Lekela Power to deliver 150MW of Wind Power to Ghana by 2016

Lekela Power says it is making real progress towards achieving the goal of delivering 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy across Africa over the next five years.

The company is looking forward to leveraging its progress to help meet the rising electricity demand in Ghana, Egypt and South Africa.

“These are ideal places for renewable energy generation due to the abundant supply of natural resources,” said Chris Antonopoulos, Lekela Power’s CEO.

Lekela Power was launched early this year as a joint venture between Actis and Mainstream Renewable Power to serve as one of the biggest international platforms focused on renewable energy targeting the emerging markets.

The firm already has 860 megawatts of wind and solar projects under construction or due to commence construction next year across the three countries.

The Ayitepa wind farm in Ghana will deliver 150megawatts of power to the country’s energy mix.

Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor says the country would have to depend on non-hydro power in efforts to deliver 5,000–10,000 megawatts of power in the next five years.

New Business Manager of Lekela Power, Chris Mathews, who joined a panel discussion focusing on Ghana at the Africa Energy Forum in Dubai, emphasized his company’s commitment to efficiently manage the risk of construction and production of the wind power project.

“We look forward to cutting the ribbon sometime next year on the construction of our project,” he said.

The South African Government awarded Mainstream Renewable Power two wind farm contracts under the latest round of its Renewable Energy Procurement Programme, which will transfer into the Lekela Power platform.

The projects, which have a combined generation capacity of 250 megawatts, are expected to commence construction next year. Lekela Power already has an additional 360 megawatts of wind energy projects currently under construction in South Africa.

In Egypt, the company has signed agreements with NREA and took possession of the project land for a 50 megawatt solar PV facility in Aswan, and will shortly take possession of the land for a 50 megawatt wind farm in the West Gulf of Suez. Lekela Power has additional projects in the pipeline in Egypt.

“Reliable electricity is a fundamental driver of economic growth”, Mr. Antonopoulous noted.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/ in Dubia, UAE