collected into an Oily Wastewater System (OWS ) which is a 300m 3 capacity basin which collects oily waste water from various parts of the plant for separation and incineration or sold to secondary users as fuel for their boilers or for wood preservation.

To guarantee preparedness for fire fighting, there is a Fire Fighting System which is made up of the fresh water fire system, a seawater (stand-by) system, a foam system (oil fire fighting) and Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ) system (fire fighting for the CTG's).

In Thermal Generation, VRA-TTPS has been proactive in addressing issues that affect the environment and public safety and has shown this with an elaborate programme that effectively controls and monitors air quality, noise level, sea temperature and oil spillage.

To ensure that the environment is protected, stringent monitoring of the emissions from the Gas Turbine is carried out. The emission of oxides of Nitrogen, Sulphur and Carbon is reduced by injecting demineralised water into the Gas Turbine to meet the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana. VRA-TTPS thus manages the natural resources in its area of operation in an environmentally sustainable manner.