Ghana will select a company to build its first NPP by December from possible suppliers including France’s EDF, US-based NuScale Power and Regnum Technology Group, and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), Reuters reported citing Robert Sogbadji, deputy director for power in charge of nuclear and alternative energy. Other contenders include South Korea’s Kepco and its subsidiary Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) as well as Russia’s Rosatom.
Sogbadji told Reuters, the cabinet will approve the final choice. “It can be one vendor or two nations; it will depend on the financial model and the technical details.” Sogbadji said 16 countries and companies had responded to the government’s request for vendors, but a technical team of state agencies led by the energy ministry narrowed it down to the current five nations.
Sogbadji said Ghana aims to add about 1,000 MWe of power from nuclear to its electricity mix by 2034. Sogbadji said the government has already secured a site with capacity to accommodate up to five reactors. He added that it would prefer a “build, own, operate and transfer” arrangement with room for local equity holding.
In April, Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG) and CNNC Overseas Limited signed a cooperation and framework agreement on the margins of the 26th World Energy Congress in Rotterdam for the construction of a HPR-1000 (Hualong One) Nuclear Power Project and the upgrade of Ghana’s grid.
Ghana restructured its nuclear programme in 2008 to meet the expected increase in energy demand. Nuclear Power Ghana was established in 2018 as the Owner/Operator of Ghana’s first proposed NPP.
