Ghana presses ahead with wave energy

TC’s Energy of Ghana and Seabased Africa signed a second commercial order for a further 5 MW development of the wave power plant at Ada Estuary, Ghana.

The turnkey wave power plant will be produced in Seabased’s factory in Lysekil, Sweden, and be based on the new, larger S 2,7 wave energy converter design, Seabased informed.

Seabased’s contract value exceeds $13 million, the company said, and the plant will be connected to the existing TC’s Energy premises in Ghana.

Tony Opoku, TC’s Energy’s CEO, said: “We are in the process of building the largest wave power plant in Africa and we are happy to benefit from the rapid development in Sweden.”

The first phase of the Ghanaian wave energy project included the installation of 6 Seabased’s wave energy devices with the combined output of 400 kW at Ada Estuary.

TC’s Energy Limited together with Seabased signed a Power Purchase Agreement with the Electricity Company of Ghana to provide 1.000 MW of power through 14 MW wave energy plant to increase the country’s energy sufficiency.

Seabased’s wave energy technology is based on WECs with linear generators, deployed on the sea bed. The generating unit placed on the sea bed is connected to a buoy on the surface via a line, which captures the energy in the motion of the waves, enabling the WEC to generate electricity.