A delegation of engineers and managers of the Ghanaian Grid Operator GRIDCo and the Electricity Company of Ghana visited Lekela’s wind farms in South Africa. The one-week event took place in the second half of October 2017 and was attended by 15 people from ECG and GRIDCo.

The Ghanaian delegation visited Lekela’s Loeriesfontein and Khobab sister wind farms, with an installed capacity of 140 MW each, which recently were connected to the Eskom grid. The specialists were present when the farms commenced Grid Code testings which are undertaken before a wind farm can be connected to the country’s national energy grid. For commercial operations it must be tested to certify that it complies with both performance requirements and the grid code. In order to do this, a sufficient steady wind is required to carry out a full test of the performance and compliance of the wind farm to the grid code under representative conditions.

benezer Baiden, General Manager for Regulatory and Governmental Affairs of ECG, stated: “The visit and training sessions were an eye opener to the Ghanaian Delegation in three ways: First, it provided a clear understanding of the prerequisites for commissioning a wind farm, processes required and the criteria for acceptance of test results.

Secondly, it demonstrated how wind power projects could support grid balancing and dispatch. This was of great concern to the Ghana team. Lastly, the issue of reactive power compensation and ancillary services as the bigger picture was made very clear. And I believe it has set the tone for bigger discussions on PPA pricing, costing of ancillary services and it’s administration in Ghana.”

The 225 MW Ayitepa wind farm in Ghana, the first utility scale wind project in West Africa, which awaits Financial Close in the months to come, will be constructed and operated by Lekela Power (www.lekela.com).

More information regarding Lekela’s South African wind farms can be found under www.khobabwind.co.za and www.loeriesfonteinwind.co.za.